On 27 November, DAP Senai elected representative, Wong Shu Qi had asked in the Johor State Assembly whether it was true that Khaled had received RM12 million from a developer to change the Bumiputera status of a residential plot of land to non-Bumiputera. Wong said the allegations against Khaled had surfaced in March and were based on witness statements in an investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
As a result of her question, she has not only been thrown out of the state assembly and is in the process of being referred to the Rights and Privileges Committee, the Police have commenced investigation against what she asked.
Firstly, the investigation by the Police demonstrates a clear abuse of power on its part by failing to respect the sanctity of the Johor state assembly.
The Federal Constitution, the highest law of our land, clearly states that assemblymen are immune from things said in state legislative proceedings. Clause 72(2) of the Constitution states that:
No person shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him when taking part in proceedings of the Legislative Assembly of any State or of any committee thereof.
The reason for this protection needs no explanation – but for the benefit of our law enforcers – elected representatives must be empowered to state and ask without fear or favour regardless of how scandalous and sensitive the subject matter might be. This process exists to ensure transparency and accountability in national and state administration.
If one can’t even ask questions of our leader’s in the state assembly, then where else can we ask to ensure the righteousness and integrity of our Government?
Are the Police of the opinion that the Menteri Besar of Johor is above the law, to the extent that even questioning his alleged involvement in a corruption case is criminal?
Worse, the Police are clearly clutching at straws to investigate and persecute Wong. Wong has purportedly committed an offence under Section 203A of the Penal Code provides that anyone who discloses purportedly leaked information to any other person shall be punished with fine of not more than one million ringgit, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with both.
The problem here is what leaked information is illegal? When fraudulent contracts signed by 1MDB with Petrosaudi International and Aabar Investment PJS Limited involving billions of dollars were exposed, does it mean that every person who had written about it – from analysts to politicians to both online and off-line media are all guilty of the above crime?
That would only result in the complete collapse of Malaysia’s natural justice system where the whistleblowers are persecuted while those involved in crimes against the tax-payers get away scot free.
Wong is also investigated under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act, which refers to “improper use of network facilities or network service, etc.”
The fact that a leaked witness statement relating to the corruption allegations against Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin might amount to ‘communication which is obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person’ is clearly an outrageous abuse of the law.
My question to the Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission remains the same – have they initiated and commenced investigations against Dato’ Seri Khaled Nordin based on the very witness statement which is being used to charge another member of the Johor administration for corrupt practices?
If the Johor Menteri Besar is indeed innocent, let the investigations prove that to be the case and clear Dato’ Seri Khalid’s name. However, the fact that no investigations have been carried out against the Menteri Besar, but those who had the courage to question the case even within the protect confines of the state assembly are persecuted, only serve to confirm the suspicions in the minds of the rakyat as to Dato’ Seri Khalid’s guilt or innocence.
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Why hasn’t the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigated Johor MB, Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin?
The whole of Malaysia have now seen the MACC investigation documents which have been leaked this week, implicating corruption by the Johor Menteri Besar (MB), Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin. The documents comprised of the witness statement taken by MACC during its investigation into Johor state executive councillor Datuk Abdul Latif Bandi. The documents come from the Commission’s interview with Amir Shariffuddin bin Abdul Raub, who was also charged with Datuk Latif in April this year.
MACC had investigated the two in relation to a land graft scandal, where the two had received multiple bribes amounting to RM30 million from developers in return for their assistance in changing the status of bumiputera lots as well as reducing the 7.5% charge levied upon developers.
As shocking as the initial news of their investigation was, the biggest shocker is found in the witness statement (relevant pages attached), where Amir admitted to delivering nearly RM12 million in cash to the Menteri Besar in return for the MB’s help in the necessary land changes.
The MACC has effectively confirmed the authenticity of these documents when Deputy MACC commissioner Dato’ Sri Azam Baki’s said yesterday that the documents were sent to the lawyers of one of the defendants in the case.
Now that the MACC has acknowledged the documents, they will have to explain their failure to investigate the MB, who is similarly implicated according to the witness statement.
The first account given by Amir was for an alleged transfer of RM4 million in September 2013. That kickback would come from the developer MB Land, which had solicited Amir’s help in converting the land status and waiving the charge.
Following that successful deal, Amir says he was approached by other developers for similar favours. Each of these deals would also include multiple alleged kickbacks to the Mentri Besar. For a deal by IJM Group, Amir stated that he instructed his lawyer Zul Azam to cash in a cheque worth RM1 million. He then handed over the money in a backpack as instructed by Datuk Khaled. That was done on 14 November 2013.
Subsequently, Amir also admitted to paying the MB, a total of RM9.7 million in cash over 10 transactions between 16 April 2014 and 4 May 2016. Those payments were for facilitating a land deal for Scientex Sdn. Bhd. The report specifically highlighted 5 of those transactions made on 16 April 2014, 1 October 2014, 20 October 2014, 2 December 2014 and 17 June 2015.
With such concrete evidence in front of their own noses, why hasn’t the MACC investigated Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin?
Worse, the MACC has decided it was more appropriate to ‘kill the messenger’ by filing a police report over the purported leaks. In turn, the Johor state assembly (DUN) disgraced itself by acting in cahoots in its attempt to silence the issue by throwing out Senai state assemblywoman Wong Shu Qi in the DUN.
In fact, all the companies which have paid the alleged bribes must be investigated, and if guilty, charged and punished as well. After all, the MACC has often opined that the giver of bribes is as guilty as those who receive.
The question is, is the Johor MB immune to investigations and prosecution just like Dato’ Seri Najib Razak is, in the case of the multi-billion ringgit scandal, 1MDB? While the MACC abdicated from its responsibility to investigate the Prime Minister by shoving the responsibility to the Police, what is MACC’s excuse this time?
Where is the ‘all hands on the deck’ haste and urgency in the MACC just like the way it dealt with alleged and even trumped up corruption charges against opposition figures? Or will this remove, once and for all, the façade that the MACC is an independent investigating institution which will act without fear or favour; and that it is merely an extended paw of UMNO to oppress the opposition while protecting its political masters?
MACC had investigated the two in relation to a land graft scandal, where the two had received multiple bribes amounting to RM30 million from developers in return for their assistance in changing the status of bumiputera lots as well as reducing the 7.5% charge levied upon developers.
As shocking as the initial news of their investigation was, the biggest shocker is found in the witness statement (relevant pages attached), where Amir admitted to delivering nearly RM12 million in cash to the Menteri Besar in return for the MB’s help in the necessary land changes.
The MACC has effectively confirmed the authenticity of these documents when Deputy MACC commissioner Dato’ Sri Azam Baki’s said yesterday that the documents were sent to the lawyers of one of the defendants in the case.
Now that the MACC has acknowledged the documents, they will have to explain their failure to investigate the MB, who is similarly implicated according to the witness statement.
The first account given by Amir was for an alleged transfer of RM4 million in September 2013. That kickback would come from the developer MB Land, which had solicited Amir’s help in converting the land status and waiving the charge.
Following that successful deal, Amir says he was approached by other developers for similar favours. Each of these deals would also include multiple alleged kickbacks to the Mentri Besar. For a deal by IJM Group, Amir stated that he instructed his lawyer Zul Azam to cash in a cheque worth RM1 million. He then handed over the money in a backpack as instructed by Datuk Khaled. That was done on 14 November 2013.
Subsequently, Amir also admitted to paying the MB, a total of RM9.7 million in cash over 10 transactions between 16 April 2014 and 4 May 2016. Those payments were for facilitating a land deal for Scientex Sdn. Bhd. The report specifically highlighted 5 of those transactions made on 16 April 2014, 1 October 2014, 20 October 2014, 2 December 2014 and 17 June 2015.
With such concrete evidence in front of their own noses, why hasn’t the MACC investigated Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin?
Worse, the MACC has decided it was more appropriate to ‘kill the messenger’ by filing a police report over the purported leaks. In turn, the Johor state assembly (DUN) disgraced itself by acting in cahoots in its attempt to silence the issue by throwing out Senai state assemblywoman Wong Shu Qi in the DUN.
In fact, all the companies which have paid the alleged bribes must be investigated, and if guilty, charged and punished as well. After all, the MACC has often opined that the giver of bribes is as guilty as those who receive.
The question is, is the Johor MB immune to investigations and prosecution just like Dato’ Seri Najib Razak is, in the case of the multi-billion ringgit scandal, 1MDB? While the MACC abdicated from its responsibility to investigate the Prime Minister by shoving the responsibility to the Police, what is MACC’s excuse this time?
Where is the ‘all hands on the deck’ haste and urgency in the MACC just like the way it dealt with alleged and even trumped up corruption charges against opposition figures? Or will this remove, once and for all, the façade that the MACC is an independent investigating institution which will act without fear or favour; and that it is merely an extended paw of UMNO to oppress the opposition while protecting its political masters?
Tuesday, November 07, 2017
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission needs to grow a spine and really stand up to corruption.
I had asked in Parliament why the MACC had announced in June that it would not be carrying out investigations regarding the misappropriation of funds and abuse of power in the 1MDB scandal.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in-charge of Integrity, Datuk Paul Low replied on 1 November that “investigations weren’t carried out because of existing investigations being done by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Bank Negara and the Police.”
There could not be a more shameless and irresponsible reply from the Minister and the Government.
The PAC – which barely scratched the surface of the 1MDB scandal, has no prosecutorial powers. Bank Negara Malaysia, on the other hand, was investigating 1MDB purely from the Financial Services Act and certainly did not deal with the parties who had profited from the scandal.
At the same time, while the Police may have been investigating the criminal elements in 1MDB, the MACC has powers, laws and jurisdictions which are completely different from the Police to tackle corruption cases.
That was the whole point of the Parliament passing the MACC Act in the first place, so that there is a dedicated and independent commission to tackle the scourge of corruption and not let the burden be shouldered by the Royal Malaysian Police. What type “independent commission” worth its salt is MACC, if it leaves investigations, especially a scandal of such scale to other agencies?
In January this year, MACC commissioner Datuk Dzulkifly Ahmad warned corrupt politicians to “be careful”. He said he wasn’t afraid of protected individuals and would launch investigations without fear or favour. “Just you wait,” he had warned politicians.
Why is the MACC and Datuk Dzulkifly Ahmad, after all its showboating, so afraid of investigating the country’s biggest and most blatant corruption scandal?
Malaysians have been waiting long for MACC to launch its investigations into 1MDB especially after similar investigations have already begun in the US, Switzerland and Singapore. Just this weekend, even 1MDB-linked Prince Turki of Saudi Arabia was hauled up as part of an anti-corruption sweep in his own Kingdom.
In Malaysia, multiple reports have been lodged with the MACC regarding the 1MDB scandal. These included reports filed in December 2014 by then UMNO Batu Kawan Division Deputy Chief Datuk Khairuddin Abu Hassan and more recently, a Pakatan Harapan Youth-linked NGO in July this year. Hence it is a serious breach of MACC’s duty for failing to look into complaints of corruption.
These submitted reports were to be evaluated before the Commission’s Information Evaluation Committee to determine whether there were elements of corruption or not. If elements of corruption are found, it is imperative that an MACC investigation is opened before being referred to the AG for legal prosecution.
Was the above process conveniently ignored in MACC’s special treatment for 1MDB? Was this a condition for Datuk Dzulkifly Ahmad to be rapidly promoted to be appointed, less than 2 years ago, to be the Chief Commissioner in the first place?
It is preposterous for an independent commission like MACC to pass on its investigation to other agencies. Each authority has a different mandate to investigate, so it is entirely cowardly for MACC to turn a blind eye and let other agencies look into it.
Until the MACC finally grows a spine and properly considers reports against 1MDB, the commissioner's boastful warnings will remain in Malaysians’ eyes as baseless rhetoric.
Tony Pua meminta Perdana Menteri menyatakan apakah sebabnya Ketua Pesuruhjaya Suruhanjaya Pencegah Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) mengumumkan pada bulan Jun 2017 bahawa pihak SPRM tidak akan menjalankan siasatan ke atas ke penyelewengan dan penyalahgunaan kuasa dalam skandal 1MDB?
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in-charge of Integrity, Datuk Paul Low replied on 1 November that “investigations weren’t carried out because of existing investigations being done by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Bank Negara and the Police.”
There could not be a more shameless and irresponsible reply from the Minister and the Government.
The PAC – which barely scratched the surface of the 1MDB scandal, has no prosecutorial powers. Bank Negara Malaysia, on the other hand, was investigating 1MDB purely from the Financial Services Act and certainly did not deal with the parties who had profited from the scandal.
At the same time, while the Police may have been investigating the criminal elements in 1MDB, the MACC has powers, laws and jurisdictions which are completely different from the Police to tackle corruption cases.
That was the whole point of the Parliament passing the MACC Act in the first place, so that there is a dedicated and independent commission to tackle the scourge of corruption and not let the burden be shouldered by the Royal Malaysian Police. What type “independent commission” worth its salt is MACC, if it leaves investigations, especially a scandal of such scale to other agencies?
In January this year, MACC commissioner Datuk Dzulkifly Ahmad warned corrupt politicians to “be careful”. He said he wasn’t afraid of protected individuals and would launch investigations without fear or favour. “Just you wait,” he had warned politicians.
