Timing of Zhu Minshen & Top Group's LPAB decision adds to LPAB audit red flags: AG Mark Speakman must ensure that the details of the LPAB's dealings with Top, Zhu are fully disclosed. Auditor General NSW has a duty to ensure Speakman does so

by Ganesh Sahathevan




In the words of Zhu Minshen, chairman and CEO of his Top Education Group Ltd:



Bachelor of Law Re-accreditation 

The scheduled re-accreditation process of our Bachelor of Laws (‘‘LLB’’) went smoothly. On 27 June 2019, TOP received formal notification from the Legal Profession Admission Board of New South Wales (‘‘LPAB’’) to accredit TOP’s LLB for a further five-year period commencing from the notification date.
(TOP EDUCATION GROUP LTD
ANNOUNCEMENT OF ANNUAL RESULTSFOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2019)






Readers should note that the 27 June 2019 date is just three days short of Top's and the LPAB's end of financial year. The date gives the impression that a decision had been made to ensure that both Top and the LPAB were placed in a position where both could report a non-controversial outcome in their books; Top to announce that the review of its license to issue LLB's "went smoothly" and thus has no adverse impact on future earnings and, the LPAB to again evade reporting in its books  on any of these issues: 

Legal Profession Admission Board Annual Report 2015-16 ...

https://realpolitikasia.wordpress.com › 2019/07/04 › legal-profession-admi...

Jul 4, 2019 - Accreditation of PLT providers The LPAB also determines applications ... NSW Liberal donor Minshen Zhu's Top Group, the LPAB,the AG,and ...

LPAB foray into international politics, 1MDB and a HK IPO ...

https://ganeshsahathevan.blogspot.com › 2019/08 › lpab-foray-into-intern...

Aug 4, 2019 - This silence is reminiscent of the lack of information in the LPAB's annual reports about its dealings with the political donor Minshen Zhu, and its ...

NSW Liberal donor Minshen Zhu's Top Group, the LPAB,the ...

realpolitikasia.blogspot.com › 2019/06 › a-nsw-liberal-donorthe-lpabthe-a...

Jun 27, 2019 - NSW Liberal donor Minshen Zhu's Top Group, the LPAB,the AG,and Sharon Austen Ltd. by Ganesh Sahathevan As reported earlier on this ..

Any delay beyond the current financial year in re-issuing Zhu's licences would would have required an explanation, which would have had to address the matters above.

It is the duty of the NSW Auditor General to now ensure that NSW AG Mark Spekaman tables LPAB Annual Reports that properly account for the conduct of the LPAB and other officers under his purview. 
The number of audit red flags which concern documents he has tabled in Parliament keep rising. 

END 

SEE ALSO 

NSW Government public statements raise audit red f...

realpolitikasia.blogspot.com › 2019/07 › nsw-government-public-statemen...

Jul 6, 2019 - NSW Government public statements raise audit red flags: Rob ... Accreditation of PLT providers The LPAB also determines applications from

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Resignation of LPAB Executive Officer Louise ... - Sahathevan

gsahathevan.blogspot.com › 2019/08 › resignation-of-lpab-executive-officer

Information acquired during the course of the audit indicates that that debt ..... Resignation of LPAB Executive Officer Louise Pritchard is an audit red flag that ...

Resignation of LPAB Executive Officer Louise Pritchard is an audit ...

https://gsahathevan.blogspot.com › 2019/08 › resignation-of-lpab-executiv...

Resignation of LPAB Executive Officer Louise Pritchard is an audit red flag that requires the Chairman LPAB, the Chief Justice NSW Tom Bathrust, to provide an ...

NSW juvenile prison riots : An example of AG Speakman and his Dept Of Justice failing to disclose operational risks ?

Ambank conspired with Jho Low: Najib Razak 's defence continues to point the finger at ANZ managed AMBank

by Ganesh Sahathevan



To be read with: 

Gonski, ANZ Board ,Mandy Simpson and other ANZ/AMMB managers caught by extra-territorial reach of Australia's AML/CTF legislation

Shahrol Azral never seen Jho Low's signature on 1MDB documents

Last update: 08/10/2019

Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 -- Former chief executive officer of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi has never seen the signature of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, on any of the company documents despite the latter's presence from day one of the establishment of the government-owned strategic development company.

Testifying in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s trial involving 1MDB funds, Shahrol Azral, 49, told the High Court today he could not identify Jho Low's signature when he was referred to a document by Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Muhammad Shafee: Somebody signed this document on June 9, 2009. Whose signature is it?

Shahrol Azral: I don’t know.

