How to use RM2.6 billion

Ex-PM Najib received this generous amount from an anonymous donor (anonymous because the owner does not want to own up?) and knew very well how to make use of it.

Read how Najib plays Santa Claus here:

Special Report: Nicked from 1MDB or donation?

Recap ABC Four Corners Report in 2016: Najib Razak 1MDB scandal: Malaysian Prime Minister's accounts triggered internal money-laundering alarm

Mentaliti Kolonialisme Orang Melayu Yang Baru

Adakah orang Melayu telah sedar bahawa selama ini mereka telah diperalatkan oleh UMNO untuk kepentingan segolongan pemimpin UMNO sahaja? Kisah-kisah mengenai 1MDB, Felda, Mara dan Tabung Haji adalah contoh-contoh yang baik bagaimana puak UMNO ini telah lama mempergunakan institusi-institusi kerajaan untuk menambah kekayaan mereka sahaja dan siapa-siapa yang ingin untuk menjadi kuncu-kuncu mereka. Tidakkah semua ini satu mentaliti kolonisme yang telah lama dikatakan untuk menakutkan rakyat tentang orang Inggeris dan sebagainya? 

Ya, saudara, orang Melayu sekarang juga masih di selindungi dengan mentaliti kolonisme - apakah dengan pejabat-pejabat kerajaan seperti ROS (Jabatan Pendaftaran Pertubuhan) dan EC (Suruhanjaya Pilihn Raya) yang memang patuh kepada perintah-perintah UMNO dan PM Najib sehingga tidak menghiraukan lagi kepentingan rakyat apabila kita melihat mereka melakukan perkara-perkara yang tidak patut dan yang tidak berprinsip langsung. Bukankah ini semua contoh-contoh mentaliti kolonisme yang baru? Hanya sekarang yang menjadi kolonis adalah UMNO itu sendiri!

Bolehkah kita sebagai rakyat yang telah mencapai kemerdekaan selama lebih 50 tahun membuang mentaliti ini sekali lagi dalam pilihan raya yang akan datang? Hanya orang Melayu boleh menjawab soalan ini.

A Kadir Jasin: Rakyat akan membuang UMNO

Stop Thief! - Malaysia’s PM is about to steal an election

IN MOST countries a government that allowed $4.5bn to go missing from a state development agency would struggle to win re-election. If some $681m had appeared in the prime minister’s personal account around the same time, which he breezily explained away as a gift from an unnamed admirer, the task would be all the harder. An apparent cover-up, involving the dismissal of officials investigating or merely complaining about the scandal, might be the last straw for voters. But in Malaysian elections, alas, voters do not count for much.

Under any reasonable electoral system, the coalition running Malaysia would not be in office in the first place. The Barisan Nasional, as it is known, barely squeaked back into power at the most recent election, in 2013. It lost the popular vote, earning only 47% to the opposition’s 51%. But thanks to the shamelessly biased drawing of the constituencies, that was enough to secure it 60% of the 222 seats in parliament.

This ill-deserved victory, however, occurred before news broke of the looting of 1MDB, a development agency whose board of advisers was chaired by the prime minister, Najib Razak. America’s Justice Department has accused him and his stepson, among others, of siphoning money out of 1MDB through an elaborate series of fraudulent transactions. Much of the money went on luxuries, it says, including paintings by Picasso and Monet, a private jet, diamond necklaces, a penthouse in Manhattan and a gambling spree in Las Vegas. In February Indonesia seized a $250m yacht that the Americans say was bought with Malaysian taxpayers’ money. Authorities in Switzerland and Singapore have also been investigating.

Mr Najib denies any wrongdoing—and of course he has loyal supporters. But his administration has not tried very hard to clear things up. Only one person has been charged in connection with the missing billions: an opposition politician who leaked details of the official investigation after the government had refused to make it public.

All this is unlikely to have improved Mr Najib’s standing with voters. Yet an election must be held by August. Faced with the risk of losing power, the government is rigging the system even more brazenly. Parliament will soon vote on new constituency boundaries. The proposed map almost guarantees Mr Najib another term, despite his appalling record.

How to rig an election

One trick is gerrymandering, drawing constituency boundaries so that lots of opposition voters are packed into a few seats, while ruling-party supporters form a narrow majority in a larger number. Lots of this goes on in Malaysia, as elsewhere: the new boundaries put two opposition bastions in the state of Perak into the same seat. Gerrymandering is made even easier by another electoral abuse called malapportionment. This involves creating districts of uneven populations, so that those which support the opposition are much bigger than those that back the government. That means, in effect, that it takes many more votes to elect an opposition MP than it does a government one. The practice is so unfair that it is illegal in most countries, including Malaysia, where the constitution says that electoral districts must be “approximately equal” in size.

Nonetheless, the constituencies in the maps proposed by the government-appointed election commission range in size from 18,000 voters to 146,000 (see article). The Barisan Nasional controls all the 15 smallest districts; 14 of the 15 biggest ones are in the hands of the opposition. The average Barisan seat has 30,000 fewer voters than the average opposition one. And this is the election commission’s second go at the maps—the first lot were even more lopsided.

