Malaysia's AG who cleared Najib of 1MDB theft declared "most corrupt", by Najib spokesman Raja Petra

by Ganesh Sahathevan





Curiously, left unsaid in his latest expose,  by Raja Petra Kamaruddin , a well known ally and spokesman for PM Najib Razak who is often quoted by Malaysia's state -owned media , is this crucial point; that Attorney General Apandi single-handedly cleared Najib of any wrong doing in the 1MDB matter.


Now read on, and be amazed:

Strong Rumours Surrounding The AG: Part 1

By MT Webmaster Last updated Oct 20, 2017

http://www.malaysia-today.net/strong-rumours-surrounding-the-ag-part-1/

Three senior judges went to meet Najib at his residence and advised him to remove Gani Patail because the government cannot afford to have an AG who abuses his position to promote his personal agenda and that of the ANC. Najib asked the three judges if he removes Gani then who should be appointed as his replacement and they suggested Apandi Ali. Azeez Rahim, who was privy to this information, then rushed over to meet Apandi and informed him that Gani was going to be removed as the AG and that three people are being considered for the job — Shafee Abdullah being one of them and the top contender for the job. Azeez then told Apandi he will help him lobby for the job and will make sure he gets it.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

When the then Attorney General, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, set up the Special Task Force in July 2015 — comprising of himself, the then Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the then Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, and the then Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed — it was done without Cabinet approval. A Special Task Force requires Cabinet approval or else it would be deemed illegal.

The purpose of this Special Task Force was to initiate an investigation into Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak regarding the allegation that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad made — which was Najib had ‘stolen’ RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money and that the RM42 billion had ‘disappeared into thin air’. Their aim was basically to enable the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) to topple Najib in the Cabinet Meeting scheduled for later that month on 29th July 2015 by using the 1MDB issue as the leverage to get Najib to resign or else face arrest.

AG Gani Patail, plotted a failed coup in July 2015 and took a hard fall

Whether a case exists or can be built against Najib was not material. What they wanted was Najib’s resignation and even if they do not proceed with a case after that it does not matter. The objective of forcing Najib’s resignation would be achieved anyway.

Three senior judges — Tun Arifin Zakaria, the then Chief Justice, Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif, the then President of the Court of Appeal, and Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, the Chief Judge of Malaya — went to meet Najib at his residence and advised him to remove Gani because the government cannot afford to have an AG who abuses his position to promote his personal agenda and that of the ANC.

Najib asked the three judges if he removed Gani then who should be appointed as his replacement and they suggested Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali.

Azeez Rahim, running a scam with the AG, Apandi Ali

Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, the Chairman of Lembaga Tabung Haji, who was privy to this information, then rushed over to meet Apandi and informed him that Gani was going to be removed as the AG and that three people are being considered for the job — Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Muhamad Abdullah being one of them and the top contender for the job. Azeez then told Apandi he will help him lobby for the job and will make sure he gets it.

Actually, based on the recommendation of the three judges, Apandi was the sole contender and Shafee was not in the running at all, let alone the top contender. But Azeez needed to make it appear like it was a tight race and that Shafee was in the lead to give an impression that it was going to be a tough assignment for Azeez to lobby for Apandi and if he succeeds it is going to be almost like a miracle. The truth is Shafee was Najib’s personal legal adviser and there was no way he was going to let Shafee go.

Azeez wanted Apandi to feel that he is very crucial to the whole thing and without his help Apandi would not get the job. Azeez wanted to curry favour with Apandi because if he can control the AG then he can make a lot of money in influence-peddling when people want to make deals to settle cases. Both those in the underworld and the corporate world would pay a lot of money to ‘settle’ legal cases and some of these cases cost as high as millions, as many in the legal profession can tell you.

Apandi Ali, may yet prove to be the most corrupted AG in Malaysian history

One example involved a Chinese businessman who was a business partner of D.Y.M.M Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, the Sultan of Johor. Apandi demanded RM4 million from him on a case he had won and when he did not pay they sent Chinese gangsters to his house to threaten that they would kidnap his son if he refused to pay the RM4 million.

