In 2007 the Daily Telegraph reported in a story about the then newly appointed Secretary Department Of Education,Michael Coutts-Trotter :
Mr Coutts-Trotter said he held a security clearance from the Commonwealth and was a member of ASIO's terrorist sub-committee.
(Source: Schools boss in drug past inquiry Bruce McDougall,1 April 2000
Daily Telegraph Copyright 2007News Ltd. All Rights Reserved)
In 2012 the Sydney Morning Herald reported that ASIO had denied Coutts-Trotter a security clearance for a junior position at the office of the then Minister For Health. It seems unlikely that Australia's foreign intelligence sharing partners were informed of Coutts-Trotter's record,including that which was created by ASIO. In his new position as Secretary ,Department of Justice NSW Coutts-Trotter will have a higher profile and his record will not escape the scrutiny of Australia 's foreign intelligence sharing counter-parts. It is important to recall that Coutts-Trotter admitted publicly to selling drugs, sourced at least in part from suppliers overseas. The public who he now serves have never been provided details about his business associates.
No amount of remorse, repentance, or "insight " can change the fact that his past makes him vulnerable and that he can be easily compromised. .Foreign intelligence agencies, many of which spend considerable resources disrupting drug trafficking networks are not likely to have any confidence sharing information that may get into Coutts-Trotter's hands. This will add to the suspicion that Australia is a weak link in the Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement.
Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Yusof can comment on the Lynas issue because matters pertaining to investments fall under the purview of his ministry, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
"It's about pollution, but in terms of investment, it's under Redzuan," she said.
Dr Wan Azizah added that decisions made with regard to the Lynas issue must take into account factors such as investments and economic empowerment.
"We want investment and economic empowerment. However, on the other side, we are seeing pollution in our country, so they must address the waste issue," she told reporters when met at the Parliament lobby on Wednesday (April 3).
Dr Wan Azizah's remarks appeared to have contradicted her colleague Fuziah Salleh, who told Redzuan on Monday (April 1) to stop commenting on the Lynas issue because the matter does not fall under his ministry.
Fuziah, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department on Islamic Affairs, was quoted as saying that investment matters fall under the International Trade and Industry Ministry and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida).
She said the issue of Lynas' waste management falls under the purview of the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry, which is headed by Yeo Bee Yin.
Fuziah, also Kuantan MP, has been particularly vocal against Lynas and has repeatedly stressed that the radioactive waste should not be allowed to remain in Kuantan, as it was harmful to the environment and the people's health.
Redzuan caused a storm in Pakatan after he said the government would allow Lynas to continue operating in Malaysia.
He said that the Pakatan government was a business-friendly government, adding that Lynas' investment was "too big to ignore".
On Monday (April 1), Deputy Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis said the government wants to cooperate with the Australian government to ensure that waste from Lynas is sent back to where it came from.
Meanwhile, Redzuan's remarks also drew brickbats from the Parliamentary Caucus on Monitoring Lynas (JKPPL), which said it stands firmly behind Yeo's stance on the matter: that Lynas' water leach purification waste must be removed from Malaysia.
JKPPL is a loose body formed by several Pakatan lawmakers last December after the Parliament Select Committee announced that the formation of an official parliamentary caucus on monitoring Lynas was put on hold.
JKPPL is chaired by Bentong MP Wong Tack and comprises Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah, Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi, Hulu Langat MP Datuk Hasanuddin Mohd Yunus, among others.
Of course, this DPM is the wife of the PM-in-waiting ,Anwwwar Ibrahim.
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Mr Coutts-Trotter with his wife and Labor deputy
leader Tanya Plibersek at the Mid Winter Ball at
Parliament House in Canberra last year. Picture: AAP
More on the imminent appointment of Michael Coutts-Trotter to the position of Secretary ,Department of Justice.An excerpt from a 2012 SMH story suggests that the Berjelikian Government has other priorities that take precedence over good governance:
But for all his determination to remake his life, Coutts-Trotter would forever have a criminal record. When he graduated with a degree in communications from UTS in 1995, he landed a job in the office of Brian Howe, then Labor deputy PM, but his new career in Canberra was quickly derailed when ASIO denied him a security clearance.
