Malaysians were shocked to read the report by The Malaysian Insight on Thursday that Arul Kanda is one of the candidates being considered for the post of Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional.
The online portal reported that “a selection panel has been formed to look through the candidates who can take over from Azman (Mokhtar) whose contract expires in two years” and Arul Kanda is one of two outsiders being considered.
After the disastrous and disgraceful record at the debt-ridden 1MDB since his appointment in January 2015, Arul Kanda should be automatically disqualified from even consideration at the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
The latest catastrophe is the failure of 1MDB to fulfil its settlement obligations with Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) in a timely matter. Despite claiming since April 24 this year that its repayment to IPIC would be fulfilled via the “monetization” of 1MDB’s investment ‘units’ last known to be held in Singapore, IPIC had to twice extend the deadline for the first instalment payment scheduled on 31 July 2017.
1MDB has since managed to pay the “equivalent” of US$350 million on 11 August and would have up to 31 August to settle the balance of US$300 million. However, even the above partial payment of the first instalment is shrouded in mystery as it is clear that the 1MDB ‘units’ have not been monetized while the source of the 1MDB funds were unclear.
In addition, Arul Kanda has botched the so-called rationalisation with the original attempt to sell 60% of Bandar Malaysia to the Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) Sdn Bhd-led consortium. Despite 1MDB having collected 10% of the sale amounting to RM741 million as “deposit”, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) had to terminate the contract due to IWH’s repeated failure to fulfil its obligations, it was MoF which had to refund the RM741 million “deposit” to the purchaser.
However, the worst deed of Arul Kanda has been to repeatedly lie to the Auditor-General, the Public Accounts Committee and Malaysians in general, to cover up the 1MDB scandal to ensure that those behind the multi-billion dollar misappropriation in the company would be let off scotfree.
For example, Arul Kanda is fully aware that 1MDB’s investment ‘units’ previously held at the now defunct BSI Bank, Singapore are fraudulent and more importantly are worth at best a tiny fraction of their purported US$2.318 billion in valuation. The fraud has been uncovered by the United States Department of Justice, as reported in the additional civil suit filed in June this year.
However, despite having access to all the material documents and information, Arul Kanda has continued the pretence that 1MDB had already redeemed some US$1.3 billion worth of the ‘units’. At one point Arul Kanda even told the 1MDB Directors that he has “seen the bank statements” that 1MDB had already received the proceeds in ‘cash’.
Today we know that the entire redemption exercise was a Ponzi-like round-tripping exercise using part of the proceeds from a Deutsche Bank loan to pretend that it’s the receipt from the ‘units’ redemption exercise.
Malaysians can only shiver in trepidation at the thought that a RM145 billion-Khazanah Nasional, which is relatively healthy today, would be helmed by the same person who hammered the final nail in 1MDB’s coffin.
The only thing more shocking I heard when I started sniffing around with regards to The Malaysian Insight report is the fact that Arul Kanda is also awaiting possible appointment as a Senator which comes with a Ministerial position. If that were true, then it would be proof that the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak would only appoint those without a shred of honesty and integrity to the Cabinet.
Showing posts with label Public Accounts Committee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Public Accounts Committee. Show all posts
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Friday, June 09, 2017
It is time for the Auditor-General and Public Accounts Committee to investigate the shenanigans which has taken place in Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd
Both the FGVH Chairman, Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dato’ Zakaria Arshad have traded barbs and accusations against each other on irregular transactions and activities which have taken place in the struggling plantation company.
The CEO has accused the Board of Directors of approving “ridiculous deals”, despite the objections of the management executive committee. The “ridiculous deals” included a GBP100 million additional investment in Felda Cambridge Nanosystems Ltd which had already lost RM117 million in the past few years and another RM300 to acquire a 30% stake in a creamer factory, which is not part of Felda’s core business.
Tan Sri Isa and the Board of Directors have to date failed to provide any clarity or rebuttal against the CEO allegations, lending credence to the veracity that the Board has indeed approved these “ridiculous deals”.
On the other hand, Tan Sri Isa has led the Board to suspend the CEO and four other members of the Management, including the Chief Financial Officer for alleged irregularities in payments from a Dubai-based Afgan company, Safitex Trading LLC to a FGVH subsidiary, Delima Oil Sdn Bhd.