Fearing for his life the Chinese businessman went to see the Sultan and asked Tuanku what to do and whether he should pay. The Sultan was furious and immediately phoned Apandi, who happened to be in London at that time and fast asleep. The Sultan gave Apandi the dressing-down of his life and was flabbergasted when Apandi replied that since the Chinese chap had won his case then he needs to ‘pay something’.

The Sultan replied that Apandi was a judge (when the case took place) so what business does he have asking for money to win cases? The Sultan then complained to Najib, who was also furious about the incident. Apandi eventually called off the gangsters but the poor Chinese businessman was so disturbed that he ended up in hospital after almost collapsing from a heart attack.

DYMM Sultan Johor was furious when Apandi tried to extort RM4 million from his business partner and sent gangsters to threaten to kidnap his son

Azeez keeps Apandi on a leash by telling him that Shafee still wants his job and is trying to lobby for it. This keeps Apandi in constant paranoia and with Azeez ‘watching his back’ this makes him indebted to Azeez. His strategy is basically to create fear and make Apandi feel insecure and in danger of losing his job. Azeez needs to build a perception of an enemy at the gates and that this so-called enemy is Shafee. Azeez then offers himself as Apandi’s ‘lord and protector’ who will ensure that Apandi does not lose his job. What Azeez kept from Apandi is that his job is actually secure for at least three or four years.

Of course, all this is not true but then Apandi now hates Shafee and will run down and bad mouth Shafee while any one who is seen as close to Shafee will be excommunicated. Apandi even tells Shafee’s clients that if they retain him as their lawyer they are going to lose their case.

Azeez rewards Apandi certain ‘goodies’ for all the deals they do, which is transferred to London through a certain moneychanger in Kuala Lumpur. That is the reason why Apandi makes frequent trips to London — so that he can count his goodies. We know the identity of this moneychanger and would be willing to cooperate with the MACC to reveal this information if a proper request is made.

To further their cause, Apandi’s brother-in-law, Jahabar Sadiq, uses The Malaysian Insight (TMI) as their spinning machine. DAP is the main funder of TMI while Azeez is the co-sponsor. TMI is presented as an ‘opposition’ portal while in reality it is used as a Trojan Horse by Umno insiders such as Azeez to attack their enemies within Umno and Barisan Nasional. Anyway, we will talk more about TMI in the next episode.

James Shipton likely to have worked with,approved of, Tim Leissiner's actions: AFP may be compelled to investigate James Shipton for breach of Australian laws

by Ganesh Sahathevan


As previously reported :


PHOTO: ASIC's new chair, James Shipton (Supplied: Harvard University)

The Australian Government intends to recommend to the Governor-General in Council that Mr James Shipton be appointed as the full-time Chair to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for a five-year period from 1 February 2018.

Prior to (2013) he spent nine years at Goldman Sachs – five years as Head of Hedge Fund Consultancy and four years as Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs in the Asia Pacific.


It is the  duty of the  Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs  to work with government, to further the interests of the firm.


The 1MDB theft involved the Prime Minister Najib Razak himself at almost every step .While Goldman Sachs has attempted to contain the damage to Tim Leissner , the former Goldman co-president for Southeast Asia, the 1MDB engagement was so large and so high-profile that  the then  Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs, our soonto be ASIC chairman James Shipton, could not have not been involved in discussions with Najib, the Malaysian Government , and 1MDB. He is likely to have been involved in appointments such as the one reported below, which is now the subject of investigation buy US agencies. The AFP may be compelled to investigate  James Shipton for breach of Australian laws ,for the very same reasons.
END

Goldman hired daughter of ally to Malaysian PM Najib Razak

Jeevan Vasagar

Published 8:05 PM ET Thu, 10 March 2016Financial Times

Goldman Sachs hired the daughter of a key ally of Malaysia's prime minister at a time when the US bank was seeking to expand its business in the country, it emerged on Thursday.

The bank made the appointment as Tim Leissner, then Goldman's co-president for Southeast Asia, was working to forge closer business ties in Malaysia, where it would later win valuable business with the government's 1MDB investment fund.