Why is the MACC and Datuk Dzulkifly Ahmad, after all its showboating, so afraid of investigating the country’s biggest and most blatant corruption scandal?
Malaysians have been waiting long for MACC to launch its investigations into 1MDB especially after similar investigations have already begun in the US, Switzerland and Singapore. Just this weekend, even 1MDB-linked Prince Turki of Saudi Arabia was hauled up as part of an anti-corruption sweep in his own Kingdom.
In Malaysia, multiple reports have been lodged with the MACC regarding the 1MDB scandal. These included reports filed in December 2014 by then UMNO Batu Kawan Division Deputy Chief Datuk Khairuddin Abu Hassan and more recently, a Pakatan Harapan Youth-linked NGO in July this year. Hence it is a serious breach of MACC’s duty for failing to look into complaints of corruption.
These submitted reports were to be evaluated before the Commission’s Information Evaluation Committee to determine whether there were elements of corruption or not. If elements of corruption are found, it is imperative that an MACC investigation is opened before being referred to the AG for legal prosecution.
Was the above process conveniently ignored in MACC’s special treatment for 1MDB? Was this a condition for Datuk Dzulkifly Ahmad to be rapidly promoted to be appointed, less than 2 years ago, to be the Chief Commissioner in the first place?
It is preposterous for an independent commission like MACC to pass on its investigation to other agencies. Each authority has a different mandate to investigate, so it is entirely cowardly for MACC to turn a blind eye and let other agencies look into it.
Until the MACC finally grows a spine and properly considers reports against 1MDB, the commissioner's boastful warnings will remain in Malaysians’ eyes as baseless rhetoric.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Dato’ Seri Najib Razak is the biggest purveyor of ‘fake news’ by singing 1MDB's praises in his blog but has no courage to debate the mother of all scandals in Parliament
On his blog yesterday, Najib gave us his economic vision for the country ahead of the 2018 Budget announcement on Friday.
However, the entire credibility of his “economic vision” collapsed with the outrageous claim that 1MDB has not only “brought the country good” but “is on track to realise a profit”.
1MDB is currently an empty shell, holding absolutely nothing but some RM40 billion of debts. How in the world is 1MDB “on track to realise a profit”?! If this is not a brazen attempt by the Prime Minister to create ‘fake news’, what is?
Dato’ Seri Najib argued that it was 1MDB which solved the lop-sided power purchase agreements attributed to the previous BN Prime Minister.
We are thankful that Dato’ Seri Najib finally admitted that those independent power producers (IPPs) were allowed to profit astronomically from the BN government of which he was part of before. However, Malaysians are still clueless as to how 1MDB apparently “solved” the above injustice.
As far as we are concerned, Malaysians didn’t enjoy a single sen in benefit as electricity tariffs have only increased and not decreased since 1MDB started acquiring these IPPs. Worse, the 1MDB’s RM12.1 billion-misadventure in the power sector resulted in multi-billion ringgit losses when it was forced to dispose of its entire energy interests to a China outfit for a mere RM9.3 billion.
Dato’ Seri Najib Razak further told Malaysians to laud 1MDB for its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) work including its sponsorship of hajj pilgrimages and scholarships purportedly amounting to RM690 million.
What the Prime Minister failed to tell Malaysians is that the so-called CSR is funded entirely with government-guaranteed debt amounting to more than RM40 billion.
More pertinently, while RM690 million of the debt may have found its way to CSR initiatives, US$732 million or approximately RM3 billion found its way from 1MDB to Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank account in Ambank between 2011 to 2014. The Prime Minister has to date failed to debunk this expose by the US Depart of Justice.
Najib must think Malaysians fools to believe in all his outrageous lies.
If the Prime Minister really thinks that 1MDB has been the saviour of Malaysia, then he should immediately lift the ban on sensitive 1MDB questions raised in the august House. Instead, he should table a Ministerial Statement to ‘debunk’ all the so-called ‘lies’ by the members of the opposition and allow for a full debate on the 1MDB scandal.
However, if Dato’ Seri Najib Razak chooses not to be accountable in Parliament, then he will prove himself to be the most corrupt and cowardly Prime Minister in the history of Malaysia who relies on the BN-controlled mainstream media to propound his ‘fake news’.
However, the entire credibility of his “economic vision” collapsed with the outrageous claim that 1MDB has not only “brought the country good” but “is on track to realise a profit”.
1MDB is currently an empty shell, holding absolutely nothing but some RM40 billion of debts. How in the world is 1MDB “on track to realise a profit”?! If this is not a brazen attempt by the Prime Minister to create ‘fake news’, what is?
Dato’ Seri Najib argued that it was 1MDB which solved the lop-sided power purchase agreements attributed to the previous BN Prime Minister.
We are thankful that Dato’ Seri Najib finally admitted that those independent power producers (IPPs) were allowed to profit astronomically from the BN government of which he was part of before. However, Malaysians are still clueless as to how 1MDB apparently “solved” the above injustice.
As far as we are concerned, Malaysians didn’t enjoy a single sen in benefit as electricity tariffs have only increased and not decreased since 1MDB started acquiring these IPPs. Worse, the 1MDB’s RM12.1 billion-misadventure in the power sector resulted in multi-billion ringgit losses when it was forced to dispose of its entire energy interests to a China outfit for a mere RM9.3 billion.
Dato’ Seri Najib Razak further told Malaysians to laud 1MDB for its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) work including its sponsorship of hajj pilgrimages and scholarships purportedly amounting to RM690 million.
What the Prime Minister failed to tell Malaysians is that the so-called CSR is funded entirely with government-guaranteed debt amounting to more than RM40 billion.
More pertinently, while RM690 million of the debt may have found its way to CSR initiatives, US$732 million or approximately RM3 billion found its way from 1MDB to Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank account in Ambank between 2011 to 2014. The Prime Minister has to date failed to debunk this expose by the US Depart of Justice.
Najib must think Malaysians fools to believe in all his outrageous lies.
If the Prime Minister really thinks that 1MDB has been the saviour of Malaysia, then he should immediately lift the ban on sensitive 1MDB questions raised in the august House. Instead, he should table a Ministerial Statement to ‘debunk’ all the so-called ‘lies’ by the members of the opposition and allow for a full debate on the 1MDB scandal.
However, if Dato’ Seri Najib Razak chooses not to be accountable in Parliament, then he will prove himself to be the most corrupt and cowardly Prime Minister in the history of Malaysia who relies on the BN-controlled mainstream media to propound his ‘fake news’.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Dato’ Seri Najib Razak merupakan Perdana Menteri hipokrit yang bermuka tembok tertebal seluruh dunia
Semalam, Perdana Menteri Dato’ Seri Najib Razak menyindir sikap pembangkang yang mendakwa kerajaan membayar terlalu mahal bagi projek MRT sedangkan pada masa sama ramai pemimpinnya ditangkap dengan skandal kewangan.
"Yang lucunya, baru-baru ini sudah mula terbongkar di negeri-negeri mereka tentang skandal banglo, …harga terowong, pintu gerbang dan lebuhraya yang dibina berlipat ganda lebih tinggi daripada sepatutnya.
"Ke mana hilangnya wang ini? Apakah skandal kewangan mereka ini tujuan untuk membina MRT dengan lebih murah?" tulis beliau.
Dato’ Seri Najib Razak jelas merupakan seorang pemimpin yang paling “shameless” seluruh dunia. Beliau berani membandingkan fitnah terhadap kes pembelian banglo Ketua Menteri Lim Guan Eng dengan skandal peribadi dan keluarga beliau yang berkaitan dengan 1MDB dan SRC International?
Dalam kes rumah Lim Guan Eng, harga yang dibeli adalah selaras dengan pendapatan seorang Ketua Menteri. Itupun Lim Guan Eng telah membuat pinjaman daripada bank untuk membeli rumah pertamanya di Pulau Pinang yang bernilai RM2.8 juta. Tambahan lagi, harga pembelian rumah tersebut adalah menurut harga pasaran untuk kawasan tersebut, dan bukannya dengan “diskaun luarbiasa” seperti tohmahan-tohmahan pimpinan Barisan Nasional.
Tapi yang paling penting sekali, Lim Guan Eng telah secara terbuka dan berkali-kali menafikan fitnah tersebut. Beliau sedia mencabar dakwaan yang dibawa oleh Suruhanjaya Pencegah Rasuah Malaysia dengan bukti-bukti yang kukuh.
Sebaliknya, saya nak tanya adakah pembelian berlian bernilai US$27.3 juta (RM117 juta) selaras oleh Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor selaras dengan pendapatan keluarga seorang Perdana Menteri? Setahu kami, pendapatan seorang Perdana Menteri adalah lebih kurang RM600,000 setahun. Dato' Seri Najib kena memegang jawatan Perdana Menteri selama 200 tahun sebelum mendapat kemampuan untuk membeli berlian tersebut. Rakyat Malaysia ingin tahu, dari mana datangnya wang untuk membeli bukan sahaja berlian RM117 juta tersebut tetapi barang-barang kemas yang bernilai berjuta-juta ringgit?
Apatah lagi, selepas dua bulan berlian RM117 juta didedahkan oeh Jabatan Kehakiman Amerika Syarikat, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor tidak pernah menafikan dakwaan tersebut.
Adalah jelas bahawa Lim Guan Eng berani kerana benar, manakala pasangan Najib-Rosmah membisu kerana salah.
Perdana Menteri juga membuat sindiran terhadap kontrak pembinaan terowong dan lebuhraya di Pulau Pinang yang kononnya terlampau mahal berbanding dengan MRT di Lembah Klang.
Saya hanya ada satu balasan terhadap tuduhan liar tersebut. Kontrak pembinaan terowong dan lebuhraya di Pulau Pinang ditawarkan bawah pimpinan kerajaan Pakatan melalui tender terbuka. Sebaliknya, kontrak MRT yang bernilai lebih kurang RM30 bilion, ditawarkan kepada pihak Gamuda dengan rundingan terus, tanpa sebarang tender.
Dato’ Seri Najib Razak sekarang sudah begitu terdesak sehingga melontarkan fitnah-fitnah yang tidak berasas. Rakyat Malaysia kini memang malu negara kita yang akan menyambut ulang-tahun ke-60 dipimpin oleh seorang Perdana Menteri munafik yang tidak berintegriti.
"Yang lucunya, baru-baru ini sudah mula terbongkar di negeri-negeri mereka tentang skandal banglo, …harga terowong, pintu gerbang dan lebuhraya yang dibina berlipat ganda lebih tinggi daripada sepatutnya.
"Ke mana hilangnya wang ini? Apakah skandal kewangan mereka ini tujuan untuk membina MRT dengan lebih murah?" tulis beliau.
Dato’ Seri Najib Razak jelas merupakan seorang pemimpin yang paling “shameless” seluruh dunia. Beliau berani membandingkan fitnah terhadap kes pembelian banglo Ketua Menteri Lim Guan Eng dengan skandal peribadi dan keluarga beliau yang berkaitan dengan 1MDB dan SRC International?
Dalam kes rumah Lim Guan Eng, harga yang dibeli adalah selaras dengan pendapatan seorang Ketua Menteri. Itupun Lim Guan Eng telah membuat pinjaman daripada bank untuk membeli rumah pertamanya di Pulau Pinang yang bernilai RM2.8 juta. Tambahan lagi, harga pembelian rumah tersebut adalah menurut harga pasaran untuk kawasan tersebut, dan bukannya dengan “diskaun luarbiasa” seperti tohmahan-tohmahan pimpinan Barisan Nasional.
Tapi yang paling penting sekali, Lim Guan Eng telah secara terbuka dan berkali-kali menafikan fitnah tersebut. Beliau sedia mencabar dakwaan yang dibawa oleh Suruhanjaya Pencegah Rasuah Malaysia dengan bukti-bukti yang kukuh.
Sebaliknya, saya nak tanya adakah pembelian berlian bernilai US$27.3 juta (RM117 juta) selaras oleh Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor selaras dengan pendapatan keluarga seorang Perdana Menteri? Setahu kami, pendapatan seorang Perdana Menteri adalah lebih kurang RM600,000 setahun. Dato' Seri Najib kena memegang jawatan Perdana Menteri selama 200 tahun sebelum mendapat kemampuan untuk membeli berlian tersebut. Rakyat Malaysia ingin tahu, dari mana datangnya wang untuk membeli bukan sahaja berlian RM117 juta tersebut tetapi barang-barang kemas yang bernilai berjuta-juta ringgit?
Apatah lagi, selepas dua bulan berlian RM117 juta didedahkan oeh Jabatan Kehakiman Amerika Syarikat, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor tidak pernah menafikan dakwaan tersebut.
Adalah jelas bahawa Lim Guan Eng berani kerana benar, manakala pasangan Najib-Rosmah membisu kerana salah.
Perdana Menteri juga membuat sindiran terhadap kontrak pembinaan terowong dan lebuhraya di Pulau Pinang yang kononnya terlampau mahal berbanding dengan MRT di Lembah Klang.
Saya hanya ada satu balasan terhadap tuduhan liar tersebut. Kontrak pembinaan terowong dan lebuhraya di Pulau Pinang ditawarkan bawah pimpinan kerajaan Pakatan melalui tender terbuka. Sebaliknya, kontrak MRT yang bernilai lebih kurang RM30 bilion, ditawarkan kepada pihak Gamuda dengan rundingan terus, tanpa sebarang tender.
