Agreement in support of Anwar may be deemed unlawful given High Court decision in Hassan Gani Pengiran Amir’s case - PM Anwar, party leaders cannot ignore decision that may bind even the Agong

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

The Malay Mail and others have reported:

Deputy Prime Minister II Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof today confirmed that political parties that support the administration of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will sign an agreement on their cooperation with the unity government tomorrow.

Fadillah said it will precede the motion of confidence that will be presented in Parliament this Monday.....

The agreement seems likely to offend the decision in the matter  of Sabah state assemblyman Hassan Gani Pengiran Amir where  Mr Justice  Wong Siong Tung held: 

“An elected member of legislature should be free to act according to the best of his or her ability and his independent judgement should not be legally constrained by obligations to either his party or to the electorate or subject to the dictates of anybody."

“Any arrangement that fetters or deprives such freedom of elected members of the legislature will be contrary to public policy and unlawful."

TO BE READ WITH 

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Agong may be bound by the High Court decision in Hassan Gani Pengiran Amir’s case - Agong cannot compel MPs to toe party line, and must as he has done before interview MPs individually

by Ganesh Sahathevan   

 

In the matter  of Sabah state assemblyman Hassan Gani Pengiran Amir Mr Justice  Wong Siong Tung held: 

“An elected member of legislature should be free to act according to the best of his or her ability and his independent judgement should not be legally constrained by obligations to either his party or to the electorate or subject to the dictates of anybody."

“Any arrangement that fetters or deprives such freedom of elected members of the legislature will be contrary to public policy and unlawful."

“Any cause of action based on such an arrangement to deprive such freedom cannot be sustained in law. The appropriate penalty against the elected member of legislature for broken political promises is for the voters or electors to consider voting differently at the next opportunity.”

Hassan was elected a Sabah state assemblyman under the Warisan banner, but then left the party. Warisan  sort to have his seat declared vacant, but the High Court rejected the application with costs.

The  Agong may therefore  be bound by the decision of Judge Wong Siong Tung in Hassan's case and may be constrained from compelling MPs to toe the party line (see story below).

His Majesty does seem to be  in a position where interviewing  MPs individually (rather than their leaders ) is the only option he has to try and determine who among them commands the confidence of the majority of members.

TO BE READ WITH 

Nothing in the anti-hopping laws to bind MPs to directives from their parties' leaders - Malaysia's anti-hopping laws do not prevent MPs from choosing whoever they wish as PM10

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, can make any decision he wishes, but it is really the MPs who decide 

Much has been said about the The Constitution (Amendment) Act (No.3) 2022, or the Anti-hopping law, but all commentators seemed to have missed the point that Members Of Parliament must at the end of the day act in the interest of their electorate, even if that is against the interests of their parties, or their parties leaders.

While some commentators have referred to "loopholes" that allow sacked MPs to "hop", their analysis confuses loyalty and obedience to party rules with their duties as elected representative. There is nothing in the The Constitution (Amendment) Act (No.3) 2022 which requires that MPs obey edicts of the party of the party leadership. 

Some reports have suggested that the Agong has demanded representations from parties rather than individual MPs. While that may be within his powers, written and unwritten, it cannot, as a matter of practicality, be an obstacle to MPs expressing an opinion as to who they wish to lead them. 

END 

Malaysia's Indians, the poorest in the country, could regain billions if PM Anwar exercises his powers to claw back proceeds from the Tune Pro IPO, sale of Maika and Oriental Assurance Capital, that is rightfully theirs

 by Ganesh Sahathevan

As reported previously,  PM Anwar can help poor Indians by clawing back proceeds from the Tune Pro IPO,sale of Maika and Oriental Assurance Capital. 

The amounts involved are not small. As previously reported, the sums involved could be in the billions:

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Maika and the Oriental Assurance Capital sale-Maika shareholders can recover hundreds of millions, perhaps billions from the trustees, Tune Group

by Ganesh Sahathevan


The way forward: Ruben Gnanalingam (L) and Tony Fernandes, pic courtsey of 
BackPageImages.tsEmir Gnanalingam operates his father Tan Sir G.Gnanalingam's

varied business interests. The OAC Capital acquisition and the Tune Insurance IPO
was one of a number of deals in which the Gnanalingam and Tony Fernandes interests
collaborated. The QPR Football Team was another.

