Dato’ Seri Najib Razak must summon the US Ambassador and file an official protest to his golf buddy, President Donald Trump against the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions for disparaging and destroying Malaysia’s international reputation

US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions called the Malaysian 1MDB scandal “kleptocracy at its worst” at the Global Forum on Asset Recovery hosted by the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. He informed the international audience that half of the US$3.5 billion in assets seized by the Department of Justice’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative was related to its suits on 1MDB.

He said that allegedly corrupt officials and their associates had reportedly used the 1MDB funds for a “lavish spending spree” such as US$200 million for real estate in South California and New York, US$130 million in artwork, US$100 million in an American music label and a US$265 million yacht.

1MDB officials allegedly laundered more than US$4.5 billion in total, he said, through a complex web of opaque transactions and shell companies with bank accounts in various countries such as Switzerland, Singapore, Luxembourg and the US.

These allegations, while not new, have taken a more serious turn as the United States Attorney-General has now made these allegations at the World Bank international conference.

The question now is whether our Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak will just let a foreign country disparage and destroy Malaysia’s international reputation and credibility?  Is he not going to speak out to defend Malaysian’s honour?  Does he think that the US Attorney-General’s speech will have no impact Malaysia’s attractiveness as a destination for tourism and investment?

We call upon the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak to summon the United States Ambassador to express in the harshest possible terms our protest towards all the allegations made by the US Attorney-General.  In fact, he should immediately file an official complaint with his golf-buddy, President Donald Trump and demand an apology from the United States government.

This week Dato’ Seri Najib is scheduled to address the UMNO General. There could not be a better opportunity for the Prime Minister to boast to his faithful that he has taken the firmest possible action against foreign powers bent on sabotaging Malaysia’s economy and progress.

Hence why is Dato’ Seri Najib Razak remaining quiet as a mouse?  Is it because Jeff Sessions has merely stated what is the inconvenient truth for him and his administration?

In fact, the Government’s continued silence to the disparaging of Malaysia’s reputation and credibility by top Government leader overseas only serves to confirm that Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and his Government is guilty as charged – billions of dollars have been laundered by “corrupt officials and their associates”.

In that case, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak must answer to every Malaysian as to why not a single person relating to the 1MDB scandal has been investigated and charged for these heinous crimes in Malaysia.

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If Tan Sri Apandi Ali is serious about 1MDB, why has it taken him forever to “instruct” the Police to continue their investigations?

After untold months of utter silence and inaction, two days ago, Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Apandi Ali suddenly said that investigation papers into 1MDB were still on-going.

He said further investigation into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is necessary following “the lack of evidence in certain areas”.

“When the investigation papers are referred to us, we go through them. We find a lack of evidence. So, we give instruction that the team should carry out investigation in certain areas (to the Police)... About 20 to 25 per cent of the investigation papers need to be reviewed,” he said at a press conference.

If he really needed more evidence, why did Tan Sri Apandi Ali reject the request for mutual legal assistance requests from the Swiss Attorney General?  In fact, why haven’t Tan Sri Apandi Ali sought assistance from the United States Department of Justice (US DOJ) for more information on the tens of billions of ringgit laundered from 1MDB funds?

Instead, in June this year, Tan Sri Apandi Ali chose to dismiss the evidence put forward by the US DOJ by accusing them of being “politically motivated”. The question for our AG is, did he even investigate those claims before concluding that they were “politically motivated”?

Similarly, the police are complicit in this shameful game of passing the parcel. In September, the newly appointed Inspector-General of Police, Dato’ Seri Mohd Fuzi Haron announced that the police had closed its investigations and wouldn’t reopen them unless instructed by the PAC or the cabinet. Is the new IGP so spineless that he will not investigate crimes without the green light of his political masters?

The AG too has only confirmed the continuing investigations because of Minister in Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman’s reply in Parliament on 30 October that they were still ongoing.

The Malaysian authorities seem to think that the 1MDB issue is a big joke given the way they’ve been handling it. Investigations start and close and get reopened by different authorities, yet no one seems to be getting closer to any firm conclusions.

In Parliament, questions on 1MDB get rejected because matters are either in court or under investigations. Which court matter or investigations they are rejected on are never revealed.

It cannot be clearer that all the institutions enshrined in our constitution to protect the interest of the people from criminals such as those who have robbed 1MDB of billions of ringgit have been compromised by the top leadership of Barisan Nasional.

The people of Malaysia have a heavy responsibility in the coming general election as only they can punish those who have grossly abused their power, accrued outrageous wealth for themselves and failed Malaysians who have placed their trust in them.

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Dato’ Seri Najib Razak must sue Newsweek and CNN for calling him a “crook” to redeem not only his reputation, but also the pride and honour of Malaysians

Internationally renowned journal, Newsweek published an article by former World Bank President, Paul Wolfowitz with the headline “Trump meeting with Malaysian crook Najib reeks of the swamp” on 13 September 2017.

At the same time, internationally renowned broadcaster, CNN reported the meeting between President Trump and Dato’ Seri Najib Razak in its “Conflict of Interest Watch” story.  They reported “Najib’s alleged role in what the United States Justice Department called an international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated from a Malaysian fund, money that the Justice Department says should have been used to help the Malaysian people but instead was used by a small number of individual to fuel their, quote: "astonishing greed".

There is absolutely no question that the reputation of Dato’ Seri Najib Razak has been torn to shreds by the international media.  The Prime Minister’s vain attempts at lifting his profile as an adored international leader invited to the White House by President Trump have not only failed to achieve his goals, but destroyed whatever semblance of credibility he might have had left.

Worse, he isn’t the sole or biggest victim of being labelled an international “crook”.  The utlimate victim is Malaysia and its citizens as we have no where to hide our faces as we have been shamed almost beyond redemption.  We have lost our honour and pride when the leader of our country becomes an infamous “crook” while Malaysia earns the kleptocracy badge.

What ‘face’ do we have left when our Prime Minister goes to the United States to help make America great again by offering their economy our crown jewels worth some RM60 billion, but all we get from the US media is mud thrown at our faces?

We call upon the Prime Minister to put together the best team of international lawyers to sue Newsweek and CNN for defamation and publication of “fake news” to redeem not only his reputation, but our honour and pride.

After all, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak is well-known for going to the Court to protect his so-called reputation.  I have been at the receiving end of two such defamation – one in 2014 and one in 2017 with regards to 1MDB, both of which are still undergoing the legal process.

At the very least, the Prime Minister’s lawyer, Datuk Hafarizam Harun should inform both Newsweek and CNN that Dato’ Seri Najib Razak is open to an apology.  He has offered me the same option just two days ago, claiming that the Prime Minister “is open-minded and would accept an 'I am sorry Mr Prime Minister'” in order for a legal settlement to be reached.