A few months later, his record initially meant he was passed over when he applied to be press secretary to Michael Egan, treasurer in the newly elected Carr Labor government in NSW, but someone put in a good word and Egan directed that he at least be given an interview.
"......Coutts-Trotter stayed almost seven years, becoming Egan's chief of staff and a confidant of the state's leading bureaucrats before being headhunted for the position of director-general of the NSW Department of Commerce.
Then, in April 2007, then NSW education minister John Della Bosca appointed Coutts-Trotter director-general of the NSW Department of Education and Training.
Most readers will be aware that in South East Asian countries like Malaysia possession of even small quantities of drugs is deemed to be evidence of drug trafficking ,punishable by death.
In Australia on the other hand, a drug conviction and even a jail term does not prevent a convict from heading the Department Of Justice which oversees if not administers the bodies that oversee the legal profession, police, courts, anti-corruption agency and other arms of the justice system.
The case of Michael Coutts-Trotter, who it is reported is likely to be appointed the new head of an enlarged Department of Justice is an interesting case in point.
First :
On their very first date, in 1991, Michael Coutts-Trotter told (ALP Deputy Leader Tanya) Plibersek that he had served almost three years of a nine-year prison sentence on a drugs charge. He'd done time in maximum-security jails like Long Bay, Bathurst and Parramatta ("A genuinely bleak place," he calls it) before ending up in Silverwater and work release.
After being paroled in 1988, he spent a year at a Salvation Army rehab facility. Three years after this, still on parole, attending Narcotics Anonymous and not drinking alcohol, he was opening his soul to the woman who would become his wife nine years later.
Mr Coutts-Trotter with his wife and Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek at the Mid Winter Ball at Parliament House in Canberra last year. Picture: AAPMichael Coutts-Trotter, Secretary of the Department of FACs, is expected to oversee a new mega cluster called ‘Safer Communities’ to merge the FACs and Justice departments.
And now:
It’s understood Michael Coutts-Trotter, who is married to Ms Plibersek and is the Secretary of the Department of FACs, will oversee a new mega cluster called “Safer Communities” which merges the FACs and Justice departments.
It follows the resignation of former NSW Department of Justice Secretary Andrew Cappie-Wood, who announced his retirement on the weekend after 40 years of public service.
(see story below)
It is unlikely that Coutts-Trotter will be allowed entry into most if not all South East Asian countries given his conviction. That is likely to hinder any sort of cooperation between Australia and countries in this region.
The husband of deputy federal Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek is one of several senior NSW public servants tipped to be promoted following a reshuffle of Gladys Berejiklian’s cabinet.
While the Premier’s new ministry has been announced, The Daily Telegraph can today reveal who’s really running the state with leadership changes in key departments including Planning, Justice and Family and Community Services.
It’s understood Michael Coutts-Trotter, who is married to Ms Plibersek and is the Secretary of the Department of FACs, will oversee a new mega cluster called “Safer Communities” which merges the FACs and Justice departments.
It follows the resignation of former NSW Department of Justice Secretary Andrew Cappie-Wood, who announced his retirement on the weekend after 40 years of public service.
Mr Coutts-Trotter currently earns $569,050 each year and is entitled to an extra 12 per cent “discretionary” bonus.
It’s believed he will not receive a substantial pay rise unless a new role is created by the NSW Public Service Commission.
It’s also understood Department of Environment and Planning Secretary Carolyn McNally will be dumped and replaced by Jim Betts, who will be elevated from his position as chief executive officer of Infrastructure NSW.
Department of Planning and Environment secretary Carolyn McNally will be dumped after reportedly falling out of favour with Ms Berejiklian.Infrastructure NSW chief Jim Betts will be promoted to Secretary, Department of Environment and Planning.
It’s understood Ms McNally sent a note to staff this afternoon informing them she would be stepping down from the position.
A Liberal source claimed Ms McNally, who is currently on a month’s leave, fell out of favour with Ms Berejiklian for taking too long to solve overdevelopment problems around Ryde.
Mr Betts currently earns $605,500 each year but is expected to be awarded a bigger paycheck when he reaches secretary status, which will see him move up a job band.
It’s believed Department of Industry Secretary Simon Draper will move sideways to replace Mr Betts in his role as CEO.