Muhammad Shafee : It is not Jho Low’s signature?

Shahrol Azral: I don't know

Muhammad Shafee : You can’t identify?

Shahrol Azral: No

Muhammad Shafee: In all these years you know Jho Low, you cannot identify his signature?

Shahrol Azral: No.

Muhammad Shafee: Why?

Shahrol Azral: Because I have never seen a document which was signed by him.

Muhammad Shafee: Doesn't that alarm you? Isn’t that a signal of something disastrous?

Shahrol Azral: It does not alarm me.

Muhammad Shafee: Why?

Shahrol Azral: Because he does not have any official dealings with 1MDB.

According to Shahrol Azral's 270-page witness statement, Jho Low had no formal power in the governance of Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), a precursor to 1MDB, but was still able to influence decisions on an executive level when TIA was established in 2009.

TIA later issued a formal resolution on Jho Low’s appointment on April 8 the same year.

The former 1MDB CEO also testified that he never knew that it was Jho Low-linked companies that became the two secondary subscribers of 1MDB bonds in 2009.

The two companies, called Aktis Singapore Pvt Ltd and Country Group, are linked to Jho Low where he was the beneficiary for Aktis and his father Larry Low purportedly owned Country Group.

When queried by Muhammad Shafee whether he agreed the bonds can be sold at a discount, the witness answered “Yes”.

Muhammad Shafee: These bonds were sold by discount? By how much?

Shahrol Azral: I'm not sure exactly.

Muhammad Shafee: It was sold to two Jho Low-linked companies at a discounted price...then it was sold again to a Malaysian government entity at a full price.

Shahrol Azral: I was not aware.

Muhammad Shafee: Without TIA knowledge, he was making a lot of money under the nose of TIA.

Shahrol Azral: Under the nose of Ambank actually.

Muhammad Shafee: Not Ambank. Ambank knew this. Without TIA knowledge.

Shahrol Azral: Oh yes.

Muhammad Shafee: Ambank conspired basically with Jho Low, without TIA knowing.

Shahrol Azral: Correct.

Najib was charged with four counts of using his position to obtain a RM2.3 billion bribe in 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same money.

The trial before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues tomorrow.

-- BERNAMA

AG Mark Speakman and the Indonesian-Singapore billionaire Martua Sitorus, accused by Greenpeace of deforestation of Papua, named in the Panama Papers

by Ganesh Sahathevan





NSW Libs received donations of $44,275 from TOP Education Grosup 

just before after TOP was granted the "first & only" licenset issued a private

 company to award law degrees: AG Speakman and his LPAB refuse to disclose

 all details in the LPAB Annual Reports.

Singapore's Straits Times reported in July 2018:

Two senior executives of Singapore-based Wilmar International, the world's largest palm oil trader, have resigned, days after a Greenpeace report linked them to an Indonesian firm accused of deforestation.

Greenpeace, an environmental group, said three plantation companies owned by Gama Corp had cleared thousands of hectares in Indonesia's Papua and West Kalimantan provinces.

The CEO of Gama group of companies is Mr Martua Sitorus, also Wilmar's non-executive director and board member, who set up Gama with his brother.

Greenpeace said the findings damaged Wilmar's reputation and its 2013 commitment to halt deforestation across all its concessions and its many palm oil suppliers.

But Wilmar has denied any management links to Gama.

In an announcement to the Singapore Stock Exchange on Tuesday (July 3), Wilmar said Mr Sitorus will step down on July 15. He co-founded the company in 1991 with current chairman and CEO Kuok Khoon Hong.

Wilmar also announced the resignation of its country head for Indonesia, Mr Hendri Saksti, who is Mr Sitorus's brother-in-law.

In May 2016 Indonesia's Tempo reported:

A number of Indonesian tycoons have been hiring a Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca to set up shell companies. The documents of Mossack Fonseca’s clients, known as the Panama Papers, list a number of Indonesian families, among others, Mochtar Riady family (ranked sixth in Forbes’ Indonesia’s richest list), Martua Sitorus-owner of Wilmar International Ltd, and Ciputra family.

Wilmar International is a company established by Martua in 1991. Wilmar has 450 manufacturing companies in 15 countries and 90 thousand employees across the globe. Martua’s net worth is US$1.38 billion or roughly Rp18.3 trillion.

Whereas Wilmar International Limited is listed for having two shell companies: Klientwort Benson Trustees Ltd and Gold Branch Enterprises Limited. The latter was set up in the British Virgin Islands in April 2010.

Earlier this year this writer explained how the AG NSW Mark Speakman undermined the protection provided journalists,whistle blowers and sources by the Carlovers v Sahathevan ,Bond v Barry  decisions.