However, if Dato’ Seri Najib Razak doesn’t even have the courage to salvage his reputation and credibility internationally by suing Newsweek and CNN, then the entire world would only be convinced that he is guilty as charged.  In which case, there would of course be absolutely no reason for me to offer Dato’ Seri Najib Razak any apology for pretty much saying the same things.

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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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Perfect opportunity for Auditor-General and PAC to re-look into 1MDB scandal: review 1MDB-IPIC settlement which had Malaysians bearing US$7.01 bil. to resolve 1MDB’s US$3.5 bil. bond borrowing

Yesterday, the Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani desperately tried to backtrack from his original assertion which tried to shift the blame for the 1MDB-IPIC “settlement” to the Prime Minister.

The glorified ‘settlement’ had in effect shifted the burden on repaying 1MDB’s US$3.5 billion bond to the Ministry of Finance, despite repeated assertions by 1MDB and Dato’ Seri Johari himself that 1MDB has already paid IPIC US$3.51 billion in the past.  This meant that Malaysians have to bear a whopping US$7.01 billion to resolve 1MDB’s US$3.5 billion bond borrowing before even taking into consideration the annual interest payments of approximately US$200 million!

“I don't report to him. I never contradicted the Prime Minister. Don't try to split me and the prime minister with this matter," the Second Finance Minister told Malaysiakini.

However, I never accused him of “contradicting” the Prime Minister.  I merely repeated what he had said earlier, which was “the Prime Minister has made the decision for the country. That’s it,” and that the matter is now “beyond [him]”.  His own statement clearly showed that while he had all along said that the dispute between 1MDB and IPIC should go to arbitration and that he was “very confident” of the Malaysian parties winning the case, he had to wash his hands off the matter as the matter has been decided by the Prime Minister.

I had then said that if the US$3.5 billion or RM15 billion matter is “beyond [him]” as a Finance Minister, then he might as well resign from his office.

However, Dato’ Seri Johari shot back, asking "Who is Pua to ask me to resign?”  “I don't report to him. I never contradicted the prime minister. Don't try to split me and the Prime Minister with this matter," he added.

Dato’ Seri Johari appears to have forgotten, while he reports to the Prime Minister in the Cabinet, he is there to serve the interest of Malaysians and not that of the Prime Minister.  If the decision of the Prime Minister is clearly detrimental to the interest of Malaysians, as the settlement showed, then it is certainly the duty of a Finance Minister to make things right.

However, the Second Finance Minister is clearly more interested in blindly supporting Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, by brushing off my allegation that Najib was conflicted in making the decision with regard to the settlement.

I call upon Dato’ Seri Johari to access his conscience and determine facts of the matter, something which is fully within the powers of a Finance Minister. Of the US$3.51 billion which 1MDB had purportedly paid to IPIC, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak has received US$30 million in in personal bank account in while his stepson, Riza Aziz received US$238 million via his company, Red Granite.

The above facts which were outlined in United States Department of Justice (US DOJ) suit to seize US$1 billion of laundered assets by funds originating from 1MDB has never been disputed by Dato’ Seri Najib Razak himself, and if indeed true, the clearly puts the Prime Minister in a position of conflict when deciding on the settlement terms with IPIC.

If the Second Finance Minister is genuine in his desire to “serve the nation” as professed in his March open letter to me, then I ask him to join me in calling for the Auditor-General (AG) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to re-look into the 1MDB scandal in the light of the latest developments.

It should be noted that the PAC was told by 1MDB and its CEO, Arul Kanda that all payments which have been made to IPIC would be used to offset the US$3.5 billion 1MDB bonds which were guaranteed by IPIC.  The PAC also never made the recommendation for the Ministry of Finance to take over the liability for the bonds from IPIC – that would be just ridiculous.

Hence, it is crucial for both the AG and the PAC to re-visit the 1MDB scandal in the light of new evidence, including but not limited to the “settlement” agreement with IPIC as well as the new information contained in the US DOJ suit to seize the US$1 billion worth of laundered assets with funds originating from 1MDB.

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Did Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani just blame the Prime Minister for sacrificing US$3.5 billion in 1MDB’s “settlement” with IPIC for “the bigger picture”?

In an exclusive response to Malaysiakini yesterday, Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani insisted that he has proof that Aabar Investment PJS Limited (“Aabar(BVI)”), an entity incorporated in the British Virgin Islands which 1MDB has already paid US$3.51 billion was a genuine subsidiary of International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) of Abu Dhabi.

"As far as I am concerned, based on records provided by 1MDB to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) prior to the settlement agreement, Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (BVI) is a subsidiary of IPIC.  A fact which was confirmed by the Registrar of Corporate Affairs of the British Virgin Islands by its letter dated Aug 11, 2016," he told Malaysiakini.

The question is, if the so-called “proof” is so incontrovertible, then it makes absolutely no sense to concede on a whopping US$3.5 billion or more than RM15 billion based on today’s exchange rates!

Instead of being all gung-ho in being able to win the IPIC-initiated arbitration, the Second Finance Minister said “the matter is beyond [him]” in a subsequent press conference yesterday.  He now made a complete U-turn claiming that the government decided to look after the “bigger picture”.

“At the end of the day, the government felt that they are looking at the bigger picture on this, in terms of the relationship between Malaysian and Abu Dhabi and so on… So I think that’s beyond me. I’m going for the facts, but this is a bigger thing.”

In fact, the Second Finance Minister shifted the blame to the Prime Minister. “The Prime Minister has made the decision for the country. That’s it,” he retorted.

But that’s exactly what Malaysians are worried about – that it’s the tainted Prime Minister who is making the decisions because he is conflicted!

Based on documents revealed by the United States Department of Justice (US DOJ), which were corroborated by the evidence produced by the Singapore prosecution against its rogue bankers, from the funds transferred to Aabar(BVI), Dato’ Seri Najib Razak personally received a sum of US$30 million in his personal bank account in Ambank in 2012.

Worse, his stepson, Riza Aziz received US$238 million via his Red Granite group of companies.  Some US$100 million of the sum was used to produce the Hollywood movie, The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo Dicaprio.

In addition, isn’t Dato’ Seri Johari interested to find out if, despite the incontrovertible “proof” in his possession, that Aabar(BVI) had been fraudulently set up by the officers of IPIC – Khadem Al-Qubaishi and Mohamed Badawy Al-Husseiny, both of whom have been sacked by IPIC – in collusion with 1MDB officers to defraud both the Abu Dhabi and Malaysian governments?