Fernandes and wife. The OCA shares, the proceeds from the saleof the shares, and the gains from the profits from the IPO wentinto a number of privately held companies. Maika shareholders would have to seek recovery from all these privately held entities.

Maika shareholders in search of what is rightfully theirs ,the Oriental Assurance Capital  (OAC) company, have a number of targets that they can pursue for the recovery of that asset.

The asset lost and which they can recover is not merely the cash consideration for the OAC shares, it would  now include their fair share of the listed entity , Tune Protect Group Bhd which was formed out of OAC,as well as any IPO profits.
The entities that they can pursue include those controlled by the trustees, including family companies, and the relevant private entities controlled by Tony Fernandes. Trusts for the benefit of these individuals'  families may also be targets for asset recovery.






Tony Fernandes and wife.Family interests including trusts could also be targeted for asset recovery.







END

See also

Maika and the Oriental Assurance Capital sale: Trustees led by Gnanalingam have no right to the proceeds ; RM 145 Million sent to Gnanalingam's Pembinaan Redzai should be clawed back;together with Tune Insurance IPO profits

PM Anwar can help poor Indians by clawing back proceeds from the Tune Pro IPO,sale of Maika and Oriental Assurance Capital

 by Ganesh Sahathevan

                  Anwar: Indians among country’s poorest, but leaders ‘filthy rich’

While campaigning the then Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim declared a desire to help Malaysia's poorest, the Indians.

Now that he is Prime Minister and Minister For Finance  Anwar can help poor Indians by clawing back proceeds from the Tune Pro IPO and sale of Maika and Oriental Assurance Capital.

To Be Read With 

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Maika and the Oriental Assurance Capital sale: Trustees led by Gnanalingam have no right to the proceeds ; RM 145 Million sent to Gnanalingam's Pembinaan Redzai should be clawed back;together with Tune Insurance IPO profits

by Ganesh Sahatevan

                                               
                                  MAIKA'S SAVIOURS:THE TRUSTEES

Tan Sri G.Gnanalingam

Ravin Ponniah

Tan Sri Ir. Kunasingam 

                                                               A/L V. Sittampalam

                                                               Dato’ N. Sadhasivan 

                                                                           
                                                                                Datuk R. Karunakaran

The Maika  rescue was initiated via a  trust GT Resoruces Sdn Bhd, and the trustees were the following persons :


Gnanalingam said GT Resources, run by a board of trustees chaired by him and comprising Datuk Kuna Sithampalan, Bank Negara and Petronas director Datuk N. Sadhasivan, ex-Malaysian Industrial Development Authority director-general Datuk R. Karunakaran and special officer in the Prime Minister's Department Ravin Ponniah, had already obtained 12 per cent of the shares held by the Maika management.

(Maika payout by July 31;23 April 2010New Straits Times)

This morning Sarawak Report has shown how some RM 145 Million, being the proceeds from the sale of Maika's then primary asset, its stake in Oriental Assurance Capital was paid over by Maika to Gnanalingam's private company , Pembinaan Redzai Sdn Bhd.

That money needs to be clawed back, and the clawback should include any profits made by the trustees from the Tune Insurance IPO.

END 

Maika Papers Raise Further Concerns Over Shareholders' Missing Money

• 13 March 2019
   
• 0

Sarawak Report has viewed further documents that have so far remained hidden from the public relating to the disposal of Maika Holdings assets by supposed corporate ‘white knights’ deputed by the former government to ‘bail out’ the struggling fund.

The ‘rescue’ back in 2010 included a promise that any profits from the disposal of the company’s assets would be distributed amongst some sixty six thousand original shareholders of the fund – mostly members of the Malaysian Indian Congress party, linked to BN, who had received a paltry return on their investments over several years.

These papers indicate that in recent weeks liquidators have expressed acute concern that huge sums of cash arising from the sale of those assets went to the wrong place, namely a company owned by one of the said ‘white knights’ G Gnanalingam, instead of Maika Holdings itself (in order to be distributed to shareholders as was promised).

