Rightways to Success

Thursday, 27 September 2018

Najib's wife Rosmah says she is okay after 13 hours long grilled by anti corruption agency over 1MDB

https://youtu.be/aGMpsnADOpU

When asked for comment, she said: “I’m okay. Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God).”

Wife of ex-PM questioned by MACC for 13 hours over 1MDB

While MACC investigators question Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor at length, believed to be over the 1MDB saga, a Dubai-based firm wants RM20.69 mil in bling back. The royal jeweller claims that he could bring his exquisite masterpieces to the ex-premier’s wife without having to go through Customs – thanks to officers from the PM’s Department. PUTRAJAYA: It proved to be a long, gruelling day for Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor as anti-graft officers interrogated her for 13 hours.

She entered the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) headquarters here at 9.50am yesterday.

Speculation was rife that the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would be held overnight and charged today.

But at 10.40pm last night, Rosmah emerged from the MACC headquarters. Although she looked exhausted, the 66-year-old afforded a meek smile to waiting journalists outside the building.

When asked for comment, she said: “I’m okay. Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God).”

Her lawyers Datuk K. Kumaraendran and Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent said Rosmah would not be returning for further questioning.

“Datin Seri Rosmah has finished giving her statement. I will not comment further,” said Kumaraendran.

On June 5, Rosmah was questioned for about five hours by MACC investigators over a probe into SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) subsidiary.

The latest interrogation is believed to evolve around the 1MDB scandal.

Rosmah looked calm when she alighted from a Proton Perdana and walked past a horde of journalists who converged outside the MACC building earlier in the morning.

Her attire and accessories were the centre of attention, as she had colour coordinated her green baju kurung and tudung with a Loewe designer handbag and wedge shoes.

The last time out, she wore a blue baju kurung and red tudung, with her bright red Versace handbag drawing the most stares.

Throughout the day, her lawyers were seen coming in and out of the MACC building at least three times.

As is the practice, lawyers are usually not allowed in the interrogation room. Both spoke of their long wait as journalists tried to find out from them how long the questioning would take.

This was the second time Rosmah had been questioned by the MACC.

Last Thursday, Najib was slapped with 25 fresh corruption and money-laundering charges. He was granted bail of RM3.5mil with two sureties in his latest court case.

Investigators have not ruled out that Najib as well as other individuals could be faced with even more charges related to the 1MDB case. - The Star

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Wednesday, 26 September 2018

Still waiting on election promises

Will the Government deliver or are rosy pledges meant to be broken anyway?

PEOPLE are still harping on election manifesto promises which the new coalition has yet to fulfil.

In the wake of the 14th general election, the 100-day manifesto of Pakatan Harapan is being scrutinised.

Does anyone remember the promises made before GE13 or GE12 or any other election before that?

Remember the Penang Bridge toll promises?

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak came to town and promised free passage across the bridge for motorcycles.

Hours later, the then Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng cleverly upped the ante and promised that the bridge would be completely toll- free.

In Malaysian lingo, we call this ‘wayang’ or political theatrics.

I found it all very entertaining. I looked forward to each retort from the opposite side.

We should not be like children and cry: “But mummy, you promised!”

Now, Pakatan Harapan did fulfil some of their promises.

The Government abolished the goods and services tax and an earnest hunt has begun for those responsible for the 1MDB controversy.

As for the other promises, maybe not yet? Or at a later date?

You cannot fault Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for being honest. He told the world Pakatan could not fulfil all the promises in its manifesto because it did not expect to win!

So the politicians were just putting on a show and we, the audience, bought front-row tickets to the ‘wayang’.

Dr Mahathir would know. Can anyone remember any of the manifesto promises that were never fulfilled during his previous 22-year tenure or during the last 10 years under Najib?

I don’t and I have been around for more than three decades, starting my working life the year Mahathir came to power in 1981.

If elections were won just on fulfilling manifestos, Barisan would not have been able to rule for 60 years because there has been volumes of unfulfilled promises.