According to the Board, Safitex’s debt to FGVH increased from US$8.3 million in 2015 to US$11.7 million in 2016.
Dato’ Zakaria has publicly denied any wrongdoing or “violation of the corporate governance code”. Initially, in a letter to the Chairman dated 5 June 2017, Reuters reported that he claimed “The payment process... was approved and implemented by the previous chief executive...”
He has also insisted that the amount involved was only US$11.7 million, barely 0.2% of FGVH’s total revenue which did not justify the gravity of the actions taken by Tan Sri Isa.
Yesterday, in a Edge Financial Daily report, Dato’ Zakaria further insisted that the Safitex debt is “100% recoverable”.
However, despite the denial and the attempt to make light of any possible transgression in the above payment, Dato’ Zakaria did not sound convincing in the reasons for the delay of payment by the Afgan company.
No tangible reasons have been given as to why the sum has been outstanding since 2015, or why it would be recoverable. It further begs the question as to why the Afgan company has been given such special leeway in payment terms, particularly since the sums involved were so small in the first place.
Juxtaposed against the company’s performance where its profits plunged dramatically from RM982 million in 2013 to RM325 million, RM182 million and RM31 million in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively, the exposes by both the Board and the Management raises major questions on the scale of shenanigans taking place in FGVH over the past few years.
Therefore, the dire situation in FGVH demands more than merely the appointment of Dato’ Seri Idris Jala to be an “independent party” to establish the facts of the case and recommend the way forward. The former Minister’s appointment and any outcomes arising from his appointment will smell of a political compromise and smack of opaque cover ups.
The gravity of the failure and imbroglio in FGVH demands a thorough investigative audit by both the Auditor-General (AG) as well as the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC). This will not be the first time an audit is carried out in a public-listed company substantially owned and controlled by the Government. Previously, the PAC has also carried out a thorough investigations of the construction of KLIA2 by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad.
Both the AG and the PAC have previously refused to re-open investigations into the 1MDB scandal despite new incriminating evidence from the United States Department of Justice, as well as to initiate investigations into SRC International for transferring tens of millions of ringgit into the personal bank account of the Prime Minister.
However, Malaysians hope that both the AG and the PAC will still carry out part of their responsibility to investigate major shenanigans in government-linked companies to protect the interest of the nation’s taxpayers. The failure by the AG and the PAC to do so would only go to prove that these vital institutions have been severely compromised to ensure that only minor infractions in the civil service will be investigated.
The CEO has accused the Board of Directors of approving “ridiculous deals”, despite the objections of the management executive committee. The “ridiculous deals” included a GBP100 million additional investment in Felda Cambridge Nanosystems Ltd which had already lost RM117 million in the past few years and another RM300 to acquire a 30% stake in a creamer factory, which is not part of Felda’s core business.
Tan Sri Isa and the Board of Directors have to date failed to provide any clarity or rebuttal against the CEO allegations, lending credence to the veracity that the Board has indeed approved these “ridiculous deals”.
On the other hand, Tan Sri Isa has led the Board to suspend the CEO and four other members of the Management, including the Chief Financial Officer for alleged irregularities in payments from a Dubai-based Afgan company, Safitex Trading LLC to a FGVH subsidiary, Delima Oil Sdn Bhd.
According to the Board, Safitex’s debt to FGVH increased from US$8.3 million in 2015 to US$11.7 million in 2016.
Dato’ Zakaria has publicly denied any wrongdoing or “violation of the corporate governance code”. Initially, in a letter to the Chairman dated 5 June 2017, Reuters reported that he claimed “The payment process... was approved and implemented by the previous chief executive...”
He has also insisted that the amount involved was only US$11.7 million, barely 0.2% of FGVH’s total revenue which did not justify the gravity of the actions taken by Tan Sri Isa.
Yesterday, in a Edge Financial Daily report, Dato’ Zakaria further insisted that the Safitex debt is “100% recoverable”.
However, despite the denial and the attempt to make light of any possible transgression in the above payment, Dato’ Zakaria did not sound convincing in the reasons for the delay of payment by the Afgan company.
