Very honoured to host the Chief Justice, senior judges, Bar Council, civil society & the Deputy Law Minister to celebrate the Legal Year 2019 in . @LCAPresident Arthur Moses SC delivered an outstanding speech. Such a gathering would have been unthinkable just a year ago!
The photograph above was taken in mid-to late January 2019 .Law Council of Australia President, Arthur Moses SC, travelled to Malaysia and Hong Kong for his first official engagements to open the legal year.In Kuala Lumpur Mr Moses was "invited to give an address at the Australian High Commission, attended by members of Malaysia’s judiciary, including Chief Justice Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Richard Malanjum, members of the Malaysian Bar Association, and High Commissioner to Malaysia, Andrew Goledzinowski AM."
In his speech Mr Moses decided to re-visit the 1988 dismissal of then Chief Justice Tun Salleh Abbas:He said:
It has been 30 years since the 1988 Judicial Crisis, which saw the Lord President of the Supreme Court of Malaysia, Tun Salleh Abas, dismissed for “judicial misbehaviour”. His crime – speaking out publicly in defence of the judiciary. The crisis saw two other Supreme Court Judges also removed from the bench. Two decades on, in 2008, an Eminent Persons Panel convened on the initiative of the Malaysian Bar found all three had been improperly removed from office, and that Prime Minister Mahathir’s involvement in the crisis had been "unmistakably a direct unabashed attack on the rule of law with intent to subdue, if not subvert, the independence of the judiciary". Though what happened in 1988 was unacceptable, it has steeled Malaysia’s legal fraternity with an unrivalled strength and determination.
This direct attack on Mahathir is intriguing, given that he has been recently re-elected prime minister (despite it seems the disapproval of Mr Moses, the Australian Government, and the Australian legal fraternity), and given that over the the past 31 years much has been said by the key players in that incident, including the formerAttorney General Abu Talib Othman who in January 2018 is reported to have said:
“However, he (Mahathir) was acting on the command of the then Yang di-Pertuan Agung Sultan Iskandar Sultan Ismail,” he said referring to the former Sultan of Johor.
Abu Talib said that he had seen the note – written and signed by the King – that was given to the PM commanding him to remove Salleh as Lord President and to replace Salleh with Abdul Hamid Omar.
“I went to see the PM and told him that neither he nor the King can remove a sitting Lord President, as that was against the constitution.
“It was a very challenging moment as the PM then asked, ‘can you ignore the command of the King?’. However, I advised and reminded him of the oath of office he took as PM to protect and defend the constitution,” he said.
Abu Talib said that Mahathir advised him to inform the King personally and he did that, going to Johor for the meeting.
“The King insisted that action be taken, despite me saying that neither him nor the PM could remove a sitting Lord President.
“He (the King) instead suggested that it be done in accordance with the constitution. So, I went back to the PM, and informed that any action taken must be done in compliance with the constitution......”
It is important to recall that Talib Othman made these public statements in January 2018 when almost everyone believed that then PM Najib Razak would be re-elected, despite Mahathir's determined (and eventually successful) challenge to Najib and his party's control of the Malaysian Government. Malay politics dictate that punishment must follow any show of support for the opposition against the ruling chieftain, and Talib would have understood that.
All this seems to have escaped DFAT and Mr Moses, who was probably in Kuala Lumpur promoting Australian legal services. The President of the NSW Law Society Ms Elizabeth Espinosa was also present at that event at the Australian High Commission (see photo above). As this writer has noted before, DFAT has not hidden its preference for Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister. Nevertheless, promoting a trade mission based on that sentiment does not seem a winning strategy. END
Readers of this blog and its related Realpolitikasia blog will recall that a Department Of Justice NSW,Australia, document considers this article to be credible:
Ganesh Sahathevan, RPK, Clare Brown, Ginny Stein and the blood money trail. The story by one Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen states that all the above named and others at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation were paid by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad millions of dollars to fabricate stories about the 1MDB theft by former PM Najib Razak.
Last Friday PM Mahathir told reporters in Malaysia: “Raja Petra Kamarudin is a liar and you still believe him......”
The Department Of Justice NSW, and its Minister, the Attorney General NSW Mark Speakman SC have refused to retract their reliance on the Malaysia-Today/Thirdforce article, despite the obviously false claims in the article, which also claims that Mahathir's payments to the ABC are part of a conspiracy which involves Tony Blair, Donald Rumsfeld, George Soros and he.