Loan at the centre of the dispute was from one of Mr Gnanalingan’s companies Pembinaan Redzai Sdn Bhd to G Team Resources & Holdings Sdn Bhd, which he set up to buy out Maika Holdings

Sarawak Report understands that the matter has now been referred to the police and MACC investigators, following a series of legal interchanges between the liquidators and G Gnanalingam viewed by Sarawak Report.

“Huge Mistake”

At the heart of the issue is what liquators described in a letter dated as late as September 4th of last year as a “huge mistake” on the part of previous managers of Maika Holdings, whom they say “wrongly transferred” the staggering sum of RM145,753,073.28 to Gnanalingam’s company Pembinaan Redzai Sdn Bhd, which had advanced a loan of RM140 million to buy out Maika shares.

The company that received the loan, G Team Resources & Holdings Sdn Bhd, was also owned by Gnanlingam and was the entity authorised by Maika’s board (with the blessing of the government) to buy up the majority of Maika shares in 2010 as part of the ‘bail out’ plan for the floundering fund which was failing to pay dividends to its thousands of modest shareholders and had stopped producing accounts.

G Team used the RM140 million to buy out the majority of those ordinary shareholders, offering them just 80% of the original share price they had paid in for when the fund was launched in the 1980s at RM1.00 a share.

Publicly, Mr Gnanalingam, the board and the government made clear that any later profits to be raised from the sale of the fund’s remaining assets (most particularly a slice of land and a profitable insurance company) would subsequently also be returned to the self same original shareholders.

This was because Gnanalingam had been appointed to the task, without the discussion of other options or tenders, on the basis that he was acting as a “trustee” for the benefit of the shareholders only:

“G Team is supported by a Cabinet committee set up by the Prime Minister [Najib] which includes HSS Integrated executive director Datuk Kuna Sitthampalan, Bank Negara and Petroliam Nasional Bhd director Datuk N. Sadasivan, former Mida director-general Datuk R. Karunakaran and Prime Minister’s Department special officer Ravin Ponniah.
“They will become trustees of Maika when we take over the company,” Gnanalingam said.
[How it was explained at the time – Star newspaper]

However, according to the letter sent by the liquidator, when the majority of the insurance company Oriental Capital Assurance Berhad (OCA) was indeed sold to Tune Insurance Holdings (part of the Tony Fernandes controlled group of companies) the above sum of over RM145 million was then transferred by cheque straight back to Pembinaan Redzai Sdn Bhd as an apparent repayment plus interest – rather than to Maika itself for proper distribution.

G Team itself meanwhile acquired 3.75% of the shares in insurance giant, for RM7,379,129.13.

Letter from the liquidator to Gnanalingan as owner of Pembinaan Redzai

It appears that Mr G Gnanalingam has refused to comply with the requests of the liquidators to rectify the “huge mistake” made back in 2015, which clearly meant that what profits there were from the sale of the insurance company to Tune were not distributed as was the declared intention.

There is another problem linked to this thorny issue, as several commentators have pointed out, which is that the valuation of the insurance giant at the time of that hasty sale appears to have been woefully underpriced. Tune Insurance (comprising mainly OCA) was floated a year later after the sale in 2012 for a hundred million dollars soon amassing a market capitalisation of RM1.2 billion.

That meant vast profits for Tune and G Team, which retained shares. It is understood that family members of Mr Gnanalinghan had also been absorbed onto the board of Tune Insurance.  However, none of these profits went towards swelling the miserable pay out originally provided to the ordinary shareholders.

A separate issue linked to the list of concerns surrounding Maika’s unusual ‘bail out’ relates to the disposal of money owed to some 5,800 shareholders of the fund (6.9%) who did not claim their pay out.  The approximately Rm7 million owing to them was not paid over to the public exchequer via Bank Negara, as demanded by the law, according to information available to the liquidators.

“It cost some RM79 million to pay off the shareholders” says one source, who has researched the documents passed to the MACC, “yet some RM179 million was raised from the land sale and the sale of OCA. It means certain entities kept over RM100 million”.