No tangible reasons have been given as to why the sum has been outstanding since 2015, or why it would be recoverable. It further begs the question as to why the Afgan company has been given such special leeway in payment terms, particularly since the sums involved were so small in the first place.
Juxtaposed against the company’s performance where its profits plunged dramatically from RM982 million in 2013 to RM325 million, RM182 million and RM31 million in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively, the exposes by both the Board and the Management raises major questions on the scale of shenanigans taking place in FGVH over the past few years.
Therefore, the dire situation in FGVH demands more than merely the appointment of Dato’ Seri Idris Jala to be an “independent party” to establish the facts of the case and recommend the way forward. The former Minister’s appointment and any outcomes arising from his appointment will smell of a political compromise and smack of opaque cover ups.
The gravity of the failure and imbroglio in FGVH demands a thorough investigative audit by both the Auditor-General (AG) as well as the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC). This will not be the first time an audit is carried out in a public-listed company substantially owned and controlled by the Government. Previously, the PAC has also carried out a thorough investigations of the construction of KLIA2 by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad.
Both the AG and the PAC have previously refused to re-open investigations into the 1MDB scandal despite new incriminating evidence from the United States Department of Justice, as well as to initiate investigations into SRC International for transferring tens of millions of ringgit into the personal bank account of the Prime Minister.
However, Malaysians hope that both the AG and the PAC will still carry out part of their responsibility to investigate major shenanigans in government-linked companies to protect the interest of the nation’s taxpayers. The failure by the AG and the PAC to do so would only go to prove that these vital institutions have been severely compromised to ensure that only minor infractions in the civil service will be investigated.
Friday, May 26, 2017
The MACC will never shake its politically tainted image unless it starts taking action against power abuse and corruption in relation to 1MDB and SRC International
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has been putting up a brave front in making dozens of arrests of corrupt government officials from state utilities and zakat officials to senior police officers around the country.
While none of the key arrests to date have resulted in convictions in the court of law, the relatively aggressive effort in fighting corruption is to be applauded.
However, all its efforts have failed to redeem the commission’s tarnished and tainted image of being a political tool of the Najib administration, and for its failure in touching anything remotely connected to the two largest scandals afflicting Malaysia today – 1MDB and SRC International.
In comparison, over the period of a year, the Singapore authorities have prosecuted and secured guilty verdicts against various parties involved in facilitating the laundering of illegally sourced funds passing through the Singapore banking system.
The most recent conviction was against a remisier who provided a S$3,000 inducement to a financial analyst to produce a favourable valuation report for a then proposed US$2.4 billion acquisition of Petrosaudi Oil Services Limited (PSOSL) by 1MDB.
In Malaysia, the Auditor-General and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have already flagged the transaction as highly irregular and failed all tests of corporate goverance and due diligence – with the management both misleading the 1MDB Board of Directors, as well as ignoring the instructions of the latter.
Why is it that while the Singapore authorities have not only completed the prosecution and conviction of those found guilty of being involved in the above fraudulent transaction, but in Malaysia, the MACC isn’t even remotely close to completing its investigations. In fact, the MACC Chief Commissioner has consistently refused to confirm if there are any investigations on the parties involved in the 1MDB scandal which have burdened the Malaysian tax-payers with RM42 billion of financial liabilities.
As a result, regardless of how many other arrests the MACC made against police officers and other agencies, the rakyat will forever view MACC as a biased agency which will only take action against the fish fries and not the monster sharks. This is especially since it is now public knowledge, undenied by the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak himself, that at least US$731 million originating from 1MDB and RM69 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd found its way to his personal bank account with Ambank Bhd.
The Chief Commissioner, Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad had tried to brush off criticisms of MACC’s tardiness by claiming that actions against politicians are delayed because they didn’t want the issue to be made used of by politicians for the purposes of campaigning.
"There is no issue of 'pilih kasih' (favouritism), it's about timing. If we take action straightaway, then that's favouritism," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.
Datuk Dzulkifli could not be more misguided in his rational for not completing its investigations on 1MDB and SRC International, or prosecuting the politicians involved. In fact, his failure to take action against corrupt politicians on a timely basis is itself an act of ‘favouritism’.