Unfortunately, the electoral boundaries are not the only way in which the system is stacked against the opposition. The media are supine. The police and the courts seem more interested in allegations of minor offences by opposition figures than they are in the blatant bilking of the taxpayer over 1MDB and the open violation of the constitution at the election commission. The latest budget seems intended to buy the loyalty of civil servants, by promising a special bonus to be disbursed just after the likely date of the election.

But these biases, as bad as they are, are not the same as fiddling constituencies. As long as the electoral system is fair, Malaysians will be able to judge the government and vote accordingly. But a rigged system will rob their votes of meaning. That is the point, of course. Mr Najib may be venal, but he is not stupid. He fears that most voters would not return him to office if given a choice, so he is taking their choice away.

 Source: The Economist

'Wolf of Wall Street’ producer to pay US$60 mil settlement

LOS ANGELES (March 7): The producer of the "Wolf of Wall Street" agreed to pay US$60 million to settle claims it financed the movie with money siphoned from a Malaysian state investment fund.
The settlement between the U.S. Justice Department and Red Granite Pictures Inc, which was co-founded by a stepson of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, also covers U.S. forfeiture claims against the producer’s rights and interests in two other pictures, “Daddy’s Home” and “Dumb and Dumber To.”

The complaint targeting the 2013 picture, directed by Martin Scorsese, is among more than two dozen forfeiture lawsuits filed by the U.S. against US$1.7 billion assets that were allegedly acquired with money stolen from 1Malaysia Development Bhd. The assets include mansions in Beverly Hills, California, luxury condos in New York, jewelry and artworks.

The Justice Department sought the profits, royalties and distribution proceeds that are owed to Red Granite Pictures. The movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio took in US$392 million in worldwide ticket sales, according to the website Box Office Mojo.
“We are glad to finally put this matter behind us and look forward to refocusing all of our attention back on our film business,” Red Granite said in a statement.

1MDB probe
Riza Aziz, Najib’s stepson, is a friend of Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, the Malaysian financier whom the U.S. alleges orchestrated the scheme to loot US$4.5 billion from the Malaysian fund going back to 2009. Of the allegedly stolen money, US$1.7 billion has been traced to assets in the U.S. and U.K.

Most of the civil forfeiture cases have been put on hold, while the Justice Department is pursuing a criminal investigation.

Elliott Broidy, a top Republican fundraiser for Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, and his wife, engaged in contract negotiations to represent Jho Low, according to emails that his lawyer said were stolen when Broidy’s accounts were hacked.

The emails included talking points on why the U.S. should drop its 1MDB probe. One draft contract showed that the firm of Broidy’s wife, who is an attorney, could have made US$75 million if they succeeded. It’s unclear what if anything came of the proposal. The Wall Street Journal first reported details of the effort.

The case is U.S. v. “Wolf of Wall Street,” 16-05362, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).

Source: The Edge

CNBC: A super yacht is seized, and new allegations surface

What happened to 1MDB's money? from CNBC.

Ousting Najib is now a possibility in Malaysia

Malaysia's Mahathir claims ousting Najib is on the cards

KUALA LUMPUR -- Mahathir Mohamad insists there is a real possibility of a new government coming to power when Malaysia goes to the polls later this year. Speaking to The Nikkei at his office on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital on Monday,

Mahathir, who now leads a coalition of four opposition parties, said the mutual goal of unseating Prime Minister Najib Razak was of far greater importance than any differences they may have. "This is what they called the mother of all elections," said the 92-year-old former prime minister. "It will be very big and the possibility of changing the government is there.

For the first time, the opposition is very united." The Pakatan Harapan, or "Alliance of Hope," is an unlikely collection of politicians. Some, such as Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Kit Siang of the Democratic Action Party, were jailed during Mahathir's 22 years in power. Anwar, once seen as Mahathir's chosen successor, is serving a five-year sentence on sodomy charges that many believe were fabricated -- his second incarceration for a similar offense. "This is more or less like the saying, 'your enemy's enemy is my friend,'" said Mahathir.

The veteran politician appears to have united a once fragmented opposition, a role once played by Anwar, even managing to gain broad consensus on seat allocation for the election, which must be called by June 24. The coalition has agreed for Mahathir to be appointed prime minister should the bloc win, but make way for Anwar when his prison term ends in June. Anwar, however, will still need a royal pardon in order to become leader. "Anwar will be the next prime minister after me," assured Mahathir, refuting allegations that his return was designed to pave the way for his son Mukhriz to take over.

Najib has repeatedly denied any involvement in the scandal and said it had been turned into a concentrated campaign to sabotage the economy for political gain. He has admitted there were "failings" at the fund, but these lapses of governance had been rectified after investigations. 

Regardless, Mahathir insisted the country would get "worse" if Najib stayed in power, and that he just wanted to put Malaysia back on track. He also accused the current administration of blurring the lines between the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government. Mahathir himself was no stranger to criticism during his time in office, but rebutted any suggestion that he might have been too hard-line. "Dictators do not resign. I resigned."

 Mahathir is the chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, or the "Malaysian United Indigenous Party." The coming elections will be the tenth he has contested in a political career that began in 1964. He is expected to stand in Putrajaya, the suburb where his office is located, Langkawi or his previous constituency of Kubang Pasu.
 - CK TAN, Nikkei staff writer
Source: Nikkei