In that story it  was shown how Speakman and his officers at the LPAB and Department Of Justice  attempted to discredit some 25 years worth of research and publishing by this writer which included Martua Sitorus and his business partners, by re-writing the facts of the Carlovers decision and demanding that this  writer show "remorse" for what has been written.

The material about Sitorus includes his Malaysian and Singapore business partners, among others Kuok Khoon Hong, himself among Singapore's richest, and a member of the Kuok family led by Robert Kuok, South East Asia's richest man.Other partners included Vincent Tan Chee Yioun, one of Malaysia's richest men,and Peter Lim Eng Hock, who also ranks among Singapore's richest and who made his billions from a well known deal that saw Wilmar turn into one of the largest companies listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. 

Lim's Kestrel Group of companies brought together Sitorus, Kuok , Tan and other well known Malaysian and Singapore businessmen in a series of  high profile Malaysian stock exchange deals. This writer's investigation of Lim's Kestrel Group of companies and a story he wrote that was published (in part) in Malaysia's The Sun, which is owned by Tan, led to his sacking and provided the background for the Carlovers decision.

The Panama Papers revelations about Sitorus follow, therefore, a pattern that goes back to at least the mid 90s. 

Every attempt was made to alert the AG Mark Speakman to the facts above but he has chosen instead to persist with his attempt at discrediting this writer, and to notexplain his defence of Sitorus and his partners. 

Speakman, who is considered a potential premier of NSW , has chosen to link  himself to  South East Asia's business and political swamp. He has much explaining to do.

END 

See also 

Felda deal with Martua Sitorus brings back memories of Martua's involvement in the secretive Kestrel group of companies

Why China's particular interest in asserting sovereignty over Malaysia 's Luconia Shoals (South China Sea) should concern all Australians

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Australia’s fuel supply routes. NRMAcontrol 

Currently, 51-53% of our imported refined petrol comes from Singapore’s refineries, with 18% from South Korea, 12% from Japan and the rest from a range of other countries. Asian refineries in particular are extremely competitive in terms of production and transport costs.



China is particularly interested in asserting sovereignty over Luconia Shoals ,Chinese Coast Guard in strategy to bully Malaysia into submitting to at least de facto control.


Once that happens, and many believe that has already, China would have control over approximately 30% of Australian oil imports.

END 

AG Mark Speakman a good example of why Attorneys General must not be given power over journalists,and ought to be treated like any other politician

by Ganesh Sahathevan


The AG NSW Mark Speakman is a good example of a politician 
who has used the office of attorney general to suppress investigation
 and reporting on matters that might embarrass his department, 
its officers, and he.  

The ABC reported:

Under pressure to do more to protect press freedom, Christian Porter issued a directive that prosecutors will need his approval before charging journalists under certain sections of Australia's secrecy laws

But Law Council of Australia President Arthur Moses SC said it would not help solve the "legitimate concerns raised by the media" since the raids.

"Let me be very blunt about this, it does not allay the concerns that have being raised in relation to press freedoms in Australia," Mr Moses said.

"It puts the Attorney-General, who after all is a politician, in the position of authorising prosecutions of journalists in situations where they may have written stories critical of his Government.

"It creates an apprehension on the part of journalists that they will need to curry favour with the Government or, in particular, the Attorney-General in order to avoid prosecution.

These fears are not unfounded. The AG NSW Mark Speakman has recently undermined the landmark decisions in Carlovers v Sahathevan and Bond v Barry and he did so by misrepresenting the facts of the Carlovers decision. His Department of Justice and he have also determined that this writer has "defamed" a number of "eminent persons", despite there being no decision of a court anywhere that this writer has defamed anyone.The fact that a number of the "eminent persons" Speakman insists this writer has "defamed" have been found by the relevant authorities in Malaysia and Singapore to have been involved in a number  of unlawful activities including terrorism and interference with the judiciary does seem to have deterred the Attorney General.

It is now a matter of public record (see story below) that the AG has attempted to discredit this writer's work on the 1MDB affair. 

We should all heed the wrods of Arthur Moses SC, that attorneys general are after all  politicians; additionally they are led by their departments which are seldom if ever transparent in their decisions.To subject journalists to their whims and fancies will result in further oppression of the media by adding yet another set of ministers and bureaucrats who will have the power to determine what may be investigated and  reported.  