Dato’ Seri Najib Razak sekarang sudah begitu terdesak sehingga melontarkan fitnah-fitnah yang tidak berasas. Rakyat Malaysia kini memang malu negara kita yang akan menyambut ulang-tahun ke-60 dipimpin oleh seorang Perdana Menteri munafik yang tidak berintegriti.
Friday, May 05, 2017
Incoming RM42 billion taxpayers' bailout: Bandar Malaysia deal collapse, sale of Edra Energy at a loss and 1MDB-IPIC “settlement” mark total failure of 1MDB “rationalisation exercise”
The entire 1MDB “rationalisation exercise” announced as “completed” by the Prime Minister on 2016 New Year’s Day has been completely unravelled with the latest announcement that the RM7.41 billion sale of 60% equity interest in Bandar Malaysia has collapsed.
The Government of Malaysia, together with its debt-stricken wholly-owned subsidiary, 1MDB has embarked on the above exercise to shed itself of its mountain of borrowings, which at its peak, exceeded RM50 billion.
The rationalisation exercise commenced with the sale of 1MDB’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Edra Energy Sdn Bhd, which held all of 1MDB’s energy assets. Edra Energy had acquired the power plants for a total of RM12.1 billion. In addition, the Government of Malaysia had subsequently extended of concession period of the above plants, as well as awarded several new power plant concessions to 1MDB.
However, despite a global open tender, 1MDB could only secure the best bid of RM9.83 billion which resulted in a direct loss of RM2.27 billion. The losses did not yet include the interest cost of funds borrowed to finance the above acquisitions which amounted to more than RM3 billion over the period.
Worse, the proceeds of the above sale of Edra Energy did not go towards the repayment of the US$3.5 billion worth of bonds which were raised for the power plant acquistion in 2012.
As a result, in a recently announced “settlement” agreement with International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC), who guaranteed the US$3.5 billion worth of bonds, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) had agreed to assume the liability of the US$3.5 billion bonds and relieve IPIC of their obligations.
This had come as a complete shock to Malaysians as 1MDB and the Finance Ministers had previously insisted that 1MDB had already made payments amounting to US$3.51 billion to IPIC and/or its subsidiaries between 2012 and 2014.
Hence the outcome of the “settlement agreement” was that Malaysians will have to foot US$7.01 billion to discharge ourselves from the US$3.5 billion of 1MDB borrowings which 1MDB took to acquire the above power plants. The power plants, in turn have already been disposed of, but without the proceeds from the sale being used to settle the US$3.5 billion bonds.
Now with the latest collapse of the proposed sale of 60% interest in Bandar Malaysia to the consortium led by Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Bhd (IWH), the entire “rationalisation” exercise architected by Arul Kanda and hailed by the Prime Minister and Cabinet has been completely unravelled.
The devastating implication of the rationalisation failure staring at our faces is staggering. Because 1MDB simply does not have any more substantial tangible assets or cash in its books, the Malaysians tax-payer will have to pay for most of 1MDB’s still-outstanding debts including:
(i) RM5 billion 30-year bond guaranteed by the Federal Government issued in 2009;
(ii) US$3.5 billion 10-year bonds issued in 2012, now guaranteed by MOF Inc.;
(iii) US$3 billion 10-year bond issued in 2013, guaranteed with a ‘Letter of Support’ issued by the Minister of Finance, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak;
(iv) US$1.23 billion borrowed from IPIC in 2015, guaranteed by MOF Inc,;
(v) RM800 million loan from SOCSO in 2010, guaranteed by the Federal Government; and
(vi) RM2.4 billion sukuk issued in 2013, which have already been assumed by MOF
The above sums up to RM8.2 billion and US$7.73 billion, or a combined total of RM41.7 billion
While I have called for Arul Kanda, the 1MDB President and CEO to resign or be sacked yesterday, it is the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak who must be ultimately accountable.
He is not only the official with the ultimate decision-making authority in 1MDB as specified in the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association, his promises of resolution of the above scandal without a bailout by the Malaysian Government have been irredeemably broken.
What’s more, banking documents exposed by the United States Department of Justice (US DOJ) have shown Dato’ Seri Najib Razak to have received in his personal bank account in Malaysia, the sums of US$731 million originating from 1MDB. He has never denied the US DOJ allegations and steadfastly refused to provide any explanations to the Parliament or the Malaysian public.
With Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s iron-grip control over UMNO and Barisan Nasional, the country’s legislative, enforcement and prosecution institutions, it is now up to Malaysians to sack the Prime Minister in the coming general elections to ensure that he is made accountable for the single biggest financial scandal in the history of Malaysia.
The Government of Malaysia, together with its debt-stricken wholly-owned subsidiary, 1MDB has embarked on the above exercise to shed itself of its mountain of borrowings, which at its peak, exceeded RM50 billion.
The rationalisation exercise commenced with the sale of 1MDB’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Edra Energy Sdn Bhd, which held all of 1MDB’s energy assets. Edra Energy had acquired the power plants for a total of RM12.1 billion. In addition, the Government of Malaysia had subsequently extended of concession period of the above plants, as well as awarded several new power plant concessions to 1MDB.
However, despite a global open tender, 1MDB could only secure the best bid of RM9.83 billion which resulted in a direct loss of RM2.27 billion. The losses did not yet include the interest cost of funds borrowed to finance the above acquisitions which amounted to more than RM3 billion over the period.
Worse, the proceeds of the above sale of Edra Energy did not go towards the repayment of the US$3.5 billion worth of bonds which were raised for the power plant acquistion in 2012.
As a result, in a recently announced “settlement” agreement with International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC), who guaranteed the US$3.5 billion worth of bonds, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) had agreed to assume the liability of the US$3.5 billion bonds and relieve IPIC of their obligations.
This had come as a complete shock to Malaysians as 1MDB and the Finance Ministers had previously insisted that 1MDB had already made payments amounting to US$3.51 billion to IPIC and/or its subsidiaries between 2012 and 2014.
Hence the outcome of the “settlement agreement” was that Malaysians will have to foot US$7.01 billion to discharge ourselves from the US$3.5 billion of 1MDB borrowings which 1MDB took to acquire the above power plants. The power plants, in turn have already been disposed of, but without the proceeds from the sale being used to settle the US$3.5 billion bonds.
Now with the latest collapse of the proposed sale of 60% interest in Bandar Malaysia to the consortium led by Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Bhd (IWH), the entire “rationalisation” exercise architected by Arul Kanda and hailed by the Prime Minister and Cabinet has been completely unravelled.
The devastating implication of the rationalisation failure staring at our faces is staggering. Because 1MDB simply does not have any more substantial tangible assets or cash in its books, the Malaysians tax-payer will have to pay for most of 1MDB’s still-outstanding debts including:
(i) RM5 billion 30-year bond guaranteed by the Federal Government issued in 2009;
(ii) US$3.5 billion 10-year bonds issued in 2012, now guaranteed by MOF Inc.;
(iii) US$3 billion 10-year bond issued in 2013, guaranteed with a ‘Letter of Support’ issued by the Minister of Finance, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak;
(iv) US$1.23 billion borrowed from IPIC in 2015, guaranteed by MOF Inc,;
(v) RM800 million loan from SOCSO in 2010, guaranteed by the Federal Government; and
(vi) RM2.4 billion sukuk issued in 2013, which have already been assumed by MOF
The above sums up to RM8.2 billion and US$7.73 billion, or a combined total of RM41.7 billion
While I have called for Arul Kanda, the 1MDB President and CEO to resign or be sacked yesterday, it is the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak who must be ultimately accountable.
He is not only the official with the ultimate decision-making authority in 1MDB as specified in the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association, his promises of resolution of the above scandal without a bailout by the Malaysian Government have been irredeemably broken.
What’s more, banking documents exposed by the United States Department of Justice (US DOJ) have shown Dato’ Seri Najib Razak to have received in his personal bank account in Malaysia, the sums of US$731 million originating from 1MDB. He has never denied the US DOJ allegations and steadfastly refused to provide any explanations to the Parliament or the Malaysian public.
With Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s iron-grip control over UMNO and Barisan Nasional, the country’s legislative, enforcement and prosecution institutions, it is now up to Malaysians to sack the Prime Minister in the coming general elections to ensure that he is made accountable for the single biggest financial scandal in the history of Malaysia.
Thursday, May 04, 2017
Who will refund the RM741 million deposit paid by Iskandar Waterfront Holdings to acquire the now aborted Bandar Malaysia equity interest – 1MDB or the Ministry of Finance?
The announcement by TRX City Sdn Bhd, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Ministry of Finance (MOF), that the RM7.41 billion sale of 60% equity interest in Bandar Malaysia has collapsed did not come as a surprise at all.
I have previously questioned 1MDB and the MOF as to why the prized asset was sold to a consortium, led by Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Bhd (IWH), whose total net assets is worth barely RM3.8 billion, less than half the above transaction value. For the financial year ending 31 December 2015, the company’s net profit was before tax was only RM170.4 million.
Despite IWH clearly attempting to bite off more than it can chew, 1MDB had proudly announced on 31 December 2015 that IWH-Bandar Malaysia sale agreement “marks the final major milestone in the 1MDB rationalisation plan as presented to the Cabinet of Malaysia on 29 May 2015”.
1MDB President and CEO, Arul Kanda had boasted that “the [IWH] Consortium is a highly attractive development partner for Bandar Malaysia and their bid was fully in line with the objectives outlined in the RFP, namely value maximisation, acceptable commercial terms and certainty of transaction execution.”
The deal was expected to be completed by June 2016 but was delayed clearly by IWH’s inability of meet the agreed payment terms and schedules. My questions in Parliament on the project status in November 2016 and April 2017 were met with cryptic replies from the Minister Finance, which revealed that the IWH consortium will pay a 6% interest on outstanding payments until the sums are fully-paid in 2023.
With the deal termination, the MOF have now got to independently service the RM2.4 billion of sukuk which 1MDB took for the purposes of the Bandar Malaysia project, but of which not a single sen was utilised for the property development.
MOF will also have to bear the burden of the making payments to Perbadanan Pewira Hartanah Malaysia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Armed Forces Fund (LTAT) which received a RM2.7 billion contract to relocate the Air Force Military Base, of which nearly RM2 billion was still outstanding.
Then there is now the all-important question as to who will refund the RM741 million deposit paid to 1MDB vby the IWH Consortium?
Will 1MDB now refund the deposit, or will MOF have to once again bailout 1MDB by forking out the RM741 million as a result of the 1MDB real estate fiasco?
Arul Kanda must now resign as the President and CEO of 1MDB to take responsibility for the disastrous fiasco and embarrassment caused to the Government of Malaysia. If Arul Kanda does not take responsibility for his failure, then we call on the Ministry of Finance, whose Treasurer-General Tan Sri Irwan Serigar is also the Chairman of 1MDB to terminate Arul Kanda’s contract.
Arul Kanda has clearly failed to deliver on his promise and has displayed more hype than substance. His severe error of judgement, choosing the IWH Consortium for the purported “certainty of transaction execution” have now caused massive losses for the MOF.
I have previously questioned 1MDB and the MOF as to why the prized asset was sold to a consortium, led by Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Bhd (IWH), whose total net assets is worth barely RM3.8 billion, less than half the above transaction value. For the financial year ending 31 December 2015, the company’s net profit was before tax was only RM170.4 million.
Despite IWH clearly attempting to bite off more than it can chew, 1MDB had proudly announced on 31 December 2015 that IWH-Bandar Malaysia sale agreement “marks the final major milestone in the 1MDB rationalisation plan as presented to the Cabinet of Malaysia on 29 May 2015”.
1MDB President and CEO, Arul Kanda had boasted that “the [IWH] Consortium is a highly attractive development partner for Bandar Malaysia and their bid was fully in line with the objectives outlined in the RFP, namely value maximisation, acceptable commercial terms and certainty of transaction execution.”
The deal was expected to be completed by June 2016 but was delayed clearly by IWH’s inability of meet the agreed payment terms and schedules. My questions in Parliament on the project status in November 2016 and April 2017 were met with cryptic replies from the Minister Finance, which revealed that the IWH consortium will pay a 6% interest on outstanding payments until the sums are fully-paid in 2023.
With the deal termination, the MOF have now got to independently service the RM2.4 billion of sukuk which 1MDB took for the purposes of the Bandar Malaysia project, but of which not a single sen was utilised for the property development.
MOF will also have to bear the burden of the making payments to Perbadanan Pewira Hartanah Malaysia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Armed Forces Fund (LTAT) which received a RM2.7 billion contract to relocate the Air Force Military Base, of which nearly RM2 billion was still outstanding.
Then there is now the all-important question as to who will refund the RM741 million deposit paid to 1MDB vby the IWH Consortium?
Will 1MDB now refund the deposit, or will MOF have to once again bailout 1MDB by forking out the RM741 million as a result of the 1MDB real estate fiasco?
Arul Kanda must now resign as the President and CEO of 1MDB to take responsibility for the disastrous fiasco and embarrassment caused to the Government of Malaysia. If Arul Kanda does not take responsibility for his failure, then we call on the Ministry of Finance, whose Treasurer-General Tan Sri Irwan Serigar is also the Chairman of 1MDB to terminate Arul Kanda’s contract.
