Sunday, May 19, 2019

Najib's SRC trial: Interesting use of Islamic banking facilities, inter-posed charitable trusts to break -up cash flows into discrete unconnected packages -evidence can prove problematic for ANZ's Shayne Elliot

by Ganesh Sahathevan


The diagrams  below published by the Malay Mail which illustrate the cash flows relied on by the prosecution to prove the charges against Najib Razak reveal an interesting use of Islamic banking facilities  (which by nature are profit sharing arrangements between bank and client)  and inter-posed charitable trusts (which are meant to be discretionary)  to break-up what can appear to be simple linear flows into discrete seemingly independent packages.

These arrangements create problems for many, but especially the ANZ Banking Group Ltd whose management oversaw these transactions.It is management's duty to ask questions about transactions of this type.Instead, ANZ CEO Shayne Elliot continues to distance himself from the problem. going so far as to claim that he was not a member of  the AMBank board oed.f  directors when these transactions were executed, when in fact he was.














(Source:SRC trial recap: Najib’s cheque recipients)



END

Reference

    The issue was,and remains ,ANZ client and "ally" Najib Razak, not 1MDB:Another example of how ANZ and Shayne Elliot misled parliament

by Ganesh Sahathevan


Shayne Elliot
 Shayne Elliot, ANZ’s chief executive, 
is appearing before 
MPs to answer questions about 
the bank’s conduct. 
Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

The Guardian reported this response from ANZ CEO Shayne Elliot to the House of Representatives Economics Committee  when questioned about the 1MDB money laundering scandal:



11:57

"No link" to 1MDB scandal, Shayne Elliott says

Adam Bandt has quizzed the ANZ executives about its role sitting on the board of Malaysian bank AmBank which held billions in the 1MDB funds at the centre of a global financial scandal.
More than $US1bn is alleged to have flowed into Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak’s bank ­accounts between January 2011 and April 2013 — much of it from 1MDB.
ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott says he is satisfied nobody employed by ANZ did anything wrong and the bank was not being investigated by the US Justice Department.
He says the bank has no relationship with 1MDB, or link to what is alleged to have happened.
This response is disingenious at best, for the issue was always , and remains, as reported above , ANZ and AMBanlk's  collusion in Najib's laundering of funds misappropriated from 1MDB:

TANORE FINANCE - Inside Story Of The "Saudi Royal Donation" - The FBI Files Continued

ANZ has since its acquisition of  an interest in AMBank   "significant management and operational influence" over AMBank (see See Page 29 of the ANZ announcement to the SEC),and has a special relationship with Najib over and beyond that of client.As PM and Minister for Finance ANZ had been in active negotiations with Najib to increase its stake in AMBank.





ANZ finds an unlikely ally at the top in 

Malaysia

by Sarah Thompson and Jamie Freed
From little things big things grow – until you hit a foreign ownership cap.
Some welcome news for ANZ Banking Group’s Asian strategy has emerged from Malaysia. The country’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak , has reportedly said he was open to allowing ANZ to increase its stake in Malaysian bank AmBank Group above the 30 per cent foreign ownership cap to 49 per cent.
Malaysia provides some of the highest returns on equity for banks anywhere in the world and ANZ has a toe hold with a 24 per cent stake in AmBank, the country’s fifth-largest lender.
ANZ has been looking at ways to either become bigger or get out of its minority holdings in Asian banks, and Najib’s comments provide a welcome sign that Asian countries may be looking to ease their rules to attract greater foreign investment.
Deutsche Bank yesterday said a greater stake in AmBank would be an attractive fit with ANZ’s Asian expansion strategy. Malaysia certainly ticks Asia chief Alex Thursby ’s boxes of growing fast while having lots of savings in its bank deposits. AmBank’s shares are also trading at an attractively low valuation at 1.8 times book value.

Buying another 25 per cent stake in the bank would cost ANZ about $1.5 billion assuming no takeover premium, Deutsche reckons. Given ANZ has about $3.5 billion in surplus capital this would not be a stretch.
Of course the downside is ANZ would still find itself as a minority shareholder in a bank, with no clear path to complete control.
The Australian Financial Review



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Lessons from Turrle Beach and ABC's Embassy for DFAT as it continues its attacks on Mahathir

by Ganesh Sahathevan


The passing of former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke brings to mind a book written by his widow, Blanche d'Alpuget. The book is called Turtle Beach and in 1993 it was the cause of a diplomatic incident between Malaysia and Australia. The book was made into a movie and it showed Vietnamese asylum-seekers being massacred by ethnic Malay villagers as they come ashore.
(Reuters:25 February 1992)

The movie followed ongoing disputes between Malaysia and Australia over the TV series "Embassy", which also took aim at Mahathir.