Mahathir calling RPK a liar sets the Department,its minister the AG NSW,and the Federal Government on a diplomatic collision course with the Malaysian Government.
Not a bad effort for a state government department whose minister is MP for a constituency better known for its surf.
Australia’s famously prickly relationship with former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad might not be less tempestuous a second time around with the 92-year-old now seeking re-election as the opposition candidate, and flagging concerns over Canberra’s “Pacific solution” for asylum-seekers and warning “I am not a nice person”.
Only weeks from a likely election battle, Dr Mahathir conceded bilateral relations with Australia are better under current Prime Minister Najib Razak — whose scandal-plagued government is accused of trying to secure re-election through unfair boundary realignments and voter incentives — than they were during his 22 years as leader.
Dr Mahathir, who frequently sparred with Australian journalists and was memorably branded a “recalcitrant” by Paul Keating for boycotting the 1993 APEC summit because he favoured an exclusively Asian caucus, said Malaysia would continue to enjoy good relations with Australia if he was re-elected leader.
But, he said: “It would depend on the situation. I don’t like the way some new immigrants are being treated, the way some boatpeople are being sent to the Pacific Islands, kept there and actually imprisoned there.
“Does it mean I should not say it? I would speak the truth. I don’t try to win support by being very nice. I am not a nice person,” he said with a smile.
On the question of Australia joining ASEAN, which arose before last weekend’s Sydney summit when Indonesian President Joko Widodo said he would welcome their membership, Dr Mahathir, 92, said that while “geographically” it made sense for Australia to join the 10-nation group it might not be a good cultural fit. “In terms of sentiment, culture, there is a need to understand East Asian culture on the part of Australia. Some Australian leaders are quite insensitive.”
Dr Mahathir quit Malaysia’s ruling UMNO party in 2016 after speaking out over the alleged misappropriation of more than $US4.5 billion from 1MDB, a state development fund chaired by Mr Najib that the US Department of Justice has described as the worst case of kleptocracy it has seen.
In January he announced a previously inconceivable alliance with the opposition coalition led by his one-time deputy and political nemesis Anwar Ibrahim, who is serving a second prison term on politically motivated sodomy charges and is due to be released in June. Both men have said the alliance was driven by an urgent need to topple Mr Najib and UMNO, the party that has formed every Malaysian government since 1957.
Under the partnership, Dr Mahathir will stand as prime ministerial candidate for the opposition Pakatan Harapan and if elected, seek a royal pardon for Dr Anwar on his release so that he may take over the premiership.
“I will not be a passive seat warmer,’’ he said. “The reason why they (opposition) chose me is because of my past experience. I know what to do in the first 100 days of becoming prime minister. I have to democratise the country again. I have to limit the powers of the prime minister’s office, restore the rule of law.
“All these things I can do in a short time. The big problem comes with the money (Najib) has borrowed, money the country can never repay. The central bank says the debt is more than 800 billion ringgit ($264bn). That will be difficult to tackle but I know where some of the money is.”
While his promises to restore democracy have raised some eyebrows in Malaysia, including among opposition politicians jailed for civil dissent during his premiership, Dr Mahathir insisted yesterday: “I am not a dictator.
“When I was in government I did not exercise the kinds of powers that Najib does. He does not respect the rule of law at all or the constitution,’’ he said.
Amanda Hodge is The Australian’s South East Asia correspondent. Based in Jakarta, she has covered war, refugees, terror attacks, natural disasters and social and political upheaval from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka... Read more
The lawyers involved in the sale of the yacht Equanimity seem to have done quite well.
Messr Joseph & Partners a three partner ,one associate firm was paid RM 1.6 Million, or gross fee per employee of RM 400,000.
Mr Ong Chee Kwan of the Singapore law firm Rajah & Tann was paid RM 360,000; the payment appears to be to him personally rather than his firm.
The boat is expensive, but it is hard to see that its cost should have anything to do with the quantum of fees.
Finally, Holman Fenwick Willan of the UK, managed a fee of RM 40,000 or STG 7374.89. This component of the legal costs incurred is intriguing; in this writer's experience that amount would normally, at a firm the size of Fenwick,pay for,at best, file opening and perhaps an hour's worth of partner and junior solicitor time.