Hence the question must be asked as to whether Dato’ Seri Najib Razak decided to ‘settle’ the IPIC dispute which resulted in US$3.5 billion of additional liability for Malaysians because it is really in the interest of the country or, to prevent IPIC from further exposing and confirming his complicity in the entire 1MDB misappropriation scandal.

Therefore, it is utterly irresponsible of Dato’ Seri Johari to wash his hands off the Ministry of Finance taking on the RM15 billion mega-liability.  Instead of acting ignorant, shouldn’t the Second Finance Minister satisfy himself that the Prime Minister has not made the decision out of self-interest? In reality, was the “bigger picture” a blatant attempt to save Najib and Barisan Nasional from losing in the next General Election?

If the matter is indeed “beyond” him as he pleads, then he might as well resign as the Second Finance Minister.

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Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani must think that Malaysians are born yesterday to buy his excuse that the Government “can't press charges on 1MDB without a full picture”.

I was stunned by the Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani’s remarks to the media that the Government “can’t press charges on 1MDB without a full picture”.  I had certainly expected better of him, as he was a known critic of 1MDB before his appointment as a Minister.

"The transfer of the money to the accounts and so on, it’s not that. That’s only half the story. If you want to charge people, you need the complete story," Johari said at a luncheon talk organised by Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd which was reported by the Edge Financial Daily yesterday.

Of course, we need the complete story in order to charge any person for a crime.  However, the question is there must be a concerted effort to investigate the crime. 

From what we can see happening in Malaysia at this point of time, there is no attempt at all to investigate the crimes everyone can see which have taken place in Malaysia.

The United States Department of Justice (US DOJ) has clearly presented all documentary evidence of how funds amounting to more than US$5.6 billion have been siphoned from 1MDB and laundered overseas.  This included more than US$1 billion which have been siphoned to Good Star Limited which was owned by Jho Low, whose whereabouts are a mystery today.  The 1MDB management had persistently tried to hide this fact by lying that Good Star Limited was owned by 1MDB’s joint venture partner, Petrosaudi International Limited.

In Singapore, bankers have been sent to jail and bank licences have been withdrawn for facilitating the above same transactions.  This has included funds which has passed through to and from a Tanore Finance Corporation via its bank account with Falcon Private Bank to the personal bank account of Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.

And yet, despite the obvious and ease of accessing all the relevant evidence of grand corruption, the Second Finance Minister has the cheek to tell Malaysians that the Government “can’t press charges without the full picture”.

Dato’ Seri Johari even had the gall to dismiss the case in Singapore as not having involved Malaysians. "The governance issue happened in Singapore, not in Malaysia. And those characters are actually Singaporeans,” he said.

The Minister is obviously pretending very hard to be ignorant and stupid because the Singapore cases clearly named the parties who laundered the funds included Jho Low, his father Tan Sri Larry Low and other associates who were Malaysians.  Evidence including banking transactions were presented to the Court demonstrating how these funds stolen from 1MDB were misappropriated, including the amounts ending up in the Prime Minister’s bank account.

If the Minister is really clueless about the evidence and what took place in the US DOJ and Singapore Courts, I will be most happy to share the information and documents with the Minister.

However, please don’t tell half-truths to the Malaysian public that "even the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) and AG (auditor-general) were unable to specifically tell what went wrong.

The AG has discovered many wrongs which were cited in the AG’s Report on 1MDB which the Cabinet has decided to classify under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).  This was despite the fact that 1MDB had refused full cooperation with the AG by denying the AG access to crucial banking documents of its overseas subsidiaries.

But even what little revealed in the PAC Report was sufficient for the PAC to conclude massive wrong-doing on the part of the management.  The PAC has specifically demanded that Datuk Shahrol Halmi be investigated for his role in causing the billions of ringgit of losses to 1MDB and the Malaysian Government. 

It has been nearly a year since the report has been tabled in Parliament. Why hasn’t any action at all be taken against Datuk Shahrol Halmi?  In fact, why is Datuk Shahrol Halmi still a Director at the PEMANDU agency in the Prime Minister’s Department?

The reality is, not only has the Government made no effort into investigating the scandal, it is blocking all attempts to investigate the crime. For example, the Attorney-General abused his power by instructing the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) from further investigating the US$681 million or more which were discovered in the Prime Minister’s bank account. Subsequently, he rejected a request for cooperation by the Swiss Attorney-General to investigate the case.

Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani may not have been involved in the attempts to stall or stop the investigations, as he was only appointed a Minister in July last year.  However, he should not try to belittle the intelligence of ordinary Malaysians or take us for fools by claiming that the Government can’t press charges because it doesn’t have a “full picture”.

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New exposés during Singapore trial revealed how SRC International had similarly misappropriated funds using the same dubious investment funds as 1MDB

Malaysians are now thoroughly familiar with how 1MDB has misappropriated some US$7 billion of investment funds, of which approximately US$731 million has ended up in the Prime Minister’s personal bank account at Ambank, as exposed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

One of the key modus operandi which was used by 1MDB to launder the funds was to first move the money into seemingly legitimate investment funds. Subsequently, these funds will then pass through the money to special purpose vehicles created by Jho Low and his associates to be utilised or further disbursed to third parties.

For example, the 2013 and 2014 financial statements of 1MDB which were previously audited by Deloitte Malaysia, showed that nearly US$1.6 billion were invested in overseas funds without the provision of any details.

From the US DOJ filings, we now know that 1MDB, via its subsidiary, 1MDB Global Investment Limited, had in 2013 invested the funds with Devonshire Growth Fund (US$646 mil), Enterprise Emerging Markets Fund (US$415 mil) and Cistenique Investment Fund (US$531 mil).  From these funds, a total of US$1.265 mil was transferred to two British Virgin Islands incorporated companies, Tanore Finance Corporation and Granton Property Holdings, owned by Eric Tan Kim Loong, an associate of Jho Low.  From Tanore, US$681 million was transferred to Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.

For SRC International which was funded with RM4 billion from Kumpulan Wang Amanah Persaraan (KWAP), the March 2014 financial statements audited by Deloitte Malaysia had disclosed a whopping sum of RM3.81 billion categorised as “investment portfolio outside Malaysia”.

Other than a US$60 million failed investment in Mongolia’s Gobi Coal and Energy Ltd which we have discovered via past parliamentary replies, Malaysians have been left in the dark as to where and what exactly these funds have been invested in.

Malaysians’ worst fears were realised when the Switzerland Attorney-General issued a public statement on 5 October 2016 that “the sum of US$800 million appears to have been misappropriated from investments in natural resources made by the SRC sovereign fund.”

“Secondly, it is suspected that a ‘Ponzi’ scheme fraud (i.e. paying the returns on initial investments from funds obtained from subsequent investors rather than from legitimate revenue from the investments) was committed to conceal the misappropriations from both the SRC fund and from 1MDB,” he further disclosed.