Arul Kanda has clearly failed to deliver on his promise and has displayed more hype than substance. His severe error of judgement, choosing the IWH Consortium for the purported “certainty of transaction execution” have now caused massive losses for the MOF.
Tuesday, May 02, 2017
Why is the PAC Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin as quiet as a mouse over the 1MDB-IPIC “settlement” where the Finance Ministry agreed to assume US$3.5 bil. of 1MDB liabilities from IPIC?
Malaysians are still up in arms over the 1MDB-IPIC “settlement” which was announced less than two weeks ago where the Ministry of Finance has agreed to assume US$3.5 billion of 1MDB bond liabilities which were previously bourne by the International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) of Abu Dhabi.
The Malaysian Government had agreed to do so despite the fact that both 1MDB and the Cabinet Ministers had in the past insisted that 1MDB had already paid to IPIC’s subsidiary, British Virgin Island-registered Aabar Investment PJS Limited (“Aabar(BVI)”) a total of RM3.51 billion between 2012 and 2014.
The Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani had previously said he was “very confident” of 1MDB winning the arbitration fight against IPIC. Despite the bravado displayed, it was 1MDB which capitulated before the arbitration proceedings commenced in full, with the Malaysian parties conceding pretty much to all substantive demands from IPIC.
However, the Second Finance Minister denied any responsibility for the outrageous settlement terms. Instead, he shifted the blame to Dato’ Seri Najib Razak by pointing out that “the Prime Minister has made the decision for the country. That’s it,” and that the matter is now “beyond [him]”.
Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani even defended himself by revealing that there was a letter from the BVI Registrar of Companies clearly stating that Aabar(BVI) was indeed a subsidiary of IPIC.
While the existence of such a presumably legitimate letter still does not in itself prove that Aabar(BVI) isn’t a fraudulent set up, it does highlight the fact that the Government’s decision defies all logic. After all, why would the Government then under all rational circumstances, concede to the demands of IPIC if there was nothing incriminating on the part of 1MDB? As the Malay proverb goes, there must be “udang di sebalik batu”.
This was the reason for my call for the newly-appointed Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to re-look into the 1MDB scandal in the light of the latest developments.
I certainly wasn’t the only one asking for a review. Even Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament in the PAC, Marcus Mojigoh of Putatan who asked for the above letter to be presented and Aziz Sheikh Fadzir of Kulim Bandar Baru who asked where the payments to Aabar(BVI) went, are keen to obtain answers.
However, instead of responding to requests by multiple parties to re-open the inquiry, the Public Accounts Committee Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin has remained as quite as a mouse. In fact, not only has he not released any statement on an issue of such import, involving more than RM15 billion of tax-payers’ funds, he has been avoiding media enquiries like plague!
I have been informed that he has refused to pick up phone calls, text message or emails from journalists with regards to the above.
Datuk Hasan Arifin’s lack of action is certainly consistent with his track record of covering up for the Najib administration – when he refused to summon the Prime Minister to the PAC as a witness, saying that he has to “cari makan”, and when he secretly and unilaterally amended the finalised PAC Report which was tabled in Parliament.
However, the fact that the loss of US$3.51 billion is staring at Malaysian faces today deserves at the very least, an acknowledgement from the Chairman of the PAC, the very institution conceived to check and scrutinise Government-related expenditures.
If Datuk Hasan Arifin cannot bring himself to, or can’t be bothered to perform his parliamentary and constitutionally entrusted role, he should have the moral decency to resign from his position. He should give way to someone who is at least somewhat serious about integrity, accountability and being answerable to Malaysians.
The Malaysian Government had agreed to do so despite the fact that both 1MDB and the Cabinet Ministers had in the past insisted that 1MDB had already paid to IPIC’s subsidiary, British Virgin Island-registered Aabar Investment PJS Limited (“Aabar(BVI)”) a total of RM3.51 billion between 2012 and 2014.
The Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani had previously said he was “very confident” of 1MDB winning the arbitration fight against IPIC. Despite the bravado displayed, it was 1MDB which capitulated before the arbitration proceedings commenced in full, with the Malaysian parties conceding pretty much to all substantive demands from IPIC.
However, the Second Finance Minister denied any responsibility for the outrageous settlement terms. Instead, he shifted the blame to Dato’ Seri Najib Razak by pointing out that “the Prime Minister has made the decision for the country. That’s it,” and that the matter is now “beyond [him]”.
Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani even defended himself by revealing that there was a letter from the BVI Registrar of Companies clearly stating that Aabar(BVI) was indeed a subsidiary of IPIC.
While the existence of such a presumably legitimate letter still does not in itself prove that Aabar(BVI) isn’t a fraudulent set up, it does highlight the fact that the Government’s decision defies all logic. After all, why would the Government then under all rational circumstances, concede to the demands of IPIC if there was nothing incriminating on the part of 1MDB? As the Malay proverb goes, there must be “udang di sebalik batu”.
This was the reason for my call for the newly-appointed Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to re-look into the 1MDB scandal in the light of the latest developments.
I certainly wasn’t the only one asking for a review. Even Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament in the PAC, Marcus Mojigoh of Putatan who asked for the above letter to be presented and Aziz Sheikh Fadzir of Kulim Bandar Baru who asked where the payments to Aabar(BVI) went, are keen to obtain answers.
However, instead of responding to requests by multiple parties to re-open the inquiry, the Public Accounts Committee Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin has remained as quite as a mouse. In fact, not only has he not released any statement on an issue of such import, involving more than RM15 billion of tax-payers’ funds, he has been avoiding media enquiries like plague!
I have been informed that he has refused to pick up phone calls, text message or emails from journalists with regards to the above.
Datuk Hasan Arifin’s lack of action is certainly consistent with his track record of covering up for the Najib administration – when he refused to summon the Prime Minister to the PAC as a witness, saying that he has to “cari makan”, and when he secretly and unilaterally amended the finalised PAC Report which was tabled in Parliament.
However, the fact that the loss of US$3.51 billion is staring at Malaysian faces today deserves at the very least, an acknowledgement from the Chairman of the PAC, the very institution conceived to check and scrutinise Government-related expenditures.
If Datuk Hasan Arifin cannot bring himself to, or can’t be bothered to perform his parliamentary and constitutionally entrusted role, he should have the moral decency to resign from his position. He should give way to someone who is at least somewhat serious about integrity, accountability and being answerable to Malaysians.
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Did the Second Finance Minister even bother asking the Finance Minister if the latter took money, directly or indirectly from 1MDB and SRC International?
I am disappointed, although not surprised by Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani’s immediate decline of my invite to speak at my fund-raising dinner. It would have been perfect opportunity for the Second Finance Minister to convince and implore the voters of Petaling Jaya Utara to not only give 1MDB “a rest”, but even give me “a rest”.
After all, he could have demonstrated his conviction that “the folks of Petaling Jaya Utara elected you as their MP to do better things than just being obsessed with 1MDB”.
He justified his decision to turn down the invite by claiming that "I have to do my job as a minister and I would do the best for the country".
"Even if I had lunch or dinner (with Pua), it would not solve the problem the way he wants, because I am not the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), police and investigation agencies. So, let these agencies do their work. Nowhere in my letter did I mention I want these agencies to stop their investigation," he told Malaysiakini.
Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani cannot have his cake and eat it too.
He wants to escape the challenge by taking the moral high ground. He says he wants “to do his job as a minister” and he “would do the best for the country”.
If that is so, now that he is the Second Finance Minister, with all the necessary access to all the documents and transactions within the Finance Ministry subsidiaries – has he figured out why and how 1MDB and its sister company, SRC International lost tens of billions of ringgit?
Has Dato’ Seri Johari even bothered asking the Finance Minister, who also happens to be the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, whether he did indeed receive US$731 million in his personal bank account which originated from 1MDB?
Or did Dato’ Seri Johari question Dato’ Seri Najib if he received the RM69 million in his personal bank account which originated from SRC Interntional, as inadvertently exposed by none other than the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Apandi Ali himself? At the very least, did the Second Finance Minister, in dutifully carrying out his responsibility ask if Dato’ Seri Najib intends to return the RM69 million back to SRC International?
Why should a Second Finance Minister trying to shift his responsibility to “Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), police and investigation agencies”, when it is also his sworn duty to administer his own Ministry’s subsidiaries?
Isn’t uncovering multi-billion ringgit hanky-panky within his Ministry part of his Minister’s scope of work? Is it because Dato’ Seri Johari not dare to ask because he already knows the answer, but don’t want to rock the boat?
Or is Dato’ Seri Johari taking the position that what has happened in the past, even if it involved billions of ringgit of stolen funds, should be left alone, and his blinkered role is just focus on how to cover up the massive hole which has been created?
Whether the Minister attends my dinner to espouse his position is immaterial. However, Dato’ Seri Johari’s deeds and actions only goes to show the hypocrisy of his moral high ground and his claims of “doing the best for this country”. In fact, in his attempt to cover up the stolen funds and keeping the kleptocrats in power without answering for their crimes, he is betraying the country and sacrificing the interest of our future generations.
Monday, March 20, 2017
Open Letter by Tony Pua, DAP National Publicity Secretary and Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara to Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani on Tuesday, 20 March 2017
Dear Minister,
Thank you so much for your Open Letter addressed to me which was issued yesterday. I am not sure whether I should be honoured to have received such a letter from a Minister for the very first time in my 9 years as a Member of Parliament.
Dato’,
You are extremely unhappy apparently because I called you a “liar” and accused you of “covering up for the Prime Minister”. I checked my facts again and I’m more than happy to stand by my accusations.
Earlier this year, you told the media repeatedly that the Finance Ministry (MOF) would not take over any of the 1MDB’s debts. This was a specific response to my question raised in mid-January as to whether the MOF took over 1MDB’s RM800 million loan from SOCSO and RM2.4 billion sukuk.
It was only when I received the convoluted parliamentary reply in the current sitting, I could conclude that MOF did indeed take over these debts. The sad thing about the reply from the Minister of Finance was that it was clearly written in a way to obfuscate the truth.
You then dug a deeper hole for yourself by arguing that the RM3.2 billion of debt was an “operating debt” belonging to 1MDB’s wholly-owned subsidiary, 1MDB Real Estate (1MDB RE) and hence was not considered as 1MDB’s debt. I then said that “no Finance Minister worth his salt would argue that the ‘operating debts’ of a wholly-owned subsidiary does not belong to the parent company’s accounting books”.
I also proved with facts published in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report, extracted from the Auditor-General’s (AG) report that more than 87% or RM2.8 billion of the RM3.2 billion of 1MDB RE borrowings never went towards the development of 1MDB’s real estate properties. Hence I asked why did the MOF not insist that these advances to 1MDB be repaid?
Dato’,
You then went on to tell an audience at a MIDF lunch talk that the Malaysian government couldn’t press charges against 1MDB personalities “without complete information”. You supported your claim by saying the the Auditor-General and the PAC could not point to anything specifically wrong with 1MDB.
Again, I pointed to specific sections of the PAC Report which clearly concluded that the 1MDB top management has on dozens of occasions – lied and misled the Board of Directors, defied the decisions of the Board or worse, acted without the Board’s authority, all of which are legal offences. The PAC even asked the authorities to investigate the CEO, Datuk Shahrol Halmi and other officers involved for the above wrongdoings. However, a year later, Datuk Shahrol Halmi remains comfortably as of today, a Director of PEMANDU agency in the Prime Minister’s Department.
You added in your letter that, “as far as the government is concerned, there is nothing to hide and nothing to cover up.” Then, I ask you, if so, why do you not propose for the Cabinet refusing to declassify the ‘harmless’ Auditor-General’s Report?
However, instead of answering all of the above questions, you ask me to “give it a rest”.
You opined that 1MDB is the most scrutinised entity by all enforcement agencies in Malaysia. However, you fail to also disclose that every single investigating agency was hampered and disrupted.
When the PAC announced that we were summoning Jho Low for questioning, the PAC Chairman was soon replaced by Datuk Hasan Arifin who promptly reversed the decision. Datuk Hasan, even responded that he has to “cari makan” when asked by the media if the Prime Minister would be summoned.
Despite the diligence of the Auditor-General’s Office, key documents such as 1MDB’s bank statements for its overseas subsidiaries were not handed over to the AG. Neither did Arul Kanda or Datuk Shahrol hand over many other documents they promised when requested by the PAC.
The biggest farce must be the “Super-Taskforce” investigating 1MDB comprising of the Attorney-General, the Inspector-General of Police, the MACC Chief Commissioner and the Bank Negara Governor set up by the Prime Minister himself. Did you forget that just as the then Attorney-General discovered shenanigans relating to the Prime Minister, he was promptly “retired” on spurious ‘health’ reasons? As if on queue, the new Attorney-General effectively dissolved the “Super-Taskforce” and even went to the extent of instructing the MACC to stop any further investigations on the matter.
Dato’,
You started your letter whining that you are merely working “serve the nation” by taking “positive and proactive” steps.
Perhaps let me gently remind you that there is a difference between ‘serving the nation’ and ‘serving the Prime Minister’, by covering up the scandal so that the truth gets swept under the carpet and the crooks get away scot-free.
Do you not realise that we are now a renown kleptocracy and how damaging that is for our country? Everyone who has taken an interest in the affairs of Malaysia knows from the documents presented by the United States Department of Justice and the Singapore Courts that US$731 million from 1MDB, found its way through dodgy investment funds and deceptive offshore companies into the personal bank account of Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.