END 

Bizarre blog claims used to deny man right to practise law

• EXCLUSIVE

  BEN BUTLER

  BUSINESS REPORTER

  
• 12:00AM JANUARY 17, 2019
• 2 COMMENTS

The body overseen by Chief Justice Tom Bathurst responsible for deciding who can practise law in NSW relied on a wildly defamatory Malaysian blog depicting ABC journalists, former British prime minister Tony Blair, financier George Soros and others as part of a global conspiracy when deciding to deny a would-be solicitor a certificate to practise.

Chief Justice Bathurst and Legal Practitioner Admission Board executive officer Louise Pritchard declined to answer The Australian’s questions about how the article came into the board’s hands and why its members felt the conspiracy-laden material could be relied upon as part of a decision to deny Sydney man Ganesh Sahathevan admission as a lawyer. Nor would either say which of the 10 members of the LPAB, three of whom are serving NSW Supreme Court judges, was on the deciding panel.

Ms Pritchard has left her role at the LPAB since The Australian began making inquiries in September. The article, published in December 2017 on website The Third Force, accuses Mr Sahathevan of engaging in a conspiracy to attack then Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.

READ NEXT

• 
  EXCLUSIVE
  Would-be lawyer denied by blog
  BEN BUTLER

Mahathir Mohamad, who returned as prime minister after toppling Mr Najib in elections held last May, is also smeared as a participant in the globe-spanning conspiracy.

Mr Najib was under pressure at the time over the country’s sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, which the US Department of Justice says has been looted of billions of dollars that was spent on property, art, jewels and the Leonardo DiCaprio film, The Wolf of Wall Street.

Malaysian authorities have charged Mr Najib with dozens of corruption offences that could attract decades in jail over his role in the 1MDB scandal, which allegedly included the flow of about $US1 billion through his personal bank account.

The article’s author, Malaysian political operative and Najib loyalist Raggie Jessy, also accused Rewcastle-Brown, Stein and Besser of receiving money, totalling millions of dollars, to participate in a Four Corners program exposing the 1MDB scandal that aired on the ABC in March 2016.

There is no suggestion any of Mr Jessy’s bizarre allegations are true. However, the LPAB cited the piece when denying Mr Sahathevan admission as a lawyer in an undated and unsigned set of reasons sent to him on August 3 last year.

It used the article as evidence in a passage dealing with legal conflicts between Mr Sahathevan, who has largely worked in the past as a journalist, his former employer, Malaysia’s Sun Media Group, and the company’s owner, tycoon Vincent Tan.

In that context, the board said the Third Force article reported “that Mr Sahathevan was investigated for blackmail, extortion, bribery and defamation”. While the article claims that blackmail, extortion, bribery and defamation “are but some of the transgressions many from around the world attribute” to Mr Sahathevan, The Australian was unable to find any reference in it to an investigation into him on these grounds.

It is unclear why the board felt the need to rely on the article, as it also made adverse findings about Mr Sahathevan’s character based on a series of other allegations including that he used “threatening and intimidating” language in emails to the College of Law and the NSW Attorney General and did not disclose his sacking from a previous job to the board.

Mr Sahathevan has denied the allegations in correspondence with the board.

The board also cited evidence that one of Mr Sahathevan’s blogs on Malaysian politics was banned by the Najib regime as indicating his poor character.

In an email to Chief Justice Bathurst, sent on August 30, Rewcastle-Brown said her site, Sarawak Report, which exposed much of the 1MDB scandal, was banned by the Malaysian government.

“I along with other critics of the 1MDB scandal (which includes Mr Sahathevan) became the target of immense state-backed vilification, intimidation and online defamation campaigns on behalf of the Malaysian government,” she said.

She said the board’s use of the Third Force article against Mr Sahathevan displayed “a troubling level of misjudgment and poor quality research, giving a strong impression that someone seeking to find reasons to disqualify this candidate simply went through the internet looking for ‘dirt’ against him”.

“The Third Force has consistently been by far the most outlandish, libellous, vicious and frankly ludicrous of all the publications that were commissioned as part of former prime minister Najib Razak’s self-proclaimed ‘cyber army’ which he paid (and continues to pay) to defame his perceived enemies and critics,” she said.

Besser, who now works in the ABC’s London bureau, told The Australian: “It’s clearly nonsense and comes from the darkest corners of some pretty wild Malaysian conspiracy theorists.”

Mr Sahathevan’s application is to be reconsidered at an LPAB meeting next month (Admission has since been denied, for the same reasons, but without explicit reference to the Thirdforce story).

BEN BUTLER

BUSINESS REPORTER

Business reporter Ben Butler has covered everything from tractors to fashion to corporate collapses. He has previously worked for the Herald Sun and as a senior business reporter with The Age and Sydney Morning... Read more