Investigators are probing allegations of misconduct and the suspected misappropriation of state funds in relation to 1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Najib Razak, Malaysia's prime minister.

Goldman was granted a licence to operate in Malaysia in December 2009 and began pitching for business. Mr Leissner later played a key role in controversial bond sales for the fund.

In 2010, Goldman hired Anis Jamaludin, daughter of Jamaluddin Jarjis, a Malaysian politician and close confidant of Mr Najib. She worked for the bank as an analyst for months, a person familiar with the matter said.

Why Malaysia’s Najib may cling to power

According to a LinkedIn page in her name, Ms Anis worked for Goldman as an investment banking analyst in Singapore from July to November 2010. Ms Anis could not immediately be reached for comment.

Goldman declined to comment. Neither the bank nor Mr Leissner is accused of wrongdoing.

Western banks have come under scrutiny for their hiring practices in other parts of Asia, notably China. The hiring of friends and relatives of Chinese officials is perceived as a way to win regulatory approval and business from state-owned enterprises.

More from the Financial Times:

Seven fat years for US stocks
Typo trips the alarm in $101m cyber bank heist
Plan to strip US of internet oversight

Jarjis, a senior member of the ruling UMNO party and former Malaysian ambassador to the US, died in a helicopter crash last year. A key adviser and fixer for Mr Najib, his death was viewed as a blow to the prime minister. After his death, Mr Najib described Jarjis as a "friend of many years".

Mr Leissner was named chairman of the bank's Southeast Asia division in 2014. He went on leave in January and resigned last month. His departure is connected with an unauthorised personal reference he wrote on behalf of another individual, according to people familiar with the matter.

The financier was central to Goldman's involvement in capital raising for 1MDB. The US bank arranged three bond sales for 1MDB in 2012 and 2013, which raised $6.5bn.

Real estate and art wrapped into 1MDB scandal  3:41 PM ET Tue, 8 March 2016

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a statement this week that it was "co-operating actively" with several jurisdictions over the 1MDB affair. The Singapore regulator said Mr Leissner was based in Singapore from 2002 to 2011 and moved to Hong Kong in November 2011.

The MAS said Mr Leissner "was not based in Singapore when his alleged involvement in the 1MDB deals took place".

While Goldman said in July 2014 that Mr Leissner would be relocating back to Singapore, the city-state's authorities said this relocation did not materialise.

The 1MDB affair has rocked Malaysia, with Mr Najib coming under pressure to explain $680m that flowed into his personal bank accounts. Mr Najib denies wrongdoing, saying the money was a political donation, while 1MDB denies its funds have been misappropriated.

The hiring of Ms Anis by Goldman was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Mr Leissner's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

Australia appoints Goldman man who oversaw 1MDB deals head of corporate regulator ASIC: James Shipton looked the other way to allow Goldman to profit from the 1MDB theft

by Ganesh Sahathevan



PHOTO: ASIC's new chair, James Shipton (Supplied: Harvard University)

All as reported:

The Australian Government intends to recommend to the Governor-General in Council that Mr James Shipton be appointed as the full-time Chair to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for a five-year period from 1 February 2018.

Prior to (2013) he spent nine years at Goldman Sachs – five years as Head of Hedge Fund Consultancy and four years as Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs in the Asia Pacific.

His tenure at Goldmans in the last for years coincides with these deals reported by Sarawak Report and Bloomberg:

Research of the limited facts made available by 1MDB’s opaque auditing point ever more strongly to the relevance of the impending election to raising of vast funds by ADMIC (not to be confused with the Jho Low owned company ADKMIC, which received over US$530 million from Good Star, according to the Singapore authorities).

One of the most controversial aspects of the deal was the huge commission paid to the bank Goldman Sachs International, which underwrote the entire bond issue.

Goldman’s fee was US$300 million for this transaction alone (the bank claimed similar enormous fees from the other two bonds it helped raise for 1MDB in order to fund the purchase of power plants).