Last week, we have received confirmation from the Singapore courts where the trial of former BSI banker, Yeo Jiawei was being held, the money from SRC International have been launder throught the same vehicles used to mask the transfer of the 1MDB investment funds above.

Testifying at his own trial, Yeo said the scheme devised was for SRC International, to invest in a fiduciary fund called Enterprise Emerging Market Fund (EEMF) in 2011.  This is the same exact fund which was used by 1MDB to misappropriate US$415 million as mentioned above.

He explained that a fiduciary fund was one where the client, in this case SRC, will direct the manager of the fund on what to do with the money invested.

He also informed the court that SRC asked that EEMF extend a loan of US$100 million to a company called Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners whose beneficiary owner is Eric Tan Kim Loong, like Tanore and Granton.  He further disclosed SRC then gave an indemnity that shielded BSI from responsibility should all the money be lost.

The revelations at the Singapore courts are explosive.  They not only lend credence to the suspicions and allegations that the RM3.81 billion “investments in overseas portfolios” in SRC International have effectively all been siphoned away, just like what has happened in 1MDB; they exposed the fact that these “investment funds” like EEMF received direct instructions from SRC as to how the funds are used and provided an indemnity to the relevant parties.

It above has proven firstly that EEMF, Devonshire and Cistenique investment funds are sham investments which 1MDB and SRC has participated in, secondly and more damagingly, that SRC directly given instructions for the funds to be siphoned to vehicles such as Blackstone.

We call on the Minister of Finance to come clean with the transactions which have taken place in SRC International.  We also call upon the authorities – the Police, the MACC and Bank Negara Malaysia to carry out full investigations, particularly on the Directors an Management of the company for the crimes of theft, criminal breach of trust and money-laundering.

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Ministerial replies in Parliament over the multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal, when there were replies, has made a mockery of our august institution

When travelling overseas, Malaysians are now inundated with questions as to how Dato’ Seri Najib Razak remains firmly in power as the Prime Minister of Malaysia despite a few billion ringgit of funds which were misappropriated from a state owned investment firm finding its way into his personal account.

Foreigners are bewildered as to how our so-called democratic system could tolerate such unprecedented excesses.

The reason is simple.  Our parliamentary institution is a mere facade whose sole existence is to lend legitimacy to those who wield the ultimate power.  It is a pesky inconvenience which Dato’ Seri Najib Razak needs to tolerate to continue to present a semblance of a modern progressive nation.

When asked of the Prime Minister’s near total absence from Parliamentary sittings, the Honourable Speaker defended Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, claiming that the Prime Minister would have more important things to do than “to sit here and see the same face and then they (MPs) ask irrelevant questions”.

If even the Speaker of the House treats the elected Members of Parliaments with such contempt, little could be expected of the Ministers and Deputy Ministers who are left to respond to the obviously “irrelevant questions” from MPs.

Questions were asked about the actions taken by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission pursuant the charges laid out by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to seize more than US$1 billion of assets laundered by Low Taek Jho and the Prime Minister’s stepson, Riza Aziz with funds misappropriated from 1MDB.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Razali Ibrahim responded that there is no need for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to question Riza Aziz, the stepson of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, as he is not being probed for graft..

"For the MACC, Riza is not under a corruption probe so there is no need for the MACC to summon him (for questioning)", he said.

And when MP for Bayan Baru, Sim Tze Tzin asked about DOJ’s allegations that Riza had bought luxury properties overseas with 1MDB funds, Razali audaciously replied, "what's wrong if people with lots of money buy things?"

Obviously the point that these funds were stolen from funds managed by the Government did not matter to the Minister.

Separately the MP for Puchong, Gobind Singh asked about the need to re-open MACC’s investigations into the billions of ringgit found in the Prime Minister’s personal bank account in the light of the DOJ filings. Datuk Razali Ibrahim astonishingly responded that the concluded MACC probe on Dato’ Seri Najib Abdul Razak's RM2.6 billion ‘donation’ did not look into the origins of the money.

"We (the MACC) were only looking into corruption, not where the money came from,” he said.

"We can't make assumptions about 1MDB, because of things in the US and Switzerland… They may be looking at the money trail, we only look at the question of corruption," he added while wrapping up his part of the Budget 2017 debate speech, focusing on the MACC and Felda.

The answer is as bizarre as it is dumbfounding.  How can you rule out corruption if you fail to investigate the money trail?  In fact, the admission by the Minister that MACC did not bother investigating the money trail to trace the origins of the funds which ended up in the Prime Minister’s accounts only goes to justify the call for MACC to re-open investigations because they have failed to perform their duties thoroughly and competently.

However, the fact that the Ministers can get away with such nonchalant and nonsensical replies in the highest legislative body of the land epitomises the collapse of Malaysia’s democratic institutions.

With a cabinet full of Ministers that know no shame, it explains why despite the severity and credibility of the corruption and embezzlement allegations against the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak remains firmly in grip of power.

The only way to remove Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and the ruling Barisan Nasional, is via the ballot box, even if Malaysians have to overcome the unfair electoral system.

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Has Malaysia become the new rogue nation of this world?

Malaysia has always prided itself to be a progressive nation which built its foundations the principles of justice and moderation.  Even before our own independence, we have always been on the on the right side of history, fighting the Axis powers during the World War II and was part of the coalition to halt the rise of communism in Southeast Asia.

Even during the worst of times during the Mahathir’s era of an authoritarian regime, we have never been regarded as a basket case like Cambodia, Burma, Iraq or God-forbid, North Korea.

Our leaders have been reasonably well-educated and speak with the right tones to ingratiate ourselves well in a world led by the United States, Europe and Japan.  Even our current Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak had tried extremely hard to be part of international elite fraternity with his constant, albeit rhetorical preaching of the “global movement of moderates”.

Who can forget, how hard our Prime Minister tried to be buddies with President Obama and how proud he was when he had the rare opportunity to have a round of golf with the American President in Hawaii not too long ago in December 2014?

How quickly things have changed in less than 2 years.

In July this year, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has labelled Malaysia a kleptocracy, with the single largest seizure of assets purchased with funds laundered in the United States which were misappropriated from 1MDB.  While Dato’ Seri Najib Razak was not an owner of the assets to be seized, the DOJ explicitly disclosed that he received US$731 million of these misappropriated funds in his personal bank account in Malaysia.

Despite the severity of the accusation by the US Attorney-General, Dato' Seri Najib has refused to deny the allegations and has chosen to remain silent.

Instead today, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak has decided that it is now in his best interest to pucker up to mighty China.  After all, China doesn’t pass judgement on who they deal with, regardless of whether it’s a rogue nation like North Korea or a Western counterpart like United States.  China’s investments for influence policy reaches out far and wide to third world countries all around the world, especially in Africa like, Nigeria, Sudan and Angola.

