Dato’ Seri Azalina Othman’s denial of a massive parliamentary cover up over 1MDB questions by the Speaker has no credibility whatsoever.

Opposition Members of Parliament were in a state of shock yesterday upon taking our seats at the start of the second sitting this year.  More than 30 questions, all of which concerns the single largest financial scandal ever to hit Malaysia, 1MDB were rejected by the House Speaker.

While some of our athletes are making inroads overseas and breaking new records, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin is determined not to be left out of the party.  The Guiness Book of Records of Malaysia must take note of the sheer incredible scale of rejection of parliamentary questions in a single sitting. 

I myself had 5 questions rejected – possibly an individual parliamentary record in itself.

The opposition uproar was met with an ‘official’ denial by the Minister in-charge of parliamentary affairs, Dato’ Seri Azalina Othman who described the “cover-up” allegations as “utterly baseless”.  The fact that a member of the executive, who is an interested party in the scandal, had to step forward to defend the Speaker who is supposed to be impartial in the running of the august House speaks volumes.

Dato’ Seri Azalina even had the cheek to reprimand the Opposition MPs and asked them to “give precedence to issues that concern people under their respective constituencies”.

The blinkered Minister obviously doesn’t realise that my constituents voted for me overwhelmingly not because I spend my time debating about drains and potholes in my constituency – although those problems are dealt with by my office with the local council.  They gave me a very specific mandate to not only check a corrupt and kleptocratic government, but also to expose all the wrong-doings of those who are in power.

In fact, as an MP who achieved the second highest majority in the country with 45,000 votes in the last general election, my constituents believe that their livelihood would be much better – less debt, better exchange rates and lower cost of living, if I succeed in throwing out the corrupt BN administration in the next round.

The Minister had argued that our questions were “against the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders”.

As an example, let me ask the Minister, how the following rejected question was “against the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders”.

I had asked the Minister of Finance to

“menyatakan baki nilai terkini pelaburan ‘unit’ yang dimiliki oleh anak syarikat 1MDB, Brazen Sky Limited dan nama institusi bank atau kewangan yang kini menjadi ‘custodian’ kepada pelaburan tersebut”.

The Speaker had rejected the above question on the pretext of presumably questionable assumption (“sangkaan”) and a figment of my imagination (“buah fikiran”).

The Finance Ministers as well as 1MDB itself have openly stated that the company had investments in the form of “units” held with a “custodian bank” previously valued at US$2.3 billion, of which a substantial portion has apparently been redeemed.

Hence where is the “sangkaan” or “buah fikiran” in the above question when I was only asking what is the current asset value as well as which custodian bank was holding the “units”?

Instead, ironically, it is the refusal of the Speaker to approve and the Minister to answer the question that leads to a reasonable “sangkaan” that the “units” are fraudulent or are of minimal value, and perhaps there is no longer any “custodian bank”!

Tan Sri Pandikar Amin has unquestionably and possibly irreversibly condemned the Parliament into a kangaroo sitting.  Instead of leaving a legacy of reform which will lead us to the heights of a first world parliament, he has now disgraced the highest legislative institution of the land.

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Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar proven as the most incompetent and irresponsible Inspector-General of Police in Malaysian history

The Minister of the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan has now officially confirmed that the “Malaysian Official One” (MO1) named in the United States Department of Justice suit to seize more than US$1 billion of 1MDB-funded assets, is none other than Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.

MO1 has been identified as the party who has received proceeds amounting to US$731 million between 2011 and 2013 which were laundered by parties who have defrauded 1MDB.

With the confirmation by Datuk Seri Rahman Dahlan, Malaysians who have just celebrated our 59th Merdeka anniversary in the most subdued manner, would have hoped that the relevant authorities will finally commence actions against the Prime Minister, albeit belatedly.