Close to 30 years later Mahathir is again PM, and DFAT seems determined to offend and undermine Mahathir, again:

Assisted by DFAT,Australian lawyers take aim at Mahathir,while seeking new markets in Malaysia


END 


SEE ALSO




Diplomatic incident brewing: Mahathir declares Raja Petra a liar,AG NSW and his department insist that RPK is a credible source of information about Mahathir

by Ganesh Sahathevan

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.


The Thirdforce website is co-hosted on the Malaysia-Today website, which is published by one Raja Petra Kamaruddin who is known as RPK.RPK published the above story on his own website.


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.
END         

SEE ALSO

Bizarre blog claims used to deny man right to practise law


Mahathir flags frostier Australia-Malaysia relations




Tun Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's former prime minister. Picture: Sanjit Das.Tun Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's former prime minister. Picture: Sanjit Das.
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.

READ NEXT

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.

SOUTH EAST ASIA CORRESPONDENT
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... 

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Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Predicting Chinese submarine technology using Russian technology as a proxy-Part 3 -The drones

by Ganesh Sahathevan


Continuation of a compilation of material from open sources.First see:

Predicting Chinese submarine technology using Russian technology as a proxy in a Dempster Shafer framework-Part 1


and 
Predicting Chinese submarine technology using Russian technology as a proxy in a Dempster Shafer framework-Part 2

Part 2 reported an article by Lyle J. Goldsteinwho wrote that  China Is Studying Russia's Robot Submarines—and Is Building One of Their Own

Part3 follows on from Part 2, with this story about Russia's nuclear-capable underwater drone “Poseidon”, as reported in The Diplomat.



Russia’s Second Poseidon Underwater Drone-Carrying Submarine to Be Launched in 2020

The Russian Navy’s Project 09851 special purpose submarine is expected to be launched in the spring of 2020.
By Franz-Stefan Gady
 
 
The second Poseidon-carrying sub, the Project 09851 nuclear-powered special purpose submarine Khabarovsk, will be launched in the spring of 2020, according to Russian media reports.
It will be the Russian Navy’s second submarine capable of carrying the the nuclear-capable underwater drone “Poseidon,” alternatively referred to as an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), or simply an intercontinental-range, nuclear autonomous torpedo.
According to a Russian defense industry source quoted by TASS news agency, the new submarine is expected to be handed over to the Navy in 2022 and will be able to carry up to six Poseidon UUVs, also known under Ocean Multipurpose System Status-6 or “Kanyon” by the U.S. intelligence community.
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It is still uncertain whether the Poseidon UUV will be solely deployed as a nuclear-warhead delivery platform or could be used for other purposes including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. In total, the Russian Navy is slated to receive over 30 Poseidons with the first batch ready for operational deployment in the late 2020s.
The Khabarovsk is purportedly a downsized variant of the Borei-class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN). The Russian Navy currently deploys three Borei-class boomers. The Yuri Dolgoruky is in service with Russia’s Northern Fleet, while two other Borei-class SSBNs – Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh — are deployed with the Russian Pacific Fleet.
Next to the Khabarovsk, the Poseidon will also be carried by the Project 09852 Special Mission Submarine KC-139 Belgorod, which was launched at the Sevmash Shipyard, located in Severodvinsk in northern Russia, on April 23. The submarine is based on the 949A Oscar II-class nuclear-powered guided missile submarine (SSGN) design.
As I wrote last month:
The submarine was laid down at the Sevmash Shipyard in July 1992 but its construction was suspended in 1997. Work on the unfinished 949A Oscar II-class SSGN began again in 2012 following a redesign of the sub undertaken by the Rubin Central Design Bureau in St. Petersburg as a special purpose submarine. With a reported lengths of 184 meters, the Belgorod is set to become the Russian Navy’s largest submarine by its length. (The sub has a reported displacement of around 15,000 tonnes when surfaced.)
The boat will be operated by the Main Directorate Deep Sea Research (GUGI) organization and will likely be deployed under the Arctic for covert special missions, which purportedly will include the installation of a Russian underwater sonar network.
In addition to the Khabarovsk and Belgorod, two more 949A Oscar II-class SSGNs are expected to be retrofitted to carry the Poseidon UUVs by the mid 2020s. Two of the subs are reportedly slated for service with the Northern Fleet, while the remaining two will be deployed by the Russian Pacific Fleet, according to a Russian defense industry source.