After the much-hyped promise of Middle-Eastern petrodollars-led investment boom in Malaysia failed to materialise, the Prime Minister is turning to Beijing to not only jumpstart our economy, but also to help him clean up his multi-billion dollar 1MDB mess.

It is one thing eschewing open tenders for mega-projects in the past to local Malaysian cronies of the ruling parties.  Now, the Prime Minister has decided that we should eschew open tenders and award mega-projects at inflated prices like the RM55 billion East Coast Rail Link to Chinese state-owned companies without any tender, or even the pretence of one.

Dato’ Seri Najib has decided to award of the above project to China Communications Construction Company Limited at a price more than double the price per kilometer of rail ever awarded in Malaysia with borrowings from China’s Export-Import Bank.  It is a clear attempt to siphon cash to payoff 1MDB’s outstanding debts, especially those embroiled with Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Corporation.

In exchange, Dato’ Seri Najib yields to Chinese geo-political and economic supremacy.  When the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal ruled that “there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line” in South China Sea, Malaysia has strangely refused to endorse the ruling despite the fact that we are ourselves laying claims on parts of the Spratlys archipelago in the area.

Worse, Malaysia together with Cambodia, has frustrated the attempts by ASEAN nations to recognise the ruling which had resulted in a meaningless water-down statement with regards to the disputes in South China Sea.

Yesterday, as if to hammer the nail into the coffin, the Prime Minister wrote in his special column in China Daily chastising the West including the “former colonial powers”, that “it is not for them to lecture countries they once exploited on how to conduct their own internal affairs today.”

It is a not so subtle statement to tell these Western powers that how Malaysia is a kleptocracy today isn’t any of their business.  If they are not happy with him, he is more than happy to embrace China, who couldn’t care less about how the Malaysian government leaders plunder the nation.

Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s stand has much bigger implications to Malaysia than merely an attempt to play off one Superpower against another.  The Prime Minister’s brazen foreign policy switch will lead Malaysia, intentionally or inadvertently, down the road of becoming a rogue nation, globally snubbed and internationally derided.

As basket cases like Burma, Vietnam or even Iran redeems themselves with greater rapprochement with the international communities, it is frightening that a Prime Minister, consumed with the need to save himself is taking actions which will lead us down the slippery slope.

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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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Who is Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani trying to fool when he said the Government would act against those found guilty of wrongdoing in the US Department of Justice's 1MDB suit?

Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani said the government will take legal action against the individuals named in the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) civil suit related to 1MDB, if they were found guilty of wrongdoing.

He even stressed that “there will be no two ways in dealing with this matter.”

The Finance Minister’s assertion must have been joking because the statement lacked any iota of credibility.

How is Datuk Johari expecting Malaysians and the international community to believe him when there has been a complete absence of outrage from the Najib administration on the DOJ suit which the Federal Bureau of Investigations claimed “the Malaysian people were defrauded on an enormous scale”.

The DOJ claimed that 1MDB officials and their associates stole more than $3.5 billion from the fund between 2009 and 2015 and laundered at least $1 billion through the US. The fund's officials tried to conceal the fund's origins through complex transactions that involved shell companies and bank accounts located in various countries.

Despite the enormity of the scam and scandal, the Malaysian Government has shown shocking indifference to the exposé. The Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak only took pains to emphasise that it is only a civil suit and it didn’t involve him.

This was despite the fact that the DOJ suit has highlighted that a “Malaysian Official 1” had received USD731 million from the embezzled funds.  The “MO1” undeniably referred to Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.  In fact, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Dato Seri Rahman Dahlan even said that “only an idiot don't know who MO1 is”.

Despite all of the above substantiated allegations made by the DOJ, there have been no concrete actions taken by Malaysian authorities.  There have been no developments from the Police who has purportedly been investigating the scandal for nearly two years already.  We certainly didn’t hear of an arrest warrant for Low Taek Jho or Riza Aziz to answer questions, despite their being named as the parties who laundered 1MDB’s funds in the United States.

In addition, the new Bank Negara Governor, Datuk Mohammad Ibrahim has publicly washed his hands off the 1MDB scandal by declaring the 1MDB case closed despite the money laundering allegations. Former MACC Deputy Chief Commissioner, Datuk Zakaria Jaffar have even declared that the 1MDB scandal isn't MACC’s jurisdiction.

Hence who is the Second Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul kidding when he told reporters that action will be taken?  He didn’t even have the courage as the Finance Minister II to direct Bank Negara to open money laundering allegations against all of the above implicated officials, including MO1.

In fact, why should the Malaysian Government be waiting for the DOJ suit to concluded in the US before we follow up with the necessary actions?

Given that it is Malaysian money which is stolen, shouldn’t Datuk Johari be jumping up and down demanding immediate action by our own Malaysian authorities, instead of being shamed by a foreign country?

It cannot be clearer that Datuk Johari had been quickly promoted to the Finance Minister II position to help cover up the entire shocking and shameful scandal, and to ensure that his master, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak remained unshaken by the entire global exposé.

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Did Datuk Mohammad Ibrahim cut a deal not to investigate Dato’ Seri Najib Razak for money-laundering offences to secure his appointment as the new Bank Negara Governor?

New Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Governor, Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim announced yesterday that there would be no reopening of investigations on 1MDB despite the spate of new evidence disclosed by United States Department of Justice (DOJ). He said that the central bank has already taken all necessary action against 1MDB.

"We have completed our investigations into 1MDB based on the information and investigation papers. We have imposed a penalty on the company. We have taken all necessary action entrusted on us by the law and we have closed the investigation," Muhammad said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

This single announcement has in one swift blow, destroyed all the credibility BNM has painstakingly accumulated over the past 2 decades.  The international financial community and government authorities will only laugh with incredulity how 1MDB was slapped on the wrist with an undisclosed administrative penalty when the DOJ charges that 1MDB and Malaysian officials have colluded to scam and launder more than USD3.5 billion from the company.

The Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing (Amendment) Act 2013 (“AMLA”) states that any person is deemed to have committed an offence if he or she “acquires, receives, possesses, disguises, transfers, converts, exchanges, carries, disposes of or uses proceeds of an unlawful activity” or “removes from or brings into Malaysia, proceeds of an unlawful activity”.

Bank Negara Malaysia, as the competent authority under the AMLA, must hence not abdicate from its responsibility to commence investigations into the above highly suspicious transactions for all relevant offences under the Act.

Worst, the DOJ specified that a significant part of the laundered funds found its way into the Malaysian banking system.  In particular, the charges established that USD731 million was deposited into the personal bank account of a “Malaysian Official One” (MO1) between 2011 and 2013. And the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan acknowledged that only an idiot would not know that MO1 refers to Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.