END
References
A breakdown of the costs incurred is as follows:
Berthing charges at Port Klang - RM407,000comp
Berthing charges at Langkawi naval base - RM0
Operational costs (fees, salaries, insurance, supplies, repairs) - RM12.7 million
Published: 6 May 2019, 3:49 pm | Modified: 6 May 2019, 3:49 pmAttorney-General Tommy Thomas has provided a breakdown of the costs incurred after concluding the seizure and subsequent sale of the superyacht Equanimity, which was purportedly acquired using stolen 1MDB funds.
In total, Thomas said around RM15.5 million was expended in arresting the superyacht on Aug 6 last year and maintaining it for nine months until April 25, before it was delivered into the possession of a Genting Malaysia Bhd subsidiary, which purchased the vessel for US$126 million (RM522 million).
"The sum of RM15.5 million is not the final figure. However, we are confident that the remaining expenses would be much less.
"In relative terms, this sum, which works out to about US$3.75 million, is a petty sum for services rendered by all concerned for nine months.
"If the arrest had been undertaken anywhere else in the world, the cost would have been two to three times more.
"Further, no commission is payable to the broker because it is a directly negotiated sale," he said.
A breakdown of the costs incurred is as follows:
Berthing charges at Port Klang - RM407,000
Berthing charges at Langkawi naval base - RM0
Operational costs (fees, salaries, insurance, supplies, repairs) - RM12.7 million
Independent valuation service - RM400,000
Messr Joseph & Partners - RM1.6 million
Ong Chee Kwan (Lawyer) - RM360,000
Messrs Holman Fenwick Willan - RM40,000
Sitpah Selvaratnam (Lead Counsel) - RM0
Elaborating on the breakdown, Thomas said RM407,000 was spent on berthing charges at Boustead Cruise Centre in Port Klang between August to November 2018.
He added that the Royal Malaysian Navy subsequently allowed the Equanimity to berth at its naval base in Langkawi without any charges, starting from November 2018, until it was delivered to its purchaser.
As for the RM12.7 million in operational costs, Thomas said it included local agency fees, professional management fees, salaries and transportation for the professional crew, protection and indemnity insurance, as well as hull and machinery insurance.
Furthermore, he said the costs also included “food and supplies required by the Equanimity," as well as parts, equipment and services rendered for the necessary repairs and maintenance of the superyacht.
As for the RM400,000 spent on the independent valuation service, Thomas said it was to engage a reputable valuer and appraiser of international standing.
"Such an engagement is a necessary requirement for a judicial sale," he said.
Payments screened on multiple levels
With regard to legal fees, RM1.6 million was expended for Messrs Joseph & Partners, who acted as solicitors for the Malaysian government and 1MDB group of companies, while RM360,000 was also paid to lawyer Ong Chee Kwan as counsel fees.
Another RM40,000 was paid to Messrs Holman Fenwick Wilan for foreign legal advice and to deregister and reregister a vessel in a Red Ensign jurisdiction.
As for lead counsel Sitpah Selvaratnam (photo) who acted for the Attorney-General's Chambers, no charges were incurred.
"Sitpah conducted this case on a pro-bono basis, for which I again express our indebtedness.
"Alice Loke and Rahayu Mumazaini of the AGC also played vital roles in the expert legal team advising on this specialist branch of the law," he said.
Thomas stressed that there were "multi-layered" screenings and approvals in making the payments, adding that the legal and accounting team served as the first filtering layer.
"Once approved, invoices were submitted to my office for a second screening, and thereafter by the sheriff of the Admiralty Court," he said.
"It was only after the invoices were cleared by the three levels were they submitted to the board of directors of 1MDB for payment approval.
"For legal fees, all invoices were accompanied by detailed timesheets, particularising the tasks undertaken for each hour charged in the invoice and supporting documents for disbursement incurred. The timesheets were scrutinised by the AGC."
Proceeds to repay 1MDB debt
Thomas said the sale demonstrated the capacity of the Malaysian legal system to perform world-class services in a specialist branch, namely admiralty law, and for ancillary supporting services to keep the superyacht in a good and safe condition for nine months.
He said the full receipt of the purchase price of US$126 million was delivered to the court-appointed stakeholder on April 23, with due execution of the bill of sale by the sheriff of the Admiralty Court on April 24.
The vessel was then delivered to Genting's subsidiary on April 25. The company has since renamed the vessel as Tranquility and moved it to Singapore.
"The purchase price will be kept by the stakeholder until the expiry of a 90-day period, during which the legal team will move the court for leave to gazette the receipt of payment, for taxation of costs, and determination of priorities for payment out of the proceeds.
"It is only after these Orders of Court that the monies will be credited into a segregated 1MDB asset recovery account, that was set up solely to recover 1MDB assets to pay off 1MDB debt," he said.