Do you not think that to “serve the nation”, we must work to revive our heavily-tarnished global reputation? And do you not think that the only way we can remove the kleptocracy label from Malaysia is not by sweeping the truth under the carpet but instead ensure that the kleptocrats are charged and appropriately punished?
In fact, if you really want to take “positive and proactive steps” to help the nation, why haven’t you made a claim for the US$1 billion worth of assets being seized by the United States which were acquired with funds laundered and stolen from 1MDB? Why is the Government still keeping up the pretences that 1MDB did not lose these billions of dollars?
Dear Minister,
The above are just some of the many reasons why I won’t give the 1MDB issue a rest. The issue doesn’t deserve to be rested because you and your fellow Ministers have refused to answer simple questions and more importantly, the crooks who audaciously misappropriated more than US$5 billion are still at large.
Any elected representative with any sense of morality and integrity, who believes in protecting the interest of the man-on-the-street and who wants justice meted out to criminals who rob the country will never let the matter rest until the truth is found.
I am sure that my voters in Petaling Jaya Utara and all right-thinking Malaysians would overwhelmingly back my dogged persistence and relentless pursuit to ensure that Malaysia’s corrupt leaders and its kleptocratic government are made accountable for their crimes.
Thank you so much for your Open Letter addressed to me which was issued yesterday. I am not sure whether I should be honoured to have received such a letter from a Minister for the very first time in my 9 years as a Member of Parliament.
Dato’,
You are extremely unhappy apparently because I called you a “liar” and accused you of “covering up for the Prime Minister”. I checked my facts again and I’m more than happy to stand by my accusations.
Earlier this year, you told the media repeatedly that the Finance Ministry (MOF) would not take over any of the 1MDB’s debts. This was a specific response to my question raised in mid-January as to whether the MOF took over 1MDB’s RM800 million loan from SOCSO and RM2.4 billion sukuk.
It was only when I received the convoluted parliamentary reply in the current sitting, I could conclude that MOF did indeed take over these debts. The sad thing about the reply from the Minister of Finance was that it was clearly written in a way to obfuscate the truth.
You then dug a deeper hole for yourself by arguing that the RM3.2 billion of debt was an “operating debt” belonging to 1MDB’s wholly-owned subsidiary, 1MDB Real Estate (1MDB RE) and hence was not considered as 1MDB’s debt. I then said that “no Finance Minister worth his salt would argue that the ‘operating debts’ of a wholly-owned subsidiary does not belong to the parent company’s accounting books”.
I also proved with facts published in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report, extracted from the Auditor-General’s (AG) report that more than 87% or RM2.8 billion of the RM3.2 billion of 1MDB RE borrowings never went towards the development of 1MDB’s real estate properties. Hence I asked why did the MOF not insist that these advances to 1MDB be repaid?
Dato’,
You then went on to tell an audience at a MIDF lunch talk that the Malaysian government couldn’t press charges against 1MDB personalities “without complete information”. You supported your claim by saying the the Auditor-General and the PAC could not point to anything specifically wrong with 1MDB.
Again, I pointed to specific sections of the PAC Report which clearly concluded that the 1MDB top management has on dozens of occasions – lied and misled the Board of Directors, defied the decisions of the Board or worse, acted without the Board’s authority, all of which are legal offences. The PAC even asked the authorities to investigate the CEO, Datuk Shahrol Halmi and other officers involved for the above wrongdoings. However, a year later, Datuk Shahrol Halmi remains comfortably as of today, a Director of PEMANDU agency in the Prime Minister’s Department.
You added in your letter that, “as far as the government is concerned, there is nothing to hide and nothing to cover up.” Then, I ask you, if so, why do you not propose for the Cabinet refusing to declassify the ‘harmless’ Auditor-General’s Report?
However, instead of answering all of the above questions, you ask me to “give it a rest”.
You opined that 1MDB is the most scrutinised entity by all enforcement agencies in Malaysia. However, you fail to also disclose that every single investigating agency was hampered and disrupted.
When the PAC announced that we were summoning Jho Low for questioning, the PAC Chairman was soon replaced by Datuk Hasan Arifin who promptly reversed the decision. Datuk Hasan, even responded that he has to “cari makan” when asked by the media if the Prime Minister would be summoned.
Despite the diligence of the Auditor-General’s Office, key documents such as 1MDB’s bank statements for its overseas subsidiaries were not handed over to the AG. Neither did Arul Kanda or Datuk Shahrol hand over many other documents they promised when requested by the PAC.
The biggest farce must be the “Super-Taskforce” investigating 1MDB comprising of the Attorney-General, the Inspector-General of Police, the MACC Chief Commissioner and the Bank Negara Governor set up by the Prime Minister himself. Did you forget that just as the then Attorney-General discovered shenanigans relating to the Prime Minister, he was promptly “retired” on spurious ‘health’ reasons? As if on queue, the new Attorney-General effectively dissolved the “Super-Taskforce” and even went to the extent of instructing the MACC to stop any further investigations on the matter.
Dato’,
You started your letter whining that you are merely working “serve the nation” by taking “positive and proactive” steps.
Perhaps let me gently remind you that there is a difference between ‘serving the nation’ and ‘serving the Prime Minister’, by covering up the scandal so that the truth gets swept under the carpet and the crooks get away scot-free.
Do you not realise that we are now a renown kleptocracy and how damaging that is for our country? Everyone who has taken an interest in the affairs of Malaysia knows from the documents presented by the United States Department of Justice and the Singapore Courts that US$731 million from 1MDB, found its way through dodgy investment funds and deceptive offshore companies into the personal bank account of Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.
Do you not think that to “serve the nation”, we must work to revive our heavily-tarnished global reputation? And do you not think that the only way we can remove the kleptocracy label from Malaysia is not by sweeping the truth under the carpet but instead ensure that the kleptocrats are charged and appropriately punished?
In fact, if you really want to take “positive and proactive steps” to help the nation, why haven’t you made a claim for the US$1 billion worth of assets being seized by the United States which were acquired with funds laundered and stolen from 1MDB? Why is the Government still keeping up the pretences that 1MDB did not lose these billions of dollars?
Dear Minister,
The above are just some of the many reasons why I won’t give the 1MDB issue a rest. The issue doesn’t deserve to be rested because you and your fellow Ministers have refused to answer simple questions and more importantly, the crooks who audaciously misappropriated more than US$5 billion are still at large.
Any elected representative with any sense of morality and integrity, who believes in protecting the interest of the man-on-the-street and who wants justice meted out to criminals who rob the country will never let the matter rest until the truth is found.
I am sure that my voters in Petaling Jaya Utara and all right-thinking Malaysians would overwhelmingly back my dogged persistence and relentless pursuit to ensure that Malaysia’s corrupt leaders and its kleptocratic government are made accountable for their crimes.
Friday, March 17, 2017
Which Finance Minister in the world worth his salt would tell you that the debts of its wholly-owned subsidiaries are not the debt of the parent company?
First of all, I would like to thank the Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani for issuing the official statement “Some Facts for Tony Pua”, in response to my earlier press statement on this issue.
This is because the Minister confirmed the very facts which I had stated.
1. The Minister confirmed that real estate owned by the Government was sold to 1MDB at “nominal” prices. A check on 1MDB financial statements would show that the 70-acre Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land was priced at RM64 per square feet (psf) for a total of RM194 million, while the 486-acre Bandar Malaysia was at RM72psf for a total of RM1.67 billion.
2. The Minister concurred that the 1MDB real estate companies took loans amounting to RM800 million from SOCSO and another RM2.4 billion worth of sukuk for Bandar Malaysia.
3. The Minster also confirmed that the above debts amounting to RM3.2 billion are no longer under the books of 1MDB as they have been assumed by the Ministry of Finance.
The question is, how else to describe the above transactions other than a bailout? The Government granted these parcels of land at “nominal prices” to 1MDB, but when effectively less than 50% of these parcels of land were ‘returned’ to the Government, they came with an attached liability of RM3.2 billion?
The Minister failed to mention the fact that 1MDB has sold 30.5 acres of TRX and 40% of Bandar Malaysia for RM3.5 billion and RM7.8 billion respectively where the proceeds are due entirely to 1MDB. None of it went towards the settlement of these debts. So why is it that 1MDB gets to keep all the astronomical profits, while the Ministry of Finance is left to carry all the liabilities in their entirety?
Dato’ Seri Johari tried to wriggle his way out of it by claiming that the above were merely the “operating debts” of the real estate subsidiaries. Malaysians fail to understand his convoluted argument that “there is therefore a clear distinction between 1MDB debts, which will not be taken over by MOF Inc, and the BMSB/TRXC project company operating debt, which are part of the assets and liabilities of the company…”
I hope that Dato’ Seri Johari, who was formerly a corporate man himself, did not actually draft the statement because it makes no financial sense. No Finance Minister worth his salt would argue that the “operating debts” of a wholly-owned subsidiary does not belong to the parent company’s accounting books.
The Second Finance Minister might do well to consult 1MDB’s newly appointed auditors, Parker Randall for an accounting opinion before issuing such embarrassing statements.
What is worse is that, even if Dato’ Seri Johari’s illogical statement holds, he has failed to acknowledge that both the Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have discovered that the bulk of the money raised from the borrowings did not go towards the real estate projects!
Page 43 of the PAC Report would tell you that out of RM800 million borrowed from SOCSO, only RM338 million went towards 1MDB Real Estate and its projects. The balance was “advanced” to the 1MDB parent company for other purposes.
Even more shocking, Page 45 of the same report would tell you that not a single sen of the RM2.4 billion sukuk raised went towards the development of Bandar Malaysia or TRX, or any other 1MDB real estate projects! The net proceeds from the sukuk were “advanced” to the 1MDB parent company for other purposes as well as to refinance previous borrowings, which were also utilised for non-real estate purposes.
The 1MDB CEO, Arul Kanda himself, confessed to the Public Accounts Committee that due to cashflow difficulties within the 1MDB group, these funds were “diverted” from their intended purposes.
Hence while the intent of the RM3.2 billion of borrowings was perhaps “operational” as emphasized by the Second Finance Minister, in reality, the overwhelming bulk of the borrowings was brazenly utilised for “non-operational” purposes.
Therefore, using Dato’ Seri Johari’s own argument, since more than RM2.8 billion of the borrowings were “non-operational” in nature, 1MDB must pay back these “advances” to MOF.
Otherwise, it’s a triple-whammy for the Malaysian tax-payers – where (1) 1MDB made multi-billion ringgit profits from nominally priced land from the Government to partially cover up tens-of-billions of ringgit of losses from other 1MDB transactions; (2) the Government takes back less than 50% of the land attached to a RM3.2 billion liability and (3) the RM3.2 billion borrowed was never invested in the land in the first place, which means that MOF itself has to further invest in the projects to realise their value.
The Malaysian tax-payers cannot be more screwed and victimised than the extra-ordinary bailout that is taking place right before our very eyes.
This is because the Minister confirmed the very facts which I had stated.
1. The Minister confirmed that real estate owned by the Government was sold to 1MDB at “nominal” prices. A check on 1MDB financial statements would show that the 70-acre Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land was priced at RM64 per square feet (psf) for a total of RM194 million, while the 486-acre Bandar Malaysia was at RM72psf for a total of RM1.67 billion.
2. The Minister concurred that the 1MDB real estate companies took loans amounting to RM800 million from SOCSO and another RM2.4 billion worth of sukuk for Bandar Malaysia.
3. The Minster also confirmed that the above debts amounting to RM3.2 billion are no longer under the books of 1MDB as they have been assumed by the Ministry of Finance.
The question is, how else to describe the above transactions other than a bailout? The Government granted these parcels of land at “nominal prices” to 1MDB, but when effectively less than 50% of these parcels of land were ‘returned’ to the Government, they came with an attached liability of RM3.2 billion?
The Minister failed to mention the fact that 1MDB has sold 30.5 acres of TRX and 40% of Bandar Malaysia for RM3.5 billion and RM7.8 billion respectively where the proceeds are due entirely to 1MDB. None of it went towards the settlement of these debts. So why is it that 1MDB gets to keep all the astronomical profits, while the Ministry of Finance is left to carry all the liabilities in their entirety?
Dato’ Seri Johari tried to wriggle his way out of it by claiming that the above were merely the “operating debts” of the real estate subsidiaries. Malaysians fail to understand his convoluted argument that “there is therefore a clear distinction between 1MDB debts, which will not be taken over by MOF Inc, and the BMSB/TRXC project company operating debt, which are part of the assets and liabilities of the company…”
I hope that Dato’ Seri Johari, who was formerly a corporate man himself, did not actually draft the statement because it makes no financial sense. No Finance Minister worth his salt would argue that the “operating debts” of a wholly-owned subsidiary does not belong to the parent company’s accounting books.
The Second Finance Minister might do well to consult 1MDB’s newly appointed auditors, Parker Randall for an accounting opinion before issuing such embarrassing statements.
What is worse is that, even if Dato’ Seri Johari’s illogical statement holds, he has failed to acknowledge that both the Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have discovered that the bulk of the money raised from the borrowings did not go towards the real estate projects!
Page 43 of the PAC Report would tell you that out of RM800 million borrowed from SOCSO, only RM338 million went towards 1MDB Real Estate and its projects. The balance was “advanced” to the 1MDB parent company for other purposes.