In addition, it is also an offence when one “conceals, disguises or impedes the establishment of the true nature, origin, location, movement, disposition, title of, rights with respect to, or ownership of, proceeds of an unlawful activity”.

Dato’ Seri Najib Razak has not only received the illicit funds, he had tried to conceal the transfers by pretending that it is a “donation” from some mysterious unnamed Arab donor, which has now proven to be a complete lie.

The question for the Bank Negara Governor is very simple - has Dato’ Seri Najib Razak been investigated for multi-billion ringgit money laundering scam which has been highlighted by the US DOJ?

As far as we are aware, based on public announcements by BNM, 1MDB has only been investigated for improper disclosure to the central bank for its fund transfers overseas.  The elements of a money laundering conspiracy involving top 1MDB officials and the Prime Minister has never been carried out.

Why is Dato’ Seri Najib Razak immune to money laundering investigations by BNM?  Why is Datuk Mohammad Ibrahim failing to restore the integrity and protect the sanctity of our financial system from money laundering activities aggressively like other jurisdictions?

The Rakyat are now asking if this is because the newly appointed Governor has struck a secret deal with the Prime Minister to secure his appointment?

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Datuk Hasan Arifin clearly a “cari makan” PAC Chairman when he refused to reopen 1MDB investigations and initiate new investigations into SRC International

The UK Guardian has labelled the 1MDB imbroglio as the “world’s largest financial scandal”.  This was after the US Attorney-General filed a suit to seize US$1 billion of assets laundered from 1MDB, the single largest action under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) laid out the charges in full, which showed more than US$3.5 billion have been misappropriated from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB.

Most importantly, the US DOJ detailed the exact transactions showing how US$731 million of the misappropriated funds ended up in the personal bank account of a “Malaysian Official 1” (MO1).  As the Minister in Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Rahman Dahlan rightly pointed out, only an idiot would not know that MO1 refers specifically to Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.

I have at the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting yesterday demanded that the PAC re-open investigations into 1MDB.  I said that the Malaysian Parliament will be failing to fulfil the grave responsibilities the people have entrusted us with if we fail to react and follow up with the single biggest scandal which has possibly irreparably damaged the nation’s reputation.

Datuk Hasan Arifin refused to allow the PAC to allow the investigations to be re-opened and confirmed his decision with a statement after the meeting.  The Chairman insisted that the PAC has already completed its report tabled to the Parliament in April 2016 and there was no necessity to re-visit the scandal.  He was supported by the Gerakan Member of Parliament for Simpang Renggam, Liang Teck Meng who dismissed the DOJ suit as mere “speculation”.

Datuk Hasan Arifin’s excuse is completely unacceptable.

Previously, the PAC never had the opportunity to call upon the Prime Minister to testify before the Committee because evidence relating to the embezzlement by Dato’ Seri Najib Razak was withheld by 1MDB.  Despite repeated requests by the Auditor-General for nearly a year, 1MDB had refused to supply documents, particularly bank statements of its overseas subsidiaries and accounts.

Datuk Hasan Arifin and the Najib administration had even twisted the PAC Report as “clearing Najib” despite the fact that Najib was never investigated as a result of the withheld evidence.

Hence with the DOJ suit, I told the PAC meeting that there is now concrete evidence to demand that the Prime Minister testify before the PAC.  It is the perfect opportunity for Dato’ Seri Najib Razak to confirm or deny the allegations.  I even said that if Najib was able to demonstrate concrete evidence which showed that he has been maligned by the DOJ, and that the monies obtained were indeed from Arab “donors”, I will be the first to stand up to defend and redeem his honour.

Datuk Hasan Arifin has also refused, without even providing any reason for my additional request to initiate investigations against another related Ministry of Finance subsidiary, SRC International Sdn Bhd.  This is despite the fact that the Attorney-General Tan Sri Apandi Ali himself has provided evidence of RM27 million being transferred from the company to Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s accounts via intermediaries in 2014, as well as the fact that SRC International has failed to table its financial audit since March 2014.

The PAC Chairman's obstinate refusal to accede to the all-important requests led me to believe that he sole purpose is to be a “macai” to obstruct and cover up all allegations on Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.  He has confirmed that he is indeed a “cari makan” Chairman and disgraced the honour and integrity of Malaysia’s supreme legislative body.

I had walked out of the meeting yesterday and will not be attending the meetings scheduled for this week as a mark of protest against the total farce the PAC has become.

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Khairy, you are wrong – the United States Department of Justice did not paint Putrajaya guilty, they merely laid out the facts

It appears that the undoubtedly intelligent UMNO Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin is more than prepared to walk the talk, to become Najib’s number one “macai”, even if it destroys all the street cred he has built for himself over the years.

He has urged UMNO Youth members to “stand by our leader”, “even at the cost being labelled as ‘macai’ or ‘balachi’” on Tuesday’s Putrajaya UMNO Wanita, Youth and Puteri meet. 

He followed up last night by ticking off the United States (US) Department of Justice (DOJ) for painting Putrajaya as guilty.

"The way they announced (their findings) is as though it was a conviction, as though (those named) are already guilty and to be punished… The words used showed as though Malaysia and the government are guilty," Khairy said at the Sepang Puteri and Umno Youth annual assembly.

It is all a very clever play of words, to first discredit the prosecution, taint the people’s perception of the case and tug the members’ heartstrings for sympathy for pretend innocence.

Yes, the DOJ did indeed accuse “Malaysian Official One” of embezzling US$731 million of Malaysian tax-payers’ money via 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).  But what is wrong with that?  Isn’t the role of any public prosecutor, including those in Malaysia, to lay out the charges by accusing the suspects of criminal wrongdoings?

The DOJ did not pronounce the “Malaysian Official One” “guilty”.  They merely laid out the detailed facts and figures which backed their very serious and convincing charge of money laundering and grand larceny.

Hence when Khairy demanded that the troops “defend the truth”, Malaysians would like to know what exactly is the truth that the UMNO Youth and Sports Minister is talking about? 

In fact, the DOJ charges are all the more convincing because the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, Khairy and all the other BN leaders have failed to come up with an iota of evidence or alibi to deny the charges put forward by the DOJ.

For example, why hasn’t Dato’ Seri Najib Razak denied that US$681 million of funds borrowed by 1MDB Global Investment Limited on 19 March 2013 found its way into the personal bank account of “Malaysian Official One” on 21 and 25 March 2013 via intermediary companies?

In fact, we would like to further ask the Prime Minister if he is still standing by his earlier alibi that the funds came from an unnamed ultra-generous donor from the Middle East?  It could not be easier for the Prime Minister to prove the DOJ wrong by showing up the mysterious Arab donor with the relevant transaction documents.