The superyacht was seized off the coast of Bali in February 2018 in a joint operation between Indonesian police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was subsequently surrendered to Malaysia.
Businessperson Low Taek Jho, a fugitive wanted for the alleged multi-billion ringgit theft of 1MDB funds, is said to have commissioned the construction of the vessel using the ill-gotten gains.
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak is also standing trial for the 1MDB scandal.
International investigators believe at least US$4.5 billion (RM18.67 billion) was misappropriated from 1MDB and laundered through the global financial system.
"There is still a lot of money missing. The funds we have recovered are less than RM2bil.
"He (Jho Low) stole and lost it all. (With) 1MDB alone, he had taken RM42bil. Who got the money? Who is keeping the money? Where is the money?
The answer to at least part of the question may well lie within Petronas, which reports to the PM and the PM only. This writer and others have long contended that the CEPSA-Coastal Energy deal brokered and financed in part by Jho Low and family needs to be investigated by Malaysia, and the assets from that deal which involve Petronas seized.Tracing the assets will be a complex task but even here the US Department Of Justice has already done the initial work. Reuters providedd an outline of the DOJ's work in this report in 2017:
In July 2012, Coastal entered into a Small Field Risk Service Contract ("RSC") with Petroliam Nasional Berhad ("PETRONAS") for the development and production of petroleum from the Kapal, Banang and Meranti cluster of small fields (the "KBM Cluster") offshore Peninsular Malaysia.Coastal is the operator of the KBM Cluster fields and intends to hold a 70% equity interest alongside a 30% interest local partner.
Pursuant to the RSC, Coastal provides the upfront development capital and undertakes the development drilling and production of the KBM Cluster in exchange for a remuneration fee and recovery of costs, while PETRONAS remains the owner of the project.
The KBM Cluster fields are located within 20 kilometers of each other in a water depth of 60 meters. The main oil reservoirs are Miocene aged sandstones ranging in depths from 3,800 feet to 7,800 feet.In addition to the development program, the Company intends to conduct appraisal and step-out drilling to exploit further upside it sees in the properties.
Petronas' information on the above is likely to be the best available.
Corporate Jet Investor reported on February 28, 2017:
The son of the Sultan of Johor in Malaysia is preparing to take delivery of a new Gulfstream G650.
Johor is a constitutional monarchy state in southern Malaysia, the closest to Singapore.
G650 msn 6239 was recently photographed at Long Beach airport by local photographer Micheal Carter wearing a stunning all black livery with a silver emblem on the tail. Close to the engines is the small flag of the state of Johor.
The aircraft is believed to be taking up the registration 9M-TMJ. That registration is already worn by Gulfstream G550 msn 5453, which was only delivered in May 2015. ,show tha TMJ are the initials of the Sultan’s son, Tunku Mahkota Johor. The G550 that the G650 is replacing has reportedly been donated to a local football team.
"I heard about this and I think they (various countries) know it is our money, so they will give it back. Singapore will also give back our money. We are hoping to get back US$7 billion," he told media
The USD DOJ has filed complaints to seize some USD 1.7 Billion in property which it says was with money from 1MDB but Malaysia seems to have done nothing, except seize one yacht.
Meanwhile,there are some obvious targets.
There is that USD 1 Billion taken from KWAP to which the Singapore Government has become quite attached:
Further, following from the above, is the bit more complex of hunting down assets which are believed to be located in Australia.Again, this will require detailed and complex work, but the targets for initial investigation are well known.
by Ganesh Sahathevan (Source:http://www.tradingeconomics.com/malaysia/net-errors-and-omissions-adjusted-bop-us-dollar-wb-data.html)
The value for Net errors and Omissions in the Balance Of Payments (BoP, current US$) in Malaysia has fluctuated between $3,552,316,000 in 1993 and ($19,990,770,000) in 2010. The "Errors and Omissions" figure is considered a proxy for "unofficial" or rather unaccountable flows of foreign exchange out of the country. 2010 was of course the year when much of the 1MDB theft took place, and it does appear as if that massive unaccounted flow of US Dollars has shown up in the Balance of Payments.
The extent of 1MDB's losses could well be in excess of the currently estimated USD 10 billion, and in fact closer to USD 20 billion.That the higher amount has not shown up in any of the investigations conducted so far is easy to explain.These are not in any way reflected in the books and known only to the chairman, PM Najib. Nevertheless,these would still be liabilities borne by 1MDB ,and by extension the Malaysian Government.