NSW Customer Service Commissioner Glenn King — previously the boss of Service NSW — is also tipped for a promotion.
He is expected to become head of the new “Customer Service Cluster”, where he will report to former Finance Minister Victor Dominello.
However, it’s understood he will be given a new gig which is expected to be announced shortly.
None of the senior government executives wanted to comment when contacted by The Telegraph.
Premier and Cabinet Secretary Tim Reardon, NSW Treasury Secretary Michael Pratt, Education Secretary Mark Scott, Health Secretary Elizabeth Koff and Transport for NSW Secretary Rodd Staples will remain in their respective positions.
The Statutory and Other Offices Remuneration Tribunal last year awarded senior public servants a 2.5 per cent wage increase.
The Edge has reported this morning: The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) has slapped Datuk Seri Najib Razak with an extra tax bill of around RM1.5 billion for 2011-2017. Based on its investigations, the IRB has assessed that Najib had not declared taxable income of close to RM4 billion for the period. Sources say the amount included the infamous RM2.6 billion that Malaysian and the US investigators say originated from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
The Inland Revenue Board's assessment confirms the analysis below by this writer published more than three years ago on this blog of the taxes payable on Najib's Saudi "donation" ,accepting that he honestly believed that it was a donation.
END
PM Najib may be liable for a tax bill of RM million on that "donation" of RM 2.6 billion he himself has said he holds on trust. The liability arises out of the very fact that he is, by his own words, the sole trustee.
This writer anticipates that there will be counter-arguments about the the nature of the payment being a donation , not income, but those are not likely to help Najib avoid liability.
First, as has been previously reported on this blog the RM 2.6 billion donation was not described by the payer as a donation (see below).This has not been since refuted , but regardless of how Najib describes the payment, he is liable , and it is by his own words that the liability arises. It was he and his office who said the he held that money on trust.The purpose and objectives of the trust are not relevant to the calculation of that liability.
Then, even if one accepts that it was a donation, that may not make Najib as a trustee tax exempt.
Donation or not, he received the money on trust in the course of his work as a political leader.
As to whether a trust exist, let us not waste time on rubbish arguments about a trust needing to be "registered" , or "verified" or being "authentic" .Those issues have already been addressed by the very laws that Najib oversees as Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
END
Thursday, August 6, 2015
On the matter of the US$ 681 million donation to Prime Minister Najib Razak: Sender did not describe payment as a donation
by Ganesh Sahathevan
The Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has said that someone has sent him a donation of US$ 681 million, via Wells Fargo Bank of New York, using a BVI company (since liquidated) called Tanore Finance. That company was a client of Falcon Private Bank Of Singapore, which was the ordering institution for that wire transfer.
Readers are referred to pages 2 and 3 of the documents,and to the items marked70-Remittance Information.
Curiously the transfers (the sum total was paid in two amounts) are described as "Payment" and not " Donation".
This is not a matter of mere semantics.In these days of heightened controls on the transfer of funds, given the fear of terrorist financing, descriptions are important , even for very small sums. In this case where that large amount of money was being transferred to an individual the description becomes even more important.
Readers may also be interested in item 71A Details o Charges
"SHA" means charges are shared and it is again curious that such a generous donor would want the recipient to share in the charges for the transfer.
A PDF copy of the documents may be sighted at :
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2158723/1mdb-documents.pdf
Film star George Clooney has called for a boycott of nine hotels because of their links to Brunei, where homosexual acts will from next week be punishable by death. In an opinion piece written for Deadline, Clooney decried Brunei's announcement that from April 3 the country will stone or whip to death citizens caught committing adultery or having gay sex. "Let that sink in. In the onslaught of news where we see the world backsliding into authoritarianism this stands alone," Clooney said.He called for the public to join him in immediately boycotting nine hotels -- three in the UK, two in the US, two in France and two in Italy. They include the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Bel-Air in Los Angeles, the Dorchester in London and Le Meurice in Paris. Clooney said the Brunei Investment Agency owns the hotels, which he described as some of the "most exclusive" in the world. He even admitted he had stayed in some, until he found out who owned them. "Every single time we stay at, or take meetings at or dine at any of these nine hotels we are putting money directly into the pockets of men who choose to stone and whip to death their own citizens for being gay or accused of adultery," he said.
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