Even more shocking, Page 45 of the same report would tell you that not a single sen of the RM2.4 billion sukuk raised went towards the development of Bandar Malaysia or TRX, or any other 1MDB real estate projects! The net proceeds from the sukuk were “advanced” to the 1MDB parent company for other purposes as well as to refinance previous borrowings, which were also utilised for non-real estate purposes.
The 1MDB CEO, Arul Kanda himself, confessed to the Public Accounts Committee that due to cashflow difficulties within the 1MDB group, these funds were “diverted” from their intended purposes.
Hence while the intent of the RM3.2 billion of borrowings was perhaps “operational” as emphasized by the Second Finance Minister, in reality, the overwhelming bulk of the borrowings was brazenly utilised for “non-operational” purposes.
Therefore, using Dato’ Seri Johari’s own argument, since more than RM2.8 billion of the borrowings were “non-operational” in nature, 1MDB must pay back these “advances” to MOF.
Otherwise, it’s a triple-whammy for the Malaysian tax-payers – where (1) 1MDB made multi-billion ringgit profits from nominally priced land from the Government to partially cover up tens-of-billions of ringgit of losses from other 1MDB transactions; (2) the Government takes back less than 50% of the land attached to a RM3.2 billion liability and (3) the RM3.2 billion borrowed was never invested in the land in the first place, which means that MOF itself has to further invest in the projects to realise their value.
The Malaysian tax-payers cannot be more screwed and victimised than the extra-ordinary bailout that is taking place right before our very eyes.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Finance Minister’s convoluted answer on MoF takeover of 1MDB’s real estate assets was a blatant attempt to mask at least a RM3.2 billion bailout
I had submitted a question last week to the Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak which only required a simple straightforward, possibly 2-sentence answer. I have asked the Finance Minister to “list the 1MDB real estate assets taken over by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the consideration paid for them”.
More importantly, I asked “did MoF take over the borrowings associated with these assets including, the RM800 million from SOCSO and RM2.4 billion in sukuk bonds”. This question only required a simple “yes or no” reply, with the total borrowings assumed by the MoF, if any.
What I received was a long grandmother story which tried to obviously obfuscate the answer.
The Finance Minister tried to pin the blame or responsibility for the take over of assets on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The PAC had indeed recommended that the MoF takeover these assets and I have no problems with that.
Anak-anak syarikat dan aset milik kumpulan 1MDB (TRX, Bandar Malaysia, tanah Air Itam, tanah Pulau Indah) seharusnya diserahkan kepada MKD, supaya dapat dikawal selia dan diuruskan dengan lebih rapi dan teliti. (pg 106)
To the second part of my question, again he shifted to responsibility to the PAC by quoting page 81 of the PAC report which stated that
…pinjaman SOCSO sebanyak RM800 juta oleh TRX City Sdn Bhd dan sukuk sebanyak RM2.4 bilion oleh Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd akan diuruskan, di mana ia akan kekal ditanggung oleh aliran tunai projek TRX dan projek Bandar Malaysia.
That was a most blatant slight of hand, and I actually had to double-check my own copy of the PAC Report because I didn’t recall any such recommendations. My memory certainly did not fail me because the statement on pg 81 was actually the proposal submitted by 1MDB to the PAC and not, a recommendation by the PAC!
However, while Dato’ Seri Najib Razak did not explicitly say “yes” or “no” to the above question, it is now clear as day that the MoF has effectively bailed out 1MDB to the tune of RM3.2 billion by taking over these debts!
It also meant that the Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Abdul Johari Ghani’s prior insistence to the media that there was no taking over of 1MDB debts planned over the assets takeover was a blatant lie.
Malaysians are being raped two-times over the above transaction because these pieces of land were “sold” to 1MDB by the MoF at bargain basement prices. The land for the 70-acre TRX was priced at RM64 per square feet (psf) for a total of RM194 million, while the 486-acre Bandar Malaysia was at RM72psf for a total of RM1.67 billion.
However, 1MDB has already sold parts of TRX to Tabung Haji and Armed Forces Pension Fund-owned Affin Bank for more than RM2,700 and RM4,500psf. In total, 30.5 acre of TRX was sold for approximately RM3.5 billion. At the same time 40% of Bandar Malaysia has been sold for more than RM1,000psf. The proceeds of these sale has already gone into the pockets of 1MDB to service its mountain of debt unrelated to its property division.
Hence we were screwed first time when we practically gave the super-prime land to 1MDB for free, allowing 1MDB to blindly profit for billions of ringgit. We are now screwed the second time, when MoF takes back the balance of the assets from 1MDB, now attached with a mega RM3.2 billion debt.
Malaysians can now understand why former Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Husni Hanadzlah decided to quit the Cabinet. The brazen bailout horrors which are taking place today are just mind-blowing – and the above refers only to the real estate transactions.
No Minister with an iota of integrity or credibility would want to remain in this Cabinet, bent on using billions of ringgit of tax-payers’ money to cover up the single largest kleptocratic crime by the Najib administration.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
1MDB Chairman, Tan Sri Irwan Serigar must answer as to why his fellow Directors are so tardy in making urgent and critical decisions on the financial audit of scandal-ridden 1MDB
The last audited financial statements filed by 1MDB was for the accounts for the year-ending March 2014. 1MDB has failed to file their financial statements for 2 consecutive years, March 2015 and March 2016 which were due to by October 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Even so, Deloitte Malaysia has since July last year, withdrawn its endorsements for the financial statements of March 2013 and 2014. At the same time, the disgraced audit firm announced that it had resigned as the auditors of 1MDB as at February 2016.
The new auditors, Parker Randall, which is operated locally by a four-partner Afrizan Tarmili Khairul Azhar (aftaas) was appointed in January this year.
I had asked in my parliamentary question to the Finance Minister last week as to whether Parker Randall will re-audit the 1MDB financial statements for March 2013 and 2014.
The Minister of Finance responded that the Board of Directors will make a decision on the above on “after further discussions with the new auditor”.
The reply also stated that the last time the Board of Directors met to discuss the implications of the US Department of Justice asset-seizure kleptocracy suit was prior to 26 July 2016 when 1MDB had issued a press statement.
Malaysians are shocked that for exactly 1 year after Treasurer-General, Tan Sri Irwan Serigar took over the 1MDB Chairmanship from the disgraced Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, the Board of Directors had basically sat on their backsides and demonstrated little or no urgency over the 1MDB fiasco.
Allegations and evidence have been produced and made available globally by the US Department of Justice which showed that more than US$5 billion have been misappropriation from 1MDB and laundered around the world and yet our Treasurer-General acts as if it is no big deal. These allegations and evidence have been supported since by court prosecutions which took place in Singapore and Switzerland against banks which had facilitated the money-laundering transactions.
Worse, it has also been discovered that at least US$731 million from the above misappropriated sum had found its way into the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank account. Despite the gravity of the crime, our Treasurer-General, the most senior civil servant responsible for managing our hundreds of billions of ringgit of annual tax revenue has shown only nonchalance in the scandal.
Any auditor worth their salt would immediately tell you that they will not be able to complete a financial audit for the year without the “opening balance” or prior year accounts. In this case, it is clear that there have been no audited and certified accounts for March 2013 and 2014 given that Deloitte has withdrawn its endorsement.
What’s more, the Companies Act requires the annual submission of financial statements endorsed by an appointed external auditor to the Registrar of Companies. It is the statutory requirement for the independent auditor to carry out the above task and Directors who fail to ensure that the above are duly completed in a timely matter may be punishable by up to 5 years’ jail or thirty thousand ringgit.
The only resolution for the above matter is for the accounts for March 2013 and 2014 to be re-audited and re-stated.
Hence, what is the point of appointing Parker Randall as the new auditors if they cannot properly perform their duties? Why is the 1MDB Board of Directors dragging its feet under the chairmanship of the Treasurer-General?
We call upon Tan Sri Irwan Serigar to do what he is being paid to do by the Malaysian tax-payers properly. He must remember that his job is to protect the integrity of his office and not to protect those who have misappropriated and stolen billions of ringgit from the Government and the people.
Even so, Deloitte Malaysia has since July last year, withdrawn its endorsements for the financial statements of March 2013 and 2014. At the same time, the disgraced audit firm announced that it had resigned as the auditors of 1MDB as at February 2016.
The new auditors, Parker Randall, which is operated locally by a four-partner Afrizan Tarmili Khairul Azhar (aftaas) was appointed in January this year.
I had asked in my parliamentary question to the Finance Minister last week as to whether Parker Randall will re-audit the 1MDB financial statements for March 2013 and 2014.
The Minister of Finance responded that the Board of Directors will make a decision on the above on “after further discussions with the new auditor”.
The reply also stated that the last time the Board of Directors met to discuss the implications of the US Department of Justice asset-seizure kleptocracy suit was prior to 26 July 2016 when 1MDB had issued a press statement.
Malaysians are shocked that for exactly 1 year after Treasurer-General, Tan Sri Irwan Serigar took over the 1MDB Chairmanship from the disgraced Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, the Board of Directors had basically sat on their backsides and demonstrated little or no urgency over the 1MDB fiasco.
Allegations and evidence have been produced and made available globally by the US Department of Justice which showed that more than US$5 billion have been misappropriation from 1MDB and laundered around the world and yet our Treasurer-General acts as if it is no big deal. These allegations and evidence have been supported since by court prosecutions which took place in Singapore and Switzerland against banks which had facilitated the money-laundering transactions.
Worse, it has also been discovered that at least US$731 million from the above misappropriated sum had found its way into the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank account. Despite the gravity of the crime, our Treasurer-General, the most senior civil servant responsible for managing our hundreds of billions of ringgit of annual tax revenue has shown only nonchalance in the scandal.
Any auditor worth their salt would immediately tell you that they will not be able to complete a financial audit for the year without the “opening balance” or prior year accounts. In this case, it is clear that there have been no audited and certified accounts for March 2013 and 2014 given that Deloitte has withdrawn its endorsement.
What’s more, the Companies Act requires the annual submission of financial statements endorsed by an appointed external auditor to the Registrar of Companies. It is the statutory requirement for the independent auditor to carry out the above task and Directors who fail to ensure that the above are duly completed in a timely matter may be punishable by up to 5 years’ jail or thirty thousand ringgit.
The only resolution for the above matter is for the accounts for March 2013 and 2014 to be re-audited and re-stated.
Hence, what is the point of appointing Parker Randall as the new auditors if they cannot properly perform their duties? Why is the 1MDB Board of Directors dragging its feet under the chairmanship of the Treasurer-General?
We call upon Tan Sri Irwan Serigar to do what he is being paid to do by the Malaysian tax-payers properly. He must remember that his job is to protect the integrity of his office and not to protect those who have misappropriated and stolen billions of ringgit from the Government and the people.
Friday, March 03, 2017
Dato’ Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan failed to convince anyone that he has not abused his powers to benefit developers while he was the Housing Minister
Dato’ Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan has been embroiled in the controversy of granting an extension of time (EOT) for the construction of condominium projects by BHL Group of Companies. The former Urban Well-Being, Housing and Local Government (KPKT) Minister’s move has resulted in the house-buyers failing to secure Liquidated and Ascertained Damages (LAD) from the developer as stipulated in the Sale and Purchase Agreements (SPAs).
The aggrieved house-buyers have filed a judicial review against the Housing Controller and the Minister for the above decision last year.
Last Tuesday, the High Court ruled that the Housing Controller has no power to grant an extension of time to developers who delay the completion of housing projects. Justice Hanipah Farikullah, who allowed the judicial review application by 71 house buyers, said the minister’s decision to rely on a regulation to allow the extension was against the Housing Development (Control & Licensing) Act.
We have called upon Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan to explain why he abused his powers to benefit the developers who have failed to deliver their projects on a timely basis for the house-buyers.
Worse, it has been discovered that the appeal by BHL approved by the Minister was supported by a letter from the wife of the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Apandi Ali, masquerading as a Director of the company. The existence of the letter raises valid suspicions of bias, cronyism and impropriety.
Yesterday, the former Minister, Dato’ Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan denied that he has abused his power in the process.
"The decision I took was based on the powers clearly given to KPKT minister as stated in Act 118 (Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966)," he said. He added that the decision in granting EOT was based on merit and was not influenced by support letters.
However, the Court ruling has stated clearly that the Minister has no power under Section 24 of the Housing and Development (Control and Licensing) Act, to empower housing controllers to waive or change any of the terms and conditions of the prescribed statutory agreement. What “power” is the Minister harping about?
What is however most important, is the fact that Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan had insisted that his decision was based on the “merits” of the case. However, in his statement, the Minister failed to specify even a single instance of such a “merit” to justify his decision which had rubbed salt onto the wounds of the house-buyers.
What could be so convincing and justifiable in the appeal by the developer, other than the fact that it was put forth by the wife of the Attorney-General, which moved the Minister to arbitrarily extend the completion date of the housing project by 12 months resulting in millions of ringgit of losses by the house-buyers?
Among the primary roles of the Minister is to safeguard the interest of Malaysian home-buyers against incompetent and unscrupulous developers. Barring perhaps acts of God, the Minister should never interfere in a transaction, especially if it were to clearly result in substantial losses to the house-buyers.
Instead of granting approvals for extensions to Developers and penalising house-buyers, the Minister should have instead given warnings to the Developers that the Government will not hesitate to assist home-buyers in asserting their rights should the former fail to deliver their promises.