When asked by business journals as to why it had seen fit to charge such an enormous fee for its services in the raising of this bond, Goldman replied that:

“the client wanted the money quickly” [Bloomberg]

END  

References 

Appointment of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Chair

17 October 2017

Press Releases

Tags: Budget

I am pleased to announce that the Government intends to recommend to the Governor-General in Council that Mr James Shipton be appointed as the full-time Chair to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for a five-year period from 1 February 2018.

Mr Shipton brings wide regulatory and financial market knowledge to the position, as well as international experience. 

He is currently the Executive Director of the Program on International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School. From 2013 to 2016 he was the Executive Director, Intermediaries Supervision and Licensing Division at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Prior to that he had extensive experience in various roles in investment banking in Asia and Europe and commenced his professional career as a solicitor in Australia. 

I look forward to Mr Shipton making a significant contribution to the important work of ASIC in promoting confidence in Australia’s financial system and protecting consumer interests as the incoming Chair.

I would also like to express my appreciation to Mr Greg Medcraft for his commitment over the past years to ASIC both as the Chair and as a member.

Mr Medcraft has overseen significant changes in ASIC’s role during his tenure, including reforms to improve the quality of financial advice and financial literacy, and the establishment of a national business names register.

Mr Peter Kell, the current Deputy Chair, will be the Acting Chair from the time Mr Medcraft’s term ends on 12 November 2017 to when Mr Shipton commences in February.

ASIC is the independent Australian Government body with responsibility for regulating Australian companies, financial markets, financial services organisations and professionals which deals with and advises on investments, superannuation, insurance, deposit taking and credit.

---

James Shipton Biography

James Shipton is currently leading a research centre at Harvard Law School where he is the Executive Director of the Program on International Financial Systems.

For the three years prior to his appointment in 2016, he was Executive Director and Commission Member at the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong – the equivalent of a Commissioner at ASIC. Whilst at the SFC he was Head of the Intermediaries Supervision and Licensing Division and had 250 staff report to him.

Prior to that he spent nine years at Goldman Sachs – five years as Head of Hedge Fund Consultancy and four years as Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs in the Asia Pacific.

Before that he was a Director of Eurekahedge Advisers and Managing Director of Compliance Asia, based in Singapore, and Vice President at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in both Hong Kong and London.

He started his career as a lawyer at Linklaters and Blake Dawson Waldron, and holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and Monash University respectively.

Mr Shipton’s experience cuts across academia, regulation, the financial industry, and the law, spanning over 20 years. He brings wide regulatory and market knowledge, as well as international experience in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States. 

SARAWAK REPORT

• 4 July 2015

Scrutiny Centres On Tun Razak Exchange's US$3 Billion Bond Issue - 1MDB SCANDAL

• 4 July 2015
 
• 18 comments

Najib Razak faced a unanimously hostile cabinet on Friday am

In a carefully worded statement last night the Prime Minister announced that he has “never taken money for personal gain”.

This was not an allegation that has specifically been made against him.

What Sarawak Report has reported is that investigators into the money missing from 1MDB have identified over US$700 million, which flowed into his private accounts from the government company SRC International Sdn Bhd and the Aabar owned Falcon Bank.

The Prime Minister specifically did not deny that he owned the bank accounts named nor the sums specified and dates of the transactions:

“The latest allegation is that I have taken state-linked funds for personal gain. I believe Tun, working hand in glove with foreign nationals, including the now discredited political attack blog Sarawak Report, is behind this latest lie.

Let me be very clear: I have never taken funds for personal gain as alleged by my political opponents” [Najib Razak Facebook Statement]

By making this denial in the way he did the Prime Minister has focused interest and attention on the dates and connections around the transfer of the main body of this money from Falcon Bank in 2013.

This sum totalling US$681,999,976 (RM2.6 billion) was transferred into his private account just days before the calling of the GE13 election in March 2013.

Election kitty?

Musa Aman with his bag man Michael Chia, caught laundering tens of millions in timber kickbacks.

Najib’s reference to no “personal gain” bears a marked resemblance to the grounds on which his government exonerated the Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman.