However, all such hopes were immediately extinguished by Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, who gave the most incredulous and most unacceptable excuse as to why there will be no action against Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.  This is inspite of the irrefutable and unrefuted evidence which has been presented by the US DOJ to the whole wide world.

“I've said this before: that whatever action taken in the US is a civil action. We don't get involved in civil suits.  I don’t want to meddle in political matters. Don't drag us into politics,” he said.

How in the world is it “politics” when Malaysians ask Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to investigate the “world’s largest financial scandal” which has enriched Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s bank account by a mind-boggling US$731 million or nearly RM3 billion based on today’s exchange rates?

In fact, if there is anyone indulging in politics, it is the IGP himself, who is clearly acting to protect the Prime Minister incriminated of grand larceny and support the Barisan Nasional ruling party.  The IGP is failing Malaysians by failing to act without fear or favour against all criminals, regardless of their status and positions.

Tan Sri Khalid had further added that “Let them (the US) solve the civil action. Why are you so nosy wanting the police to investigate this and that,” at a press conference at the Bukit Aman police headquarters today.

The IGP should be thoroughly ashamed of himself for dismissing the US action as a mere “civil action”.  It is disgraceful that Malaysians now have to rely on the impartiality of foreign jurisdictions to recover billions of dollars stolen and laundered from Malaysians via fraudulent means in 1MDB.

Instead of springing belatedly into action to salvage Malaysia’s pride and honour, the IGP appears to be conspiring with the alleged crooks by feigning ignorance.

The US DOJ suit might be civil in nature as they were attempting to seize the laundered assets, but the allegations contained in the suit are completely criminal in nature.

Why is the police completely disinterested in investigating the fact that more than US$4 billion has been misappropriated by 1MDB and the fact that US$731 million has been pocketed by the Prime Minister?  The IGP must answer as to how is such misappropriation and grand larceny not a crime under Malaysian laws?

Is not being “nosy” the job of the Malaysian police when it comes to criminal activities?

Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar’s clear cut abdication of his duties has marked himself as the most irresponsible and most incompetent in the history of Malaysia.

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The Police’s ring-fenced investigations into 1MDB points to scapegoating former Director and CEO Datuk Shahrol Halmi for the multi-billion dollar scandal

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar disclosed on Friday that the police have completed the first phase of their investigation into 1MDB, which is restricted to the five recommendations by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as ordered by the cabinet.

As pointed by DAP Parliamentary Leader, the “five recommendations” by the PAC has nothing to do with police investigations as they relate to corporate reorganisation of the heavily indebted company.  For example, the PAC recommended that the 1MDB Board of Advisors be dissolved, that the Ministry of Finance assumes ownership of the property assets under the company and that 1MDB “should avoid excessive debt”.

The only request by the PAC in its report, which was not part of the five recommendations, was for 1MDB’s former Director and Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Shahrol Halmi and others who were involved to be investigated by the authorities.

This leads Malaysians to believe that the ring-fence imposed by the Cabinet and willingly accepted by the IGP, is nothing more than a strategy to place the entire blame for the multi-billion dollar scam on the shoulders of Datuk Shahrol Halmi.

It clearly appears that Datuk Shahrol will be made a scapegoat to ease the pressure on the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak who has failed to take any concrete action at all against any party for the losses suffered in what the UK Guardian named as the “world’s largest financial scandal”.

The powers that be would certainly hope that with Datuk Shahrol’s incarceration, a mere pawn in the wider scheme of things, they would be able to wash their hands off the scandal and close the lid on the ugliest chapter of Malaysia’s history.

However, by doing so, the Police would once again make complete fools of themselves, no different from the Altantuya murder scandal in 2006.  Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar who were members of the elite Unit Tindakan Khas assigned to the office of the then Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Najib Razak, were found guilty of murdering the Mongolian woman.  However, no motive was ever presented by the police and the prosecution, or found by the Malaysian Courts when they were condemned to death sentences.