Thursday, February 09, 2017
Unlike DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang who believed that Dato’ Seri Salleh Keruak could be tutored by me on 1MDB, I believe that the Minister is untutorable because he can’t count
DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang asked me to tutor Dato’ Seri Salleh Keruak on 1MDB yesterday. This was in response to the Communicatioarns and Multimedia Minister’s incredible claim yesterday that the 1MDB scandal is only a puny RM1 million scandal compared to the BMF RM2.5 billion scandal.
I really would, if I could.
I now believe that the Minister is actually untutorable because he really cannot count nor understand simple accounting fundamentals.
This was after he insisted yesterday that he didn’t need any tutoring, that “1MDB's start-up capital was only RM1 million” and that debt-stricken company has “RM51 billion worth of assets to show for it plus ongoing development for the next couple of decades.”
Unfortunately, Dato’ Seri Salleh Keruak is spinning a story that even the CEO for 1MDB, Arul Kanda has stopped spinning since a year ago. And it only goes to prove that he really doesn’t know what he is talking about.
Firstly, while the Government did inject only RM1 million in cash into 1MDB, that Government has provided direct and indirect guarantees to various lenders from whom 1MDB borrowed RM5.8 billion and US$7.73 billion (RM3.4bn), or a total of approximately RM39.8 billion. The amounts, which have been verified by the Auditor-General as disclosed in the Public Accounts Committee Report on 1MDB included:
- RM5.0bn – 30-year bond guaranteed by the Federal Government (2009)
- RM0.8bn – 10-year loan from SOCSO guaranteed by the Federal Government (2010)
- US$3.5bn –10-year bond guaranteed by IPIC, Abu Dhabi but indemnified by MOF Inc (2012)
- US$3.0bn – 10-year bond backed by a “Letter of Support” signed by the Minister of Finance which effectively guaranteed the debt (2013)
- US$1.0bn – Advance by IPIC to 1MDB, indemnified by MOF Inc (2015)
- US$0.23j– Advance interest payments by IPIC on behalf of 1MDB, indemnified by MOF Inc (2015/6)
All the indemnities, direct and indirect guarantees above mean that should 1MDB fail to pay the above, then the Federal Government of Malaysia, funded by ordinary tax-payers are liable to pay for the RM39.8 billion of 1MDB borrowings.
The above does not yet include additional billions of borrowings by 1MDB which are not officially guaranteed by the Federal Government. If Salleh Keruak doesn’t trust me or the Auditor-General with the above figures, he could perhaps request for tuition from Arul Kanda instead.
The question is, does 1MDB really have “RM51 billion worth of assets”, a figure Arul Kanda no longer cites and worse, a figure that 1MDB’s own auditors have publicly renounced, to pare down its debts?
Has Dato’ Seri Salleh Keruak completely forgotten the fact that much of the RM51 billion worth of assets have either been sold (at a loss) or worse, been proven to be misappropriated by the investigations published in the United States, Switzerland and Singapore?
The documents which have surfaced since the international scandal broke showed the following sums have been outrightly siphoned from 1MDB:
- US$1.83bn – Investment in or with Petrosaudi, which was mostly misappropriated to Good Star Limited, a company owned by Jho Low (2009-2011)
- US$1.367bn – Purported “deposit” paid a fraudulent Aabar set up in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) which has since been liquidated (2012)
- US$0.855bn – Additional “deposit” paid to the same fraudulent Aabar in 2014
- US$1.56bn – Investment by 1MDB “Global Investment” in fraudulent investment funds (2013)
The total of funds misappropriated and hence completely lost, amounts to US$5.612 billion or approximately RM24.7 billion! These losses do not yet include losses arising from 1MDB various “real” business transactions like the acquisition of power plants and real estate, astronomical fees paid to Goldman Sachs etc.
And despite all of the above, Dato’ Seri Salleh Keruak still deemed 1MDB “a going concern”. The Minister obviously do not understand what is the meaning of “a going concern”. Does he not realise that 1MDB no longer has any income sources despite remaining tens of billions of ringgit in debt? Even Deloitte has given up auditing the company, and 1MDB itself has failed to produce a single financial statement since March 2013.
I sincerely hope that Dato’ Seri Salleh Keruak is merely pretending to be stupid. Because if he is really that stupid, then even Arul Kanda would give up on him. In fact, the 1MDB CEO might just prefer that the Minister keeps his mouth shut to save himself, BN, 1MDB and the Government further outrageous embarrassment.
Saturday, December 03, 2016
The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar should stick to catching criminals who rob the country instead of telling artists what they should and should not draw
Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has advised political cartoonist Zunar to channel his creative juices towards drawing "nice cartoons" if he wanted to exhibit his work.
"He can draw McDonald's or Donald Duck, " he quipped when asked if Zunar would be allowed to showcase his cartoons in a public exhibition.
Perhaps Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has failed to read and/or understand that we have a Federal Constitution which guarantees “Fundamental Liberties” including the “Freedom of speech, assembly and association”.
While such liberties are not absolute, we are supposed to be far from a totalitarian or police state to the extent where the IGP tells an artist to draw “nice cartoons”.
Certainly, just because Zunar’s criticism of the ruling kleptocratic elite who are mired with rampant corruption, abuse of power and incitement of racial flames are portray in a manner which is unpalatable for those who are in power, that certainly do not mean that they are illegal in anyway.
In fact, Tan Sri IGP, you are not required to like Zunar’s art!
Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar tried to justify his repeated arrest of Zunar by claiming that the artist had “insulted the country’s leaders”.
He asked what if the tables were turned when someone draws cartoons which insulted opposition leaders? "If tomorrow such cartoons targeted Penang Chief Minister (Lim Guan Eng), would he like it if we just ignored them?”
Firstly, a hopefully not too profound question for our Inspector-General of Police:
If a thief were to be insulted by a caricature him or her as a “despicable thief”, would you arrest the thief or the artist? Is the alleged “insult” which has hurt the feelings of the thief wrong in the eyes of the law, or is should the thief who have stolen billions of dollars from the people of Malaysia be arrested, investigated and charged instead?
After all, as far as we are aware, no leader of this country is legislated to be above the law.
Secondly, Tan Sri Khalid raised the most ironic of examples – with regards to purported insults against opposition leaders like the Penang Chief Minister.
In fact, DAP and other opposition leaders have been regularly demonised via caricatures appearing in Utusan Malaysia for the past decades, their posters and pictures torn and burnt by UMNO demonstrators – what exactly has the Police done against these parties?
We are not asking for the Police to take action against these people. However, the fact that the IGP only takes action against those who criticise UMNO leaders and close one eye to those who viciously attacked those in the Opposition clearly demonstrates his bias and hypocrisy in the reasons provided for the persecution of Zunar.
We call upon Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to stop making Malaysia and its police force the butt of international jokes by stopping all actions against artists, civil society members and political dissidents. Instead, he should regain the respectability of the force by initiating urgent arrests and investigations against all parties cited by the United States, Switzerland and Singapore investigators who have stolen and misappropriated billions of dollars from 1MDB and SRC International, including but not limited to Jho Low and his father, Riza Aziz, Eric Tan Kim Loong, 1MDB and SRC officials as well as the shameless “Malaysian Official 1”.
Friday, November 18, 2016
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.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai’s attempts to justify increase in ECRL price from RM29 bil. to RM55 bil. raises many more questions than answers
Finally, after more than a week of denying that the proposed East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) would cost a whopping RM55 billion, the hapless Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai finally conceded that the project would indeed cost RM55 billion or RM91.7 million per kilometer.
This admission came after slamming me on 8 November last week in The Star that I was making assumptions of the cost of the ECRL when it was still not finalised yet. “We have to go into negotiation on every kilometre so where did he get the cost?” he had then asked.
The Transport Minister’s admission in Parliament yesterday came after the Pakatan Harapan law-makers exposed the existence of an extensive feasibility study by HSS Engineers Bhd which had estimated that the cost of the 545km project to be only RM29 billion or RM53.2 million per kilometer.
He then tried to defend the staggering increase in cost by arguing that:
The project has been extended from 545km to 600km to include the Gombak-Port Klang link – a fact which we have never disputed.
The HSS feasibility study is based on RM3.2 to the US Dollar in 2009-2010.
There is a new alignment resulting in an increase in tunnel length from 30km to 50km, which also results in additional viaducts.
Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai’s appears to be desperately making up responses to questions as they arise, as his answers raises far too many more questions on the highly questionable RM55 billion project.
The HSS feasibility study which cost the Government RM8.7 million was carried out over a 6-year period, starting in December 2009 and completing only in December 2015 before concluding on the cost of RM29 billion.
Is the Transport Minister telling us that HSS consultants, who have completed many mega-infrastructure projects in the country, are so stupid as to use the 2009-2010 exchange rates to calculate the cost of the project, even though they finalised the report only in December 2015 when the exchange rate was already RM4 to the Dollar by then?
Since the comprehensive HSS report had to take 6 years to complete and was finalised only in December 2015, how did the Government decide to suddenly alter the alignment within 6 months or so? Was a new engineering consultant actually appointed to carry out a new study which could be completed in such a time-frame?
I would agree with Dato’ Seri Liow that if there is an increase in tunnel length through the Titiwangsa range from 30km to 50km, it would certainly increase the cost of construction. However, it begs the question, why take a 50km tunnel route across Titiwangsa range if indeed HSS recommended the much shorter 30km route?
The Transport Minister had told the Parliament that “we have nothing to hide. We are a responsible, accountable and transparent government.”
If he really has nothing to hide, Datuk Seri Liow should immediately order that both the HSS feasibility study and the subsequent study which changed the scope of the HSS study be released to the public.
That way, if what Datuk Seri Liow said is right, then the Pakatan Harapan critics would have no choice but to shut up immediately. Otherwise, the Transport Minister, who is also the MCA President has no right to accuse us of trying to “gain political mileage” when what we clearly want to ensure is not another project where tens of billions of ringgit are embezzled by the powers that be. Instead it would be Datuk Seri Liow who is playing politics to cover up for another multi-billion ringgit mega-scandal.
This admission came after slamming me on 8 November last week in The Star that I was making assumptions of the cost of the ECRL when it was still not finalised yet. “We have to go into negotiation on every kilometre so where did he get the cost?” he had then asked.
The Transport Minister’s admission in Parliament yesterday came after the Pakatan Harapan law-makers exposed the existence of an extensive feasibility study by HSS Engineers Bhd which had estimated that the cost of the 545km project to be only RM29 billion or RM53.2 million per kilometer.
He then tried to defend the staggering increase in cost by arguing that:
The project has been extended from 545km to 600km to include the Gombak-Port Klang link – a fact which we have never disputed.
The HSS feasibility study is based on RM3.2 to the US Dollar in 2009-2010.
There is a new alignment resulting in an increase in tunnel length from 30km to 50km, which also results in additional viaducts.
Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai’s appears to be desperately making up responses to questions as they arise, as his answers raises far too many more questions on the highly questionable RM55 billion project.
The HSS feasibility study which cost the Government RM8.7 million was carried out over a 6-year period, starting in December 2009 and completing only in December 2015 before concluding on the cost of RM29 billion.
Is the Transport Minister telling us that HSS consultants, who have completed many mega-infrastructure projects in the country, are so stupid as to use the 2009-2010 exchange rates to calculate the cost of the project, even though they finalised the report only in December 2015 when the exchange rate was already RM4 to the Dollar by then?
Since the comprehensive HSS report had to take 6 years to complete and was finalised only in December 2015, how did the Government decide to suddenly alter the alignment within 6 months or so? Was a new engineering consultant actually appointed to carry out a new study which could be completed in such a time-frame?
I would agree with Dato’ Seri Liow that if there is an increase in tunnel length through the Titiwangsa range from 30km to 50km, it would certainly increase the cost of construction. However, it begs the question, why take a 50km tunnel route across Titiwangsa range if indeed HSS recommended the much shorter 30km route?
The Transport Minister had told the Parliament that “we have nothing to hide. We are a responsible, accountable and transparent government.”
If he really has nothing to hide, Datuk Seri Liow should immediately order that both the HSS feasibility study and the subsequent study which changed the scope of the HSS study be released to the public.
That way, if what Datuk Seri Liow said is right, then the Pakatan Harapan critics would have no choice but to shut up immediately. Otherwise, the Transport Minister, who is also the MCA President has no right to accuse us of trying to “gain political mileage” when what we clearly want to ensure is not another project where tens of billions of ringgit are embezzled by the powers that be. Instead it would be Datuk Seri Liow who is playing politics to cover up for another multi-billion ringgit mega-scandal.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
We challenge EPU Minister, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan to make public the feasibility study conducted by HSS Engineering Group which was commissioned by the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC)
In our research over the controversy surrounding the 600km East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), we have discovered that the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) has appointed HSS Integrated Sdn Bhd to conduct a feasibility study including engineering studies, ridership studies, systems and rail operation studies, environmental screning, land use and socio-economic impact studies and most importantly, a economic and financial evaluation.
HSS Integrated is part of HSS Engineers Bhd, an engineering company which is listed on Bursa Malaysia who have been involved in some of the biggest engineering projects in Malaysia. Their rail experience would include the Electrified Double-Tracking from Ipoh to Padang Besar, the Sungai-Buloh to Kajang MRT I Line, the Ampang Line LRT Extension Project and the KLIA Express Rail Link.