Instead, the Arab sheikh seems to have vanished altogether into thin air after DOJ laid out its facts. 

All that Dato’ Seri Najib Razak is doing now is making all Malaysians cringe with shame and embarrassment, by insisting “that what was done by the DOJ recently does not involve me, or the Malaysian government, or 1MDB directly,” as he did on Indonesian television yesterday.

How can anyone who is apparently “innocent” claim that the DOJ suit does not involve the Prime Minister, the Malaysian government or 1MDB directly, when the whole world saw how the US Attorney General detailed how Malaysia has become a kleptocratic nation, led by “Malaysian Official One” whose brainchild 1MDB misappropriated more than US$3.5 billion of funds to be laundered around the world.

Khairy Jamaluddin has insulted his own intelligence and brought shame to his alma mater by choosing to be a Najib “macai”, not to “defend the truth” as claimed, but to do the exact opposite of covering up the most corrupt regime in the history of Malaysia.  His transformation to the Dark Side is clearly complete.

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Deloitte Malaysia washes hands off 1MDB; new 1MDB Board of Directors fails its first test of integrity and accountability

Yesterday, the new Board of Directors of scandal-ridden 1MDB had peculiarly announced that “its 2013 and 2014 audited financial statements should no longer be relied on until allegations made by the United States (US) Department of Justice (DOJ) are determined in court”.

The announcement further added that 1MDB is in the midst of seeking a new auditor after Deloitte notified of its intention to resign on Feb 26.

It is clear from this peculiar announcement coming hot on the trails of the DOJ exposé was a result of Deloitte finally telling 1MDB that they no longer stand by the March 2013 and 2014 financial statements which they signed off on 28 March 2014 and 5 November 2014 respectively.

The evidence presented by the DOJ clearly showed that Deloitte has made a complete mess of 1MDB’s audit for the two financial years.  The auditors were made complete fools by 1MDB’s executives who repeatedly embezzled billions of dollars from the company.  They were hoodwinked, perhaps too readily, by fictitious documents and outrageous lies presented by the company’s management.

Deloitte has failed to discover in its audit that 1MDB had made more than US$3.5 billion of payments over the course of 2012 to 2014 to a fraudulent Aabar Investment PJS Limited, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). 

Deloitte found nothing suspicious in 1MDB Global Investment Limited’s US$1.56 billion investment in several dodgy and obscure investment funds, including the Devonshire Growth, Enterprise Emerging Markets and Cistenique investment funds.  The US DOJ had determined that these funds had acted as conduits in the money laundering scam, including US$681 million which had ended up in the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank account.

Deloitte was also led to believe that US$1.22 billion was successfully redeemed from 1MDB’s fake investment in the Cayman Islands, when in reality 1MDB was making round-tripping transactions with money from its subsidiary, 1MDB Global Investment Limited.  This was revealed separately by documents exposed by the Sarawak Report.

Deloitte’s gullibility had allowed 1MDB executives and the Najib administration to cite and abuse the international audit firm’s international “reputation” to lend credibility to 1MDB.  They helped mask the multi-billion dollar shenanigans which were taking place in the state-owned enterprise for the past few years.

With the DOJ’s exposé, it has finally come to a stage where it is no longer tenable for Deloitte to standby the financial statements it audited for 2013 and 2014. Hence 1MDB was forced into making this queer announcement to deny the veracity of its own financial report.

While Deloitte’s belated withdrawal of its endorsement for 1MDB’s financial statements were understandable, the 1MDB Board’s continued insistence that “no wrongdoing has been committed by 1MDB and that the past audited financial statements continue to show a true and fair view of the company’s affairs” is shocking and utterly irresponsible.

Despite the overwhelming evidence which has publicly surfaced, the newly appointed Directors led by Treasury-General Tan Sri Irwan Serigar is persisting with a massive cover up of the crimes which have taken place within 1MDB.

It is now obviously that Tan Sri Irwan Serigar is only interested in carrying on the “stellar” work of the previous Board of Directors who had resigned en masse in absolute disgrace in April. 

When the Treasury-General had testified before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee in June 2014, he had absolved himself from all blame by claiming that he had no control or supervisory powers over 1MDB.  In fact, he blamed Clause 117 of 1MDB’s Memorandum and Articles of Association which grated all such powers directly to the Prime Minister.

However, despite the abolition of the above Clause and his appointment as the new Chairman, Tan Sri Irwan Serigar has shown that he is cut from the same cloth.  His loyalty is to Dato' Seri Najib Razak and he has little care for integrity and accountability.

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Dato’ Seri Najib Razak should stop pulling the wool over the rakyat’s eyes with purported social welfare programmes by 1MDB which are in actual reality, funded by Malaysian taxpayers

It beggars belief that the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak could still heap praise on 1MDB for “making immense contribution to social welfare programmes”.

He announced that 1MDB Foundation sponsored RM10.4 million for 1,100 pilgrims to go to for pilgrimage this year; recipients of which were present with Najib in a Putrajaya mosque today to receive their offer letters yesterday

The 1MDB Foundation contribution to social welfare is a farce designed with the specific intent to mask the fact that 1MDB has made billions of ringgit of losses, as a result of an international money laundering exercise involving the Prime Minister himself.

If 1MDB had made real profits and subsequently allocated part of these profits to charitable causes, then the efforts by the state-owned company should certainly be applauded.

However, 1MDB which had funded itself entirely by debt by borrowing at its peak, RM55 billion ringgit, never made a sen of cash profits in its entire 6 years of existence. 

This means that 1MDB had effectively paid for its “immense contribution to social welfare programmes” with borrowings as a public relations exercise to repair the damage to its reputation caused by its massive losses and scandalous misappropriations.

Worse, because 1MDB was cash-strapped and unable to fulfil its debt obligations on a timely basis, government agencies were forced to step into bail out 1MDB.

For example, Tabung Haji – the pilgrimage fund, was called upon to acquire a piece of 0.64 acres of land from 1MDB in Tun Razak Exchange for the exorbitant price of RM188.5 million or approximately RM2,774 per square feet in 2015.  1MDB had earlier acquired the land from the Government at the bargain basement price of only RM64 per square feet.

It is of the greatest irony the Dato’ Seri Najib Razak boasted of 1MDB’s RM10.4 million contribution to the 1,100 pilgrims – who were supposed to be funded by Tabung Haji, when Tabung Haji has been ripped off of more than RM184 million from the above transaction alone.

What’s more, now that 1MDB is unable to service its debts and is faced with a US$6.5 billion suit from Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) in London, the tax-payers is now faced with another round of a multi-billion dollar bailout exercise by the Ministry of Finance which had explicitly or implicitly guaranteed the above debts.