See also from Popular Mechanics

Russia Launches Belgorod, the World’s Longest Submarine

The Belgorod will carry out underwater spy missions and launch Poseidon nuclear torpedoes.

image
By Kyle Mizokami
Belgorod nuclear submarine launched in Severodvinsk
OLEG KULESHOVGETTY IMAGES
Russia launched the world’s longest submarine today, the special mission submarine Belgorod. Designed to support a variety of military missions, including the Poseidon long-range strategic nuclear torpedo, the sub is far larger than anything operated by any other naval force, including the U.S. Navy. The six hundred foot long submarine displaces more water than a World War I battleship and can dive to a depth of 1,700 feet.
The submarine was launched today, April 23rd, at the Sevmash shipyards in Russia, with Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly watching via satellite.
Officially known as Project-09852, the submarine was originally an Oscar II-class cruise missile submarine that the Russian government ran of funds to complete. The submarine hull sat unfinished until Moscow decided to complete it as a special mission submarine. 
The hull was lengthened to approximately 184 meters (604 feet) and the ship’s displacement ballooned to 30,000 tons submerged--more than fifty percent greater than the U.S. Navy’s Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. The result of an unfinished hull the Belgorod is a one-off, and there will not be another one like it.
image
Belgorod, AKA Project 09852.
H.I. SUTTON
The nuclear-powered Belgorod is neither an attack submarine nor a ballistic missile sub. A special mission submarine, Belgorod will be a mothership to other undersea vessels. The sub can carry a payload on its back, behind the sail, or a Losharik class mini-submarine that attaches and detaches to the bottom of the hull.
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According to HI Sutton, noted authority on undersea warfare, Belgorod will be crewed by the Russian Navy but operated by GUGI, the secretive Main Directorate Deep Sea Research organization. Sutton, who has been watching Belgorod’s development from afar, tells Popular Mechanics, “Belgorod was originally laid down as an Oscar-II class cruise missile submarine, but work stopped when the Russian economy caught up with the submarine building program. Work restarted years later in her modified form. So she is already older than many of her crew.”
image
Poseidon long range nuclear torpedo.
H.I. SUTTON
“The modifications are likely to be extensive, and may include some latest technology, but underneath she is still an earlier generation of submarine, and likely to be less stealthy than the latest generation.”
Sutton’s observations from afar have largely been correct but he also warns some details will be wrong. “Russia has generally been more successful than the US at protecting her latest submarines from unwanted cameras,” Sutton explained. “Just this week documents allegedly leaked of a nuclear triad briefing for President Trump included a cutaway of the as-yet unbuilt Colombia class ballistic missile submarine. For Russia's latest boats we are still guessing many details.
“Defense observers can piece together a few sources and rumors with traditional analytical techniques to second guess what Belgorod is like. The cutaway (above) represents a best guess before any photos of Belgorod post-modifications emerged.”
image
Losharik mini-submarine.
H.I. SUTTON
One major mission Sutton believes Belgorod is meant for is the covert placement of the Harmony submarine detection network. A nuclear-powered underwater detection system, Harmony could help alert Russian forces of enemy submarines transiting through key areas. The key to their working however is their covert deployment, something Belgorod was practically built to do. Another mission is conducting covert operations with the Losharikmidget submarines. The 230 foot long, nuclear-powered Losharik is equipped with robotic arms and capable of diving to 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). The massive submarine will also be able to carry the Harpsichord-2P-PM autonomous underwater vehicle, transporting it to an operating area and then use its sonar to map the ocean floor or find man-made objects.
DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!
image
Underwater Wiretapping Helped End the Cold War
image
Mother Russia’s Impressive Underwater Fleet
Although built to conduct underwater espionage, by far the most sinister mission for Belgorod is as launch vehicle for the Poseidon nuclear torpedo system. Poseidon is a very large torpedo, 65 feet long and 6.5 feet in diameter, with a range of thousands of miles and a top speed of 60 knots. Poseidon is believed to carry a 2 megaton thermonuclear warhead and is designed to go around U.S. missile defenses to strike coastal targets, including ports and cities. According to HI Sutton Belgorod will carry up to six Poseidon torpedoes.
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Tuesday, May 14, 2019

May 13: Who gave the Chinese their orders to kill Malays?

by Ganesh Sahathevan





Listen from 1:50 to 2:00 of this segment from The Star's Lessons from May 13:
In its narrative The Star has been careful to exclude Joh 13n Fernandez's observation that the Chinese rioters had specific instructions to attack Malays only.

Fernandez's statement calls into question the conventional wisdom surrounding May 13: that of MAlay mobs instigated by politicians like Dato Harun Idris (and some say even Tunku Abdul Rahman) running amok, and being countered by Chinese mobs acting in defense.

Much has been said over the years about the part played in the riots by Chinese secret societies, but the explanation seems to be at odds with the business oriented nature of the secret societies.

It is undisputed   however that there was a victory parade after the May 1969 election,which was organised by the  predominantly Chinese opposition parties, the DAP and Gerakan.
What followed, followed. The Chinese side appear to have suffered a greater number of casualties but that was to be expected once the predominantly Malay army and police forces were put into play by the Malaysian Government.

However, who gave the Chinese rioters their orders to kill?

END

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