They were appointed to carry out the ECRL feasibility study in December 2009 and completed their work in December 2015 and were paid RM8.7 million for their services. As disclosed in the HSS Group’s Corporate Profile and Capability statement, the proposed route was approximately 545km in length from Kuala Lumpur to Tumpat, passing through Mentakab, Kuantan, Kuala Terengganu and Kota Bahru.
The full HSS Group profile and capability statement can be downloaded here: http://www.hssbim.com/docs/HSS_Company_Profile.pdf
Most importantly, HSS stated that the project value for the project was RM29 billion (pg 21), or approximately RM53.2 million per kilometer. The study hence supports ECERDC CEO, Datuk Jebasingam Issac John who has previously been quoted by news reports in April 2014 that the ECRL will cost approximately RM30 billion.
Hence Pakatan Harapan elected representatives are absolutely right to heavily criticise the award of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project to China-owned China Communications Construction Company as excessively expensive RM55 billion or RM91.7 million per kilometer.
The Edge Financial Weekly had labelled the project as “the world’s most expensive” when compared to similar railway projects in Bangladesh and Kenya which were also being constructed by CCCC for only RM68.1 million and RM61.4 million respectively. Another project in Ethiopia of which 40% of the 375km project to be built by a Turkish contractor, Yapi Merkezi on challenging terrain cost only RM18.1 million per kilometer.
The EPU Minister in-charge of the project, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan tried to dismiss the “world’s most expensive” railway allegations by citing the Golthard rail project in Switzerland, the Madrid-Valladoid and the Barcelona lines in Spain costing significantly more per kilometer.
We have since debunked the EPU Minister’s comparison because those were nearly 100% rail tunnel projects and they were all High Speed Rail travelling up to 300km per hour, which we all know, cost substantially higher than conventional rail like the ECRL travelling up to 170km per hour.
In fact, the Golthard rail tunnel had to cut through the Swiss Alps and was as deep as 2.3 kilometers below surface. As a comparison, even the most expensive tunnelling project in Malaysia to date, carried out for the MRT was only 45 meters at its deepest.
After being caught trying to sell ATP turboprops at Boeing 747 prices, the EPU Minister has changed his argument to insist that “all infrastructure projects cannot be compared directly”. He is now trying to avoid the now-established claim that the ECRL at RM55 billion will indeed be the world’s most expensive in its class.
Of course it is a given that every rail project will be different. However, the EPU Minister cannot claim that the ECRL has to pass through the Titiwangsa range which will require numerous tunnels and viaducts – as if it is the only such project in the world facing such “challenges”.
Hence, to end the “world’s most expensive” railway debate once and for all, we call upon Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan to make public the feasibility study carried out by HSS which would already have included the cost of having to cut through the Titiwangsa range with tunnels and viaducts.
The EPU Minister will then have to justify to Malaysians why did the Prime Minister award the contract to CCCC at RM91.7 million per kilometer which is 72.4% more expensive than the HSS study of RM53.2 million.
The failure to do so will only confirm Malaysians’ worst fears, that the RM55 billion ECRL over-priced project is an attempt to siphon up to RM25 billion to pay off 1MDB’s debts, to cover up for the tens of billions of ringgit which have been stolen and laundered overseas.
Rafizi Ramli
MP Pandan
Tony Pua
MP Petaling Jaya Utara
Dr Hatta Ramli
MP Kuala Krai
HSS Integrated is part of HSS Engineers Bhd, an engineering company which is listed on Bursa Malaysia who have been involved in some of the biggest engineering projects in Malaysia. Their rail experience would include the Electrified Double-Tracking from Ipoh to Padang Besar, the Sungai-Buloh to Kajang MRT I Line, the Ampang Line LRT Extension Project and the KLIA Express Rail Link.
They were appointed to carry out the ECRL feasibility study in December 2009 and completed their work in December 2015 and were paid RM8.7 million for their services. As disclosed in the HSS Group’s Corporate Profile and Capability statement, the proposed route was approximately 545km in length from Kuala Lumpur to Tumpat, passing through Mentakab, Kuantan, Kuala Terengganu and Kota Bahru.
The full HSS Group profile and capability statement can be downloaded here: http://www.hssbim.com/docs/HSS_Company_Profile.pdf
Most importantly, HSS stated that the project value for the project was RM29 billion (pg 21), or approximately RM53.2 million per kilometer. The study hence supports ECERDC CEO, Datuk Jebasingam Issac John who has previously been quoted by news reports in April 2014 that the ECRL will cost approximately RM30 billion.
Hence Pakatan Harapan elected representatives are absolutely right to heavily criticise the award of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project to China-owned China Communications Construction Company as excessively expensive RM55 billion or RM91.7 million per kilometer.
The Edge Financial Weekly had labelled the project as “the world’s most expensive” when compared to similar railway projects in Bangladesh and Kenya which were also being constructed by CCCC for only RM68.1 million and RM61.4 million respectively. Another project in Ethiopia of which 40% of the 375km project to be built by a Turkish contractor, Yapi Merkezi on challenging terrain cost only RM18.1 million per kilometer.
The EPU Minister in-charge of the project, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan tried to dismiss the “world’s most expensive” railway allegations by citing the Golthard rail project in Switzerland, the Madrid-Valladoid and the Barcelona lines in Spain costing significantly more per kilometer.
We have since debunked the EPU Minister’s comparison because those were nearly 100% rail tunnel projects and they were all High Speed Rail travelling up to 300km per hour, which we all know, cost substantially higher than conventional rail like the ECRL travelling up to 170km per hour.
In fact, the Golthard rail tunnel had to cut through the Swiss Alps and was as deep as 2.3 kilometers below surface. As a comparison, even the most expensive tunnelling project in Malaysia to date, carried out for the MRT was only 45 meters at its deepest.
After being caught trying to sell ATP turboprops at Boeing 747 prices, the EPU Minister has changed his argument to insist that “all infrastructure projects cannot be compared directly”. He is now trying to avoid the now-established claim that the ECRL at RM55 billion will indeed be the world’s most expensive in its class.
Of course it is a given that every rail project will be different. However, the EPU Minister cannot claim that the ECRL has to pass through the Titiwangsa range which will require numerous tunnels and viaducts – as if it is the only such project in the world facing such “challenges”.
Hence, to end the “world’s most expensive” railway debate once and for all, we call upon Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan to make public the feasibility study carried out by HSS which would already have included the cost of having to cut through the Titiwangsa range with tunnels and viaducts.
The EPU Minister will then have to justify to Malaysians why did the Prime Minister award the contract to CCCC at RM91.7 million per kilometer which is 72.4% more expensive than the HSS study of RM53.2 million.
The failure to do so will only confirm Malaysians’ worst fears, that the RM55 billion ECRL over-priced project is an attempt to siphon up to RM25 billion to pay off 1MDB’s debts, to cover up for the tens of billions of ringgit which have been stolen and laundered overseas.
Rafizi Ramli
MP Pandan
Tony Pua
MP Petaling Jaya Utara
Dr Hatta Ramli
MP Kuala Krai
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Minister in Prime Minister’s Department, Dato’ Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan tried to pull a fast one by comparing the exorbitant cost of the East Coast Rail Link with complex High Speed Rail in Europe
Three days ago, Dato’ Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, the Minister in-charge of Economic Planning Unit (EPU) responsible for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) tried to deflect the allegations that the cost of ECRL was the most expensive in the world.
Unlike his fellow Cabinet Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai who denied that the ECRL was to cost RM55 billion or approximately RM91.7 million per kilometer, the EPU Minister pretty much confirmed the cost of the project. Instead he argued that it was not the most expensive in the world.
Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan gave the examples of a 57km rail project in Switzerland costing US$11.9 billion (RM50bn) or US$209 million (RM860 mil) per km to build; a 177km rail line in Madrid-Valladolid, Spain, costing US$5.48 billion (RM22.46bn) or about US$30 million (RM123 mil) a km; and a 48km rail project in Barcelona costing about US$8.12 billion (RM33.3bn) or US$170 million (RM697 mil) per km.
It is disastrous for Malaysia that the EPU Minister actually cited these projects as comparison to our own proposed ECRL.
Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan perhaps didn’t realise that the 57km Swiss Golthard rail project costing a whopping RM50 billion actually involved the building of the world’s longest tunnel as deep as 2.3km below the surface! The neighbouring 56km Brenner rail project which is currently under construction costing just a shade less than Golthard, will be the second longest tunnel in the world when it’s completed in 2025.
Is the Minister telling us that the 600km ECRL link from Port Klang to Kota Bahru via Kuantan will be, if not completely, substantially underground to compare with the Swiss rail lines underneath the Alps?
Similarly, the Barcelona line costing US$8.12 billion has a length of 47.8 km, of which 43.71 km is underground and 4.9 km is on viaducts.
At the same time, the 177km Madrid-Valladoid line was only the first phase of the two-phase Madrid-Leon 342km rail line costing a total of US$6.34 billion. That actually works out to only US$18.54 million (RM76 mil) per kilometer which is cheaper than the ECRL’s RM91.7 million per kilometer!
Most of all, all of the examples cited by Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan are not only tunnel-intensive, they are all High Speed Rail (HSR) projects which, as we know cost significantly more than conventional rail projects like ECRL. These European HSRs travels up to a top speed of 300km per hour compared to the ECRL project proposed at 170km per hour.
Hence what the ignorant Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan attempted to do, intentionally or otherwise, is to try to sell Malaysians a ATP turboprop at the price of a Boeing 747. Unfortunately for him, Malaysians are not that stupid.
The EPU Minister shouldn’t have to go around to world to try justifying the exorbitant cost of the ECRL project. After all, this isn’t our first and only rail project. He should very well know that the 329km Ipoh-Padang Besar and 179km Gemas-Johor Bahru double-tracking link cost RM44.0 million and RM39.8 million per kilometre respectively. Amazingly, these projects such as the Ipoh-Padang Besar and Rawang-Ipoh links were all completed by local engineering and construction companies!
We challenge Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan to show proof that a conventional railway project would cost anything more than the above or that there are no local companies with the necessary expertise who are able to complete the ECRL project for far less than the RM55 billion awarded to China Communications Construction Company.
Rafizi Ramli
MP Pandan
Tony Pua
MP Petaling Jaya Utara
Dr Hatta Ramli
MP Kuala Krai
Unlike his fellow Cabinet Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai who denied that the ECRL was to cost RM55 billion or approximately RM91.7 million per kilometer, the EPU Minister pretty much confirmed the cost of the project. Instead he argued that it was not the most expensive in the world.
Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan gave the examples of a 57km rail project in Switzerland costing US$11.9 billion (RM50bn) or US$209 million (RM860 mil) per km to build; a 177km rail line in Madrid-Valladolid, Spain, costing US$5.48 billion (RM22.46bn) or about US$30 million (RM123 mil) a km; and a 48km rail project in Barcelona costing about US$8.12 billion (RM33.3bn) or US$170 million (RM697 mil) per km.
It is disastrous for Malaysia that the EPU Minister actually cited these projects as comparison to our own proposed ECRL.
Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan perhaps didn’t realise that the 57km Swiss Golthard rail project costing a whopping RM50 billion actually involved the building of the world’s longest tunnel as deep as 2.3km below the surface! The neighbouring 56km Brenner rail project which is currently under construction costing just a shade less than Golthard, will be the second longest tunnel in the world when it’s completed in 2025.
Is the Minister telling us that the 600km ECRL link from Port Klang to Kota Bahru via Kuantan will be, if not completely, substantially underground to compare with the Swiss rail lines underneath the Alps?
Similarly, the Barcelona line costing US$8.12 billion has a length of 47.8 km, of which 43.71 km is underground and 4.9 km is on viaducts.
At the same time, the 177km Madrid-Valladoid line was only the first phase of the two-phase Madrid-Leon 342km rail line costing a total of US$6.34 billion. That actually works out to only US$18.54 million (RM76 mil) per kilometer which is cheaper than the ECRL’s RM91.7 million per kilometer!
Most of all, all of the examples cited by Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan are not only tunnel-intensive, they are all High Speed Rail (HSR) projects which, as we know cost significantly more than conventional rail projects like ECRL. These European HSRs travels up to a top speed of 300km per hour compared to the ECRL project proposed at 170km per hour.
Hence what the ignorant Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan attempted to do, intentionally or otherwise, is to try to sell Malaysians a ATP turboprop at the price of a Boeing 747. Unfortunately for him, Malaysians are not that stupid.
The EPU Minister shouldn’t have to go around to world to try justifying the exorbitant cost of the ECRL project. After all, this isn’t our first and only rail project. He should very well know that the 329km Ipoh-Padang Besar and 179km Gemas-Johor Bahru double-tracking link cost RM44.0 million and RM39.8 million per kilometre respectively. Amazingly, these projects such as the Ipoh-Padang Besar and Rawang-Ipoh links were all completed by local engineering and construction companies!
We challenge Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan to show proof that a conventional railway project would cost anything more than the above or that there are no local companies with the necessary expertise who are able to complete the ECRL project for far less than the RM55 billion awarded to China Communications Construction Company.
Rafizi Ramli
MP Pandan
Tony Pua
MP Petaling Jaya Utara
Dr Hatta Ramli
MP Kuala Krai
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