This was after Sarawak Report published a series of exposes about the tens of millions that arrived in Musa’s own bank accounts, which were proceeds of massive timber corruption in the state.

We produced so much definitive evidence of Musa’s layers of shell companies, which passed these timber kickbacks eventually to his own Zurich bank accounts (all still being examined by Swiss prosecutors) that it was impossible for the government to deny.

Instead, the Attorney General and his boss Najib dropped the case put together by prosecutors, on the basis that Musa had “assured” them that none of this money in his accounts was being used for “private” purposes, only to pay for his party’s election expenses.

This, opined the Attorney General and the ministers from Najib’s office back in 2012, made it all OK!

“The funds were contributions to the Sabah Umno liaison body and not for the personal use of the chief minister.  No element of corruption was proven in this case”[Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz]

Presumably, the ‘interim report’ due from the Auditor General (who also works under Najib) due next week on the 1MDB crisis was also planned to reach a similar conclusion, in order to close this inconvenient matter down?

Where the evidence points….

With the signals so strong that this is about election finance. it makes sense to analyse the dates and key indicators in this case.

After all, the investigators who have presented this evidence about Najib’s personal accounts were looking into malfeasance at the development fund 1MDB.

Posing at the photo shoot to promote the “RM18 billion deal” three weeks before parliament was dissolved, were the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, the CEO of 1MDB (Shahrol Halmi), the Chairman of 1MDB (Lodin Wok Kamaruddin), the Chairman of Falcon Bank and CEO of Aabar (Mohamed Badawy al-Husseiny) as well the Chairman of Aabar (Khaddem Al Qubassi) who has been closely linked to numerous deals with 1MDB and to the controversial business friend of the Prime Minister, Jho Low.

Indeed, the events and dates surrounding the initial enormous payments into Najib Razak’s personal account from the Aabar owned Falcon Bank are highly noteworthy.

Najib himself kicked off the sequence events, by hosting a much publicised ‘signing ceremony’ in KL of a so-called “Strategic Partnership” between Malaysia and Abu Dhabi on 12th March 2013.

The PR image for TRX

Gushing press releasesfrom 1MDB explained that this represented the promise of mass investment of Arab money in Malaysian development, much in the same way that the PetroSaudi deal was advertised as an ‘injection of cash’ and massive ‘job creation’ for Malaysians, thanks to Arab money.

According to all this propaganda a key initial agreement under this ‘partnership’ was an alleged 50:50 ‘joint investment’ of RM18 billion by Malaysia’s state owned 1MDB and Abu Dhabi’s state owned Aabar fund in the development of the Tun Razak Exchange – a planned new business district named after the Prime Minister’s father:

HE Khadem Al Qubaisi said: “TRX is estimated to generate a gross development value of RM26 billion and attract 250 of the world’s leading companies, creating 40,000 new job opportunities for knowledge workers.

The multiplier effect generated will produce up to 500,000 new jobs, directly and indirectly throughout Malaysia, by the time it is fully completed.

The RM18 billion strategic partnership will separately invest, via a 50:50 joint venture between 1MDB and Aabar, in strategic high-impact long-term sustainable economic and social projects for the benefit of Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, to be identified by both parties under the advice of their respective governments.

Expand text

RM18 billion strategic partnership – Malaysia and Abu Dhabi sealed RM18 billion strategic partnership to promote new economic initiatives in Malaysia

In fact, no money has ever been raised from the Abu Dhabi side to invest in this development.

The only money that has been raised was US$3 billion in borrowings from 1MDB, which was backed by a letter of support from the Malaysian Ministry of Finance, run by Najib.

This letter of support was signed by Najib just two days after the signing ceremony on March 14th 2013, according to the 1MDB Global Investments prospectus, the company under which the bond was raised.

It was two and a half weeks later on April 3rd that Najib dissolved Parliament and called the General Election.

And on April 15th, during the campaign that an official announcement was made confirming that the US$3 billion bond had already been raised:

“KUALA LUMPUR, 15 April 2013: 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) has raised the required capital for its new strategic economic initiatives between Malaysia and Abu Dhabi.