The story above featured documentaries by Russia's RT Documentary Channel, which has added to its series on Gulen the story above about how Gulen finances his activities with funds from businesses run by his followers.
The revelation helps clarify the structure of the Gulen movement .Like many jihadi and dakwah movements its objectives are a combination of business, politics and Islam.
Consequently the continued solidarity shown by the new Governor NSW Margaret Beazley, Premier Gladys Berejiklian and the Attorney General NSW Mark Speakman with the Australian arms of the Gulen movement raise a perception of bias: any dalliance with entities financed by business would, and the jihadi and daawah elements in this case make matters worse.
Further complicating matters is the fact that the AG NSW has in writing condemned this writer's works on Gulen, and on terrorism in general , as subjective, defamatory and lacking in insight.
He has also had first hand experience of local Gulenists attempting to deflect his questions by threatening to refer him to Australian enforcement agencies. That threat was made by Gulenist in Melbourne and it was immediately forwarded to the then Chief Of Police Victoria, Nixon.
The Governor, the Premier and the AG (who is in charge of protecting NSW from terrorism) continue to maintain their silence, even as the Annual NSW Parliament Iftar approaches.
This writer assumes that readers are aware of Mahathir's history.especially with his former deputy, the "prime minister in-waiting", Anwar Ibrahim.
Having said that,perhaps Ms Wong is simply echoing DFAT's aspirations for a LGBT friendly Malaysia which must come to pass when (not if) its long time hero Anwar Ibrahim becomes PM (soon, very soon).See:
Key points:Labor senator Penny Wong says Australia would send a powerful symbolic message across the Asia-Pacific region if she became the first Asian-Australian appointed foreign minister.
The shadow foreign minister gave a major speech at the Lowy Institute in Sydney today, laying out Labor's foreign policy priorities ahead of the May 18 election.
Ms Wong vowed if Labor won power her first trip overseas would be to Indonesia and to Malaysia, where she was born.
And she suggested her presence on the international stage could help undermine stereotypes about Australia being largely white or a virulently racist nation.
"Narratives matter, as do perceptions," Senator Wong said.
"There are times when Australia's past attitudes on race can be evoked in ways which are neither accurate nor helpful.
"This was brought home to me during the first iteration of Pauline Hanson, when my father, still living in Malaysia, asked me if I would need to leave Australia.
"But just as historical negatives can be evoked, so too they can be shifted."
Senator Wong said when she represented Australia on the international stage in the past, it was perceived by other nations to be the move of "an independent multicultural Australia confident of our place in the world."
"What is significant about that possibility is not my personal attributes — but rather what would be significant about an Asian-Australian being our foreign minister is what it says about us," she said. Foreign affairs matters have barely featured in this election campaign, and there are broad swathes of bipartisan agreement between both major parties on several key foreign policy issues.
Senator Wong told the Lowy Institute the Coalition had mismanaged the China relationship, vowing to bring a "more considered, disciplined and consistent approach".
But she also warned the shifting balance of power in Asia meant a Labor Government would need to "redefine" its relationship with Beijing.
Australia could no longer simply seek security from the United States while trying to quarantine vital economic ties with China, she said.
"It is not simply a matter of a diplomatic reset. Fundamentally, we are in a new phase in the relationship," Senator Wong said.
"The idea of an economic-strategic bifurcation was never really accurate, and certainly is not now."
Senator Wong did not give specific examples of how a Shorten government might shift policy on China, but she repeated Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's approaches that while Labor would not "pre-emptively frame China only as a threat" it would need to face the "reality" that it was not a democracy either.
"China is not a democracy, nor does it share our commitment to the rule of law," she said.
"Differences between our systems and values will inevitably affect the nature of our interactions. But those realities include the fact that China will remain important to Australia's prosperity."
Debate over China has become increasingly furious, with Australia pushing back against foreign interference by the Chinese Communist Party.
And it intensified after the Government decided to ban the Chinese telco Huawei from taking part in Australia's 5G rollout.
Senator Wong said some analysts presented a polarised vision of a future in which Australia would have to choose between the United States and China.
"[It is] far better if we have a more productive conversation about what lies between and beyond those extremes," she said.
And she scolded both big business and the strategic community for "talking past another" on China instead of listening to alternative points of view.
. @LCAPresident Arthur Moses SC delivered an outstanding speech. Such a gathering would have been unthinkable just a year ago!