It is not the business of MACC to interfere with politics or political campaigning. The business of MACC is to prosecute the corrupt, regardless of whether the person is the Prime Minister or a lowly civil servant. The constitution provides for the fact that all Malaysians are equal under the eyes of the law.
Secondly, Datuk Dzulkifli appears to insinuate that political campaigning against corrupt officials is a despicable and dishonourable activity. The MACC Chief could not be more wrong. Campaigning against the politically corrupt officials is central and integral to the concept of electoral democracy.
The rakyat must have the opportunity to hear and understand all the relevant facts, so that they are able to make informed choices during the General Election.
So, Datuk Dzulkifli, we call upon you to use the powers vested upon MACC to take immediate and uncompromised actions against political figures who are involved in abuse of power, the misappropriation of state funds as well as corruption. It will go a long way towards redeeming the severely damaged image of MACC and demonstrating that you really act without fear or favour.
While none of the key arrests to date have resulted in convictions in the court of law, the relatively aggressive effort in fighting corruption is to be applauded.
However, all its efforts have failed to redeem the commission’s tarnished and tainted image of being a political tool of the Najib administration, and for its failure in touching anything remotely connected to the two largest scandals afflicting Malaysia today – 1MDB and SRC International.
In comparison, over the period of a year, the Singapore authorities have prosecuted and secured guilty verdicts against various parties involved in facilitating the laundering of illegally sourced funds passing through the Singapore banking system.
The most recent conviction was against a remisier who provided a S$3,000 inducement to a financial analyst to produce a favourable valuation report for a then proposed US$2.4 billion acquisition of Petrosaudi Oil Services Limited (PSOSL) by 1MDB.
In Malaysia, the Auditor-General and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have already flagged the transaction as highly irregular and failed all tests of corporate goverance and due diligence – with the management both misleading the 1MDB Board of Directors, as well as ignoring the instructions of the latter.
Why is it that while the Singapore authorities have not only completed the prosecution and conviction of those found guilty of being involved in the above fraudulent transaction, but in Malaysia, the MACC isn’t even remotely close to completing its investigations. In fact, the MACC Chief Commissioner has consistently refused to confirm if there are any investigations on the parties involved in the 1MDB scandal which have burdened the Malaysian tax-payers with RM42 billion of financial liabilities.
As a result, regardless of how many other arrests the MACC made against police officers and other agencies, the rakyat will forever view MACC as a biased agency which will only take action against the fish fries and not the monster sharks. This is especially since it is now public knowledge, undenied by the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak himself, that at least US$731 million originating from 1MDB and RM69 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd found its way to his personal bank account with Ambank Bhd.
The Chief Commissioner, Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad had tried to brush off criticisms of MACC’s tardiness by claiming that actions against politicians are delayed because they didn’t want the issue to be made used of by politicians for the purposes of campaigning.
"There is no issue of 'pilih kasih' (favouritism), it's about timing. If we take action straightaway, then that's favouritism," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.
Datuk Dzulkifli could not be more misguided in his rational for not completing its investigations on 1MDB and SRC International, or prosecuting the politicians involved. In fact, his failure to take action against corrupt politicians on a timely basis is itself an act of ‘favouritism’.
It is not the business of MACC to interfere with politics or political campaigning. The business of MACC is to prosecute the corrupt, regardless of whether the person is the Prime Minister or a lowly civil servant. The constitution provides for the fact that all Malaysians are equal under the eyes of the law.
Secondly, Datuk Dzulkifli appears to insinuate that political campaigning against corrupt officials is a despicable and dishonourable activity. The MACC Chief could not be more wrong. Campaigning against the politically corrupt officials is central and integral to the concept of electoral democracy.
The rakyat must have the opportunity to hear and understand all the relevant facts, so that they are able to make informed choices during the General Election.
So, Datuk Dzulkifli, we call upon you to use the powers vested upon MACC to take immediate and uncompromised actions against political figures who are involved in abuse of power, the misappropriation of state funds as well as corruption. It will go a long way towards redeeming the severely damaged image of MACC and demonstrating that you really act without fear or favour.
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