This capital is an integral part of the Government-to-Government collaboration between Malaysia and Abu Dhabi on a strategic partnership sealed on 12 March 2013… Through the 50:50 joint venture company, Abu Dhabi Malaysia Investment Company (ADMIC), 1MDB and its partner Aabar Investments PJS will leverage on their global resources to drive these initiatives.”[1MDB press release]

Expand text

This gushing press release made no mention of the fact that the executives at the signing of the ‘Strategic Partnership’ from Aabar, namely the Chairman Khadem al Qubassi and his CEO Mohammed Al-Husseiny had made no moves to raise money from their own side for the ‘joint venture’.

Two years later, the reality of TRX

Abu Dhabi has still failed to inject any cash.

Yet it is notable that these two executives were also in control of Aabar’s newly acquired Swiss private banking institution Falcon Bank, whose Singapore branch has now been identified as the institution which passed nearly US$700 million into Najib’s private account at AmPrivate Banking a few days later.

Look at the dates!

The actual bond had in fact been raised several days before the above April 15th announcement.

1MDB’s Annual Reports for 2013 and 2014 show that the US$3 billion bond was raised for 1MDB Global Investments by 19th March 2013, being specified as “seed capital” for the ‘joint venture’ firm ADMIC (Abu Dhabi Malaysia Investment Corporation) to develop Tun Razak Exchange.

What lightening speed – just one week after the ‘Strategic Agreement’ was signed!

We are told only that this money arrived at “a licensed financial institution”.  It did so just two days before the first transfer of US$619,999,988 was made to Najib Razak’s AmPrivate Banking account in KL on 21st March 2013, which itself was just ten days before the election was called.

The money trail from the BVI company account at Falcon Bank (Tanore Finance) to Najib’s personal AmPrivate Bank account days before the calling of the 2013 General Election

It is surely now a legitimate question to ask whether this “licensed financial institution” was in fact none other than Falcon Bank, which belongs to the partners in this ADMIC deal, i.e. the Aabar fund?

The Chairman of the Board of Falcon at that time was Mohammed Al-Husseiny, the CEO of Aabar, who had attended the signing ceremony in KL the previous week.

Why the hurry? – “client wanted the money quickly”

Who financed BN’s hugely expensive election campaign? Was it public borrowing by 1MDB?

Research of the limited facts made available by 1MDB’s opaque auditing point ever more strongly to the relevance of the impending election to raising of vast funds by ADMIC (not to be confused with the Jho Low owned company ADKMIC, which received over US$530 million from Good Star, according to the Singapore authorities).

One of the most controversial aspects of the deal was the huge commission paid to the bank Goldman Sachs International, which underwrote the entire bond issue.

Goldman’s fee was US$300 million for this transaction alone (the bank claimed similar enormous fees from the other two bonds it helped raise for 1MDB in order to fund the purchase of power plants).

When asked by business journals as to why it had seen fit to charge such an enormous fee for its services in the raising of this bond, Goldman replied that:

“the client wanted the money quickly” [Bloomberg]

Indeed cannot the assumption be made that Goldman were able to justify this inflated commission, because the bank in fact had forwarded the money and taken on the burden of the subsequent bond sale at its own risk?

Given that just two days after US$2.7 billion was paid into ADMIC (19th March 2013) the first of two enormous transactions for nearly US$700 million was paid from Falcon Bank into the Prime Minister’s account, it is surely fair to ask if the two sums were related?

If not, from where did this money come?

Mohamed Badawy al-Husseiny CEO of Aabar was also Chair of Falcon Bank at the time of the multi-million dollar transactions into Najib’s account and he remains a current Board Member at the Aabar/IPIC owned bank.

Najib Razak called the election just two weeks later (after another US$60,999,988 had been received into his account on 25th March).

The Prime Minister has denied that this money received by him from Aabar’s Falcon Bank was for “personal gain”, but he has not denied it was paid.

Was it therefore for “political gain” and to secretly finance the personal gains of others, who benefited from the enormous handouts that characterised the GE 13 election campaign?

Investigators plainly believe that this was public money derived from 1MDB, so these questions are rightfully put and ought to be answered.