In 1MDB’s case, if only Datuk Shahrol were to be charged and found guilty, the similar question could be asked – what motive is there for Datuk Shahrol to carry out the multi-billion dollar global embezzlement exercise?

Datuk Shahrol, who was referred to as “1MDB Officer 2” in the US Department of Justice suit to seize US$1 billion of laundered 1MDB assets, was never disclosed as an individual beneficiary of the stolen funds.

The beneficiaries of the loot were Low Taek Jho, Riza Aziz, Khadem Al-Qubaisi and Mohammad Badawy Al-Husseiny.  In addition, a “Malaysian Official 1” who could only refer to Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, received a whopping US$731 million from the embezzled proceeds.

I have no doubt that Datuk Shahrol is guilty of participating and facilitating in the massive scam to defraud ordinary Malaysians and should be charged for abetting the heinous crime.  However, he is but a cog in the wheel of the 1MDB scandal.  It will be the greatest travesty of justice, similar to the Altantuya murder, where the real conspirators and crooks who had benefited immensely from the crimes are let of scot free.

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Shocking: the Malaysian Police limits 1MDB investigations to Public Accounts Committee (PAC) “recommendations” under Cabinet instructions

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar disclosed yesterday that the police have completed the first phase of their investigation into 1MDB, which is restricted to the five recommendations by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as ordered by the cabinet.

"I have said it before: the five recommendations from the PAC are our focus, so I do not want the police to be distracted from what was ordered for us to do, or else the focus of the investigation will deviate," he said.

First, how can the Cabinet give specific instructions to the Royal Malaysian Police on what crimes to investigate and what crimes not to investigate?  Isn’t this tantamount to a clear cut case of obstruction of justice?

Secondly, how can the IGP limit police investigations to merely the 5 “recommendations” by the PAC?

Members of the PAC, especially those from Barisan Nasional will often insist in PAC meetings that the PAC is not a criminal investigation body and such investigations should be left to the relevant authorities, including the Police.  Now, the Police has apparently be instructed to limit its investigations to the “recommendations” of the PAC, which was not based on a “criminal” investigation in the first place.

In fact, the Police should take cognizance that 1MDB has failed, despite repeated requests by both the PAC and the Auditor-General, to hand over its crucial overseas bank statements and verification documents.  As a result, the PAC is unable to investigate the existence of wrongdoings in the state-owned investment company.

For example, the PAC could not verify the ownership of Good Star Limited which received US$1.03 billion from 1MDB as 1MDB could not provide any conclusive ownership documentation to the PAC.  Furthermore, the PAC Chairman hid a Bank Negara Malaysia letter to the Committee which had disclosed that Good Star Limited was owned by none other than Low Taek Jho, or better known as Jho Low.

However, the expose by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on the multi-billion dollar embezzlement of 1MDB’s funds overseas should prompt the Police to obtain all relevant documents to ensure an unhindered and thorough criminal probe on the matter.

Hence Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar must explain to the Rakyat as to why he has refused to investigate the multi-billion dollar 1MDB embezzlement scandal which has taken the world by storm, by restricting itself to the limited findings of the PAC, purportedly under the instructions of the Cabinet?

Isn’t the Police supposed to investigate without fear or favour, even if it were to involve the highest officials of the land?  Doesn’t Tan Sri Khalid realise that there is a severe conflict of interest in the purported Cabinet instruction to restrict the Police investigations because Cabinet members might be involved in the laundered funds?

For example, the DOJ has already cited that a “Malaysian Official 1”, whom even the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Rahman Dahlan admitted is Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, has received US$731 million of the laundered funds in his personal bank account in Malaysia.  Who else has benefitted from these funds?

The failure of the IGP to conduct a no-stones-unturned investigations into the “world’s largest financial scandal” which has brought shame to Malaysia only serves to confirm the suspicions of ordinary Malaysians that Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar is colluding with the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues to cover up the heinous scam which has defrauded the people of tens of billions of ringgit.

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