Worse, the United States Department of Justice has now provided clear evidence of how US$731 million belonging to 1MDB was deposited in the Prime Minister’s personal bank account between 2011 and 2013.  Hence it is clear that what has been distributed to the poor in Malaysia is dwarfed by what Dato’ Seri Najib Razak received.

Therefore we call upon the Prime Minister to stop putting on a false front on 1MDB.  The public relations exercise is doomed to fail because the facts and evidence of the multi-billion dollar embezzlement from 1MDB is clear for all to see.

Dato’ Seri Najib Razak will serve the Rakyat better by explaining why he took US$731 million from 1MDB and why did he allow his son-in-law, Riza Aziz and the latter’s best friend, Low Taek Jho to pillage 1MDB to buy luxury properties, pay for gambling debts, acquire an aircraft, collect art masterpieces and finance their decadent lifestyles.

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1MDB, a simple yes or no will do: have billions of dollars of 1MDB's money been “misappropriated” and “embezzled”?

1MDB must not evade the factual allegations laid out by the US Department of Justice but answer the simple question if billions of dollars of its money have been “misappropriated” and “embezzled”.

In the face of allegations by the United States (US) Department of Justice (DOJ) that US$3.5 billion or more have been misappropriated and embezzled from 1MDB, the state-owned investment fund provided the world with the most ludicrous response.

1MDB merely responded that “it is not a party to the civil suit, does not have any assets in the United States of America, nor has it benefited from the various transactions described in the civil suit”.

The outstanding management led by Arul Kanda at 1MDB must surely realise that the DOJ never made 1MDB “party to the civil suit”. Neither did they accuse 1MDB of having “assets in the United States of America”.

The US DOJ has laid out the entire scam claiming 1MDB was a victim of a multi-billion-dollar international fraud.

Hence the question 1MDB must respond to is whether it finally accept that it is a victim of a treasonous fraud in the light of the lorry-load of hard evidence presented.

Or is Arul Kanda and his team still oblivious to the entire scam where multi-billion dollars have been lost?  How difficult is it for these super-clever to executives to figure out if the money is missing or otherwise?

For example, the BSI Bank Singapore has been shut down, but where is the US$940 million which was purportedly parked in the bank?  Did it vanish into thin air as well?

Or the purported US$1.56 billion of “investments” in the dodgy investments funds identified by the US DOJ – Devonshire, Enterprise and Cistenique – are they still in existence?

Or the fact that the US DOJ, like Bank Negara Malaysia, has established clearly that Good Star Limited, which received US$1.03 billion directly from 1MDB, is indeed owned by Low Taek Jho, and not by Petrosaudi International Limited as claimed – is 1MDB still in denial?

Or, more plausibly, Arul Kanda and his team are conniving conspirators in the entire scam. Is he is doing his utmost to cover up the scam which involved the Malaysian Prime Minister himself embezzling more than US$700 million into his personal account?

We call upon the newly appointed Board of Directors of 1MDB, led by its new Chairman, the Treasury-General, Tan Sri Irwan Serigar to not repeat the disgraceful failures of the previous Board.  He must, as the country’s top financial civil servant, act without fear or favour in the interest of the Malaysian tax-payers.

If the President of 1MDB, Arul Kanda is not acting in the interest of the shareholder, then fiduciary duty demands that Tan Sri Irwan Serigar sack the entire 1MDB top management with immediate effect. The Chairman must state openly, if 1MDB has indeed been a victim of fraud and seek the return of the pilfered proceeds back to the country.

In the light of the size and scale of the scandal, the Board of Directors must also place 1MDB under temporary management by the remaining Big Four audit firm which has not been tainted by the scandal, PriceWaterhouse Coopers.

If Tan Sri Irwan Serigar fails to act in the interest of Malaysian tax-payers, then he himself will be guilty of conspiring with the evil wrong-doers which committed the mult-billion dollar heist of the century.  Pakatan Harapan leaders will then demand for the Treasury-General to be sacked in disgrace.

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Malaysia now global laughing stock as the US DOJ moves to seize some US$1 billion of assets stolen from 1MDB, while the Malaysian Government remain inexplicably oblivious to the grand theft

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the US Federal prosecutors are poised to launch one of the largest asset seizures in U.S. history as they step up their investigation into billions of dollars siphoned away from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

The US Department of Justice are expected to seize more than $1 billion worth of assets, the single largest seizure in the history of the United States, which are expected to include properties and other assets purchased with money allegedly misappropriated from 1MDB.

Reuters have now confirmed the WSJ report. The U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits today saying that over $3.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB.

The lawsuits, filed in Los Angeles, seek to seize assets "involved in and traceable to an international conspiracy to launder money misappropriated from 1MDB".  The lawsuits said the alleged offences were committed over a four-year period and involved multiple individuals, including Malaysian officials and their associates, who conspired to fraudulently divert billions of dollars from 1MDB.

Those named included Riza Aziz, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s step-son, Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, and Abu Dhabi government officials Khadem al-Qubaisi and Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny.

More interestingly, the charge claimed that funds misappropriated from 1MDB were transferred to Petrosaudi, a company that had a joint venture with 1MDB, and thereafter to a high-ranking official in the Malaysian government it identified only as "Malaysian Official One".

The assets involved in the case include penthouses, mansions, artwork and even a private jet.

In the past, the Najib administration has consistently dismissed the WSJ allegations as “unsubstantiated malicious allegations” as part of a “global conspiracy” to “bring down a democratically elected government”.  The Malaysian investigating agencies took the que and refused to conduct any genuine investigations into the monstrous heist despite mounting evidence and damning Auditor-General and Public Accounts Committee Reports.

However, the shit has hit the fan with the latest actions taken by the United States authorities.  Surely, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak will not now turn around and accuse his golfing buddy, President Obama of being part of a global malicious conspiracy to bring down his Government?

As a result, we are now the butt of jokes to the world. The US authorities has moved to seize some US$1 billion of assets stolen and misappropriated from 1MDB, and yet the victim, the Malaysian Government insists that we weren’t robbed.

We call upon the Dato’ Seri Najib Razak to chastise our local regulatory authorities for their ineptitude in getting to the bottom the scandal which isn’t only the largest in the history of Malaysia, but also has set the ignominious record of being the largest seizure in the history of United States.

The Prime Minister must instruct the police and the MACC to follow the leads provided by the Department of Justice to charge all the relevant parties who have stolen billions from Malaysians, including but not limited to Riza Aziz and Jho Low. 

Most importantly, they must obtain and discover, who is the “Malaysian Official One” who has been accused of siphoning billions of ringgit of 1MDB’s borrowed wealth.

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