And that was before the floatation of OCA

Judges can use constitutional recognition of First Nations to change all laws in the name of justice in the "broader sense"- Tom Bathurst AC QC, NSW Law Reform Commissioner, former Chief Justice NSW

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

Tom Bathurst AC QC , the current NSW Law Reform Commissioner, and recently retired Chief Justice NSW told lawyers gathered to mark his retirement:

“A just legal system is not one which is only just to most people,.“We won’t achieve a system that is just until First Nations communities and elders are not merely consulted but have an active role in the formation of the laws and processes which affect them, including, I think, constitutional recognition.....“while the court might fulfil justice in the narrow sense, the broader sense may be neglected”

Bathurst's comments were reported by Jill Rowbotham  of The Australian who also noted:

However, Mr Bathurst returned to the theme of justice for Indigenous Australians when he urged the adoption of a more holistic view of the legal system given the risk that “while the court might fulfil justice in the narrow sense, the broader sense may be neglected”. He stressed the importance of “solution-based courts such as the Drug Court” and the necessity of “focusing on particular problems such as over-incarceration of First Nations peoples. What might be described as therapeutic justice will become increasingly important”.



To be read with

BLM exposes Indigenous injustice: judge

Updated August 18 2020 - 5:36pm, first published 5:32pm

Chief Justice Tom Bathurst says Black Lives Matter and #MeToo will challenge the legal profession.


The Black Lives Matter movement has exposed the criminal justice system as "a tool of injustice for Indigenous Australians", NSW's most senior judge says.

Chief Justice Tom Bathurst said the movement "has brought the racism, inequality and abuses of power that have haunted our nation for so long to the forefront of public consciousness".

"This year marks 250 years since Captain Cook first landed in Australia," he said on Tuesday at a welcoming ceremony for lawyers freshly admitted to the profession.

"Despite this significant passage of time, the Black Lives Matter movement has exposed that our criminal justice system remains a tool of injustice for Indigenous Australians, who are one of the most incarcerated people in the world."

Chief Justice Bathurst said BLM and the #MeToo movement presented a challenge to the legal profession to make systemic reforms and ensure justice for all.

 He called for change to systemic barriers, inappropriate workplace behaviour and prejudices hindering women and people from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds in the profession.

The chief justice delivered his speech by video on YouTube from the Supreme Court because of coronavirus restrictions.

He quipped that he didn't know what a Vlogger was until last week, "but I guess I am one now".

The "virtual ceremony" reflected the profession's agility in delivering justice outside courtrooms, with dining tables becoming the new bar and family dogs the new courtroom security, he said.

Australian Associated Press

PM Anwar's cabinet may have consolidated the Malay vote but PAS remains a problem- As minister solely in charge of Petronas Anwar can easily buy PAS support by increasing Terrenganu's share of oil revenue, and order JDA pipelines to be built in Kelantan

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

Source: Exploring the Thai and Malaysian decommissioning landscapes – identifying opportunities and challenges for Australia

Source:Peninsular Malaysia Gas Supplyand its Challenges 

Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has named his new cabinet and his selection appears to  have consolidated the support of the Malay votes, but for PAS and its supporters. Outwardly PAS seems to be vehemently opposed to Anwar and his PH coalition. 

However as minister solely in charge of Petronas Anwar is in a position to  buy PAS support by diverting Petronas funds into the PAS controlled states of Terrenganu and Kelantan,  He can do so by increasing  Terrenganu's share of oil revenue, and order gas extracted from the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area (JDA) to be landed in Malaysia at Kelantan, rather than Songkhla in Thailand, and from there into Malaysia.  

A decision to build new gas infrastructure with a base in Kelantan  is likely to bring billions into the Kelantan economy and the Terrenganu Government's Treasury , as well as PAS' political fund. It is understood that it for these very reasons that previous governments have been disinclined to pursue what would seem like a sensible avenue for Malaysia's JDA sourced gas supplies(see maps above). Today however Malay unity (to the exclusion of all others)is almost within grasp, and the potential for such a project to consolidate that project may well expedite the project. Achieving that unity will of course consolidate Anwar's position as prime minister for many years to come. 

The second limb of a Petronas financed purchase of PAS support is relatively easy and would involve agreeing to the Terrenganu Government's decades old demand for a greater share of the oil revenue. This will require appeasing the other oil producing states especially Sabah and Sarawak but PH did promise during the GE14 campaign that it would increase the state's take from 5% to 20% of revenue. 

Meanwhile, the appointment of Zahid Hamidi as Deputy Prime Minister is likely to ensure that UMNO will not lose control of its assets. 

END