Where is the money now?

Finally, if the money was not used in the election and not used by the Prime Minister himself,where did it go, since the AmPrivate Banking account where the money had been sent was closed at the end of August after the election had taken place?

Meanwhile, it has been widely remarked that very little development seems to have successfully taken place at the Tun Razak Exchange site from the US$3 billion raised over two years ago.

While not much appears to remain of the money that was raised.

The Accounts

According to the 1MDB Annual Report of 2013, ADMIC received US$2.7 billion on 19th March 2013 of which US$1.58 billion was “placed in various investment portfolios under the custody of a licensed financial institution”.

The US$1.42 balance, says the same report, was placed in “time deposits and cash accounts with the same financial institution for the purposes of cash management”.

By the Annual Report of 2014 it seems that rather a lot of this had gone, but not on the development of the Tun Razak Exchange:

USD$1.56 remained in the investment portfolios ($200 million less than before).

However, the “remaining net proceeds” had been “utilised by the working capital and debt repayment purposes” of the company.

This leaves glaring questions over why so much money raised for development should have been used to repay debts.

Also, if the company is desperate for cash to service the rest of its debts, why it has not dipped into the US$1.56 billion, which is supposed to remain in those investment portfolios?

Finally, are we now to assume that a chunk of this money was sent to the Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal accounts to cover the GE 13 election expenses?

Corrs and Denton may now be subject of Five Eyes scrutiny . Singing Katyusha in Chinese becomes even more difficult

by Ganesh Sahathevan 

The ABC has reported:

Having observed attacks on academic freedoms in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — discussions have begun in diplomatic and security circles about whether the Five Eyes intelligence partners should respond collectively to the threat, so there are no "weak links" which can be exploited.

Meanwhile John Denton and his team at Corrs have gone so far as to assist China against India on Gwadar,and let it be known that Darwin Port will be a base for the Chinese Navy ,to enable its work in the Indian Ocean ,and Northern Australia.

It follows that Corrs and Denton also are likely to be subject of Five Eyes  action.Corrs clients can expect their files to be scrutinised, by all sides. Denton must find singing Katyusha  in Chinese increasingly difficult. 

END

References 

realpolitikasia

Friday, October 13, 2017

On John Denton's clumsy promotion of the PRC;almost as bad as bragging about a conversation with Yeltsin's driver

by Ganesh Sahathevan 

Katyusha (Катюшa) -by the Alexandrov Ensemble and ladies from the PLA. An example of managing and harmonizing conflicting interests that Denton could learn from.

John Fitzgerald's article in the Lowy Interpreter explains in excruciating detail why John Denton's defence of the government of the Peoples Republic China is clumsy and not credible in what it seeks to achieve. Fitzgerald was responding to Denton and one Peter Drysdale's (famous for something or another, I'm sure) recent article in the AFR where both  chastised Australians for questioning the right of Chinese nationals in Australia to promote the interests of the PRC.

That effort was as clumsy as Denton's bragging in a 1998 interview about how, as a "political analyst" seconded to DFAT from Corrs, serving in Russia, he obtained information from then president Boris Yeltsin's movements from Yeltsin's driver.

END 

Reference

Friday, October 6, 2017

The matter of Corrs ,the PRC and the PLA: National security trumps legal professional privilege;likely that privileged info already in the hands of foreign agencies

by Ganesh Sahathevan 

Current Chinese President Xi Jinping with Corrs CEO John W.H. Denton

Given law firm Corrs and its CEO John Denton's admission on the Corrs website that the  Darwin Port deal will provide Chinese naval vessels with facilitated access to Australia,  it is in the national interest that all records at Corrs be reviewed  to determine how and to what extent Australian national interests have been compromised. 

Corrs and Denton will no doubt claim that their files are all subject to legal professional privilege, but national security must trump that of some law firm and its clients making a bit of money.In any case, it is more likely than not that Corrs IT systems have already been breached by any number of intelligence agencies in this region. Denton and his partners may , for example, want to familiarize themselves with the acronym RAW.
END