Elections are usually won on negative rather than positive elements.

We have a saying in the newsroom: people wanna read about sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.

At The Star Online, stories along those lines get astronomical level hits.

In politics, seats tend to be won by candidates who can portray how bad the other guy is!

People want to be shocked by scandals, not lulled by promises.

So we do not have to lament the unfulfilled promises.

It is a universal issue which is not confined to Third World countries as even presidential elections in developed countries are won the same way.

One which comes to recent memory is the United States’ presidential elections in 2016.

Everyone thought Hilary Clinton would triumph but Donald Trump ran a smear campaign on her.

People heard all about her leaked emails and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s case on her.

Both candidates spent millions of dollars taking out advertisements in newspapers and on television.

The focus was more on showing how bad the other candidate would be for the country rather than what they would do if elected.

So for all those who are still hung up on Pakatan promises, forget it.

You can shout until the cows come home and nothing is going to happen.

But they still have four years to make good on their promises, before power comes back to us.

They could be saving the best promises for last. Maybe?

Credit: Pinang points R. Sekaran

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Tuesday, 25 September 2018

Goldman Sachs banker's obscene commissions netted 11% from 1MDB believed to be most compelling evidence of rogue behaviour

Jho Low Has Offered A Deal To The DOJ

Settling the civil action would free up prosecutors to pursue the Goldman bond issued on behalf of 1MDB, which netted the bank suspiciously obsence commissions of up to 11% - Sarawak Report

Sarawak Report has learnt that Jho Low’s new legal team, headed by the well-connected former federal prosecutor and New Jersey governor Chris Christie, has already obtained a high-level meeting with officials of the DOJ and that at that meeting they offered to come to a settlement on behalf of the fugitive Malaysian advisor to 1MDB.

This would represent an effective acknowledgement by Low, who is currently believed to be holed up in China, that he is unlikely to be able to persuade the US courts to return some $1.2 billion in assets seized from him alone, which investigators have traced to money stolen from Malaysia’s development fund.

However, by cutting a deal the billionaire, who is facing criminal charges in Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland and elsewhere, including the United States, will be hoping to retain some of the value of the assets. Malaysia Kept On Sidelines?

Malaysian entities have expressed concern that the United States authorities may be tempted to negotiate with Jho Low’s new, high-powered legal team, in order to close a case that could otherwise carry on for years. Notably, the US recently refused to grant a Malaysian official request for a guarantee it would return all the money back from the assets seized.

“It doesn’t mean that the United States will not return the money to Malaysia, but it does mean the US is insisting on keeping control over the process and that might include settling the case for less than the entire amount”

one person who is well versed in the matter explained to Sarawak Report. It is further understood that the approach from Jho Low’s team has not yet been formally discussed with the Malaysian authorities, who may very well react with dismay at the prospect of any settlement of this nature.

Particularly galling to Malaysians is the likelihood that Low’s new and well-connected legal advisors are being generously paid by money that was itself stolen from 1MDB. US investigators have been reported as concluding that the origin of the cash received by Christie and one of President Donald Trump’s go-to law firms, Kasowitz Benson Torres, is indeed 1MDB.

Likewise, the money sent to pay the libel lawyers Schillings in the UK, which has been doing its best to disrupt the publising othe the book The Sarawak Report as well as the Wall Street Journal’s own book in Britain, is also thought to trace back to 1MDB. Going For Goldman Sachs

The apparent willingness of US prosecutors to discuss such matters with Low’s new team and the news that they may indeed be tempted to reach a deal, may indicate that the DOJ sleuths are already focusing on other aspects of the case, informed observers have told Sarawak Report: namely the pursuit of the banking giant Goldman Sachs. Settling the civil action would free up prosecutors to pursue the Goldman bond issues on behalf of 1MDB, which netted the bank suspiciously obscene commissions of up to 11%.

The bank has earned the anger and ill-feeling of countless Americans as a result of its pivotal role in causing the crash of 2008 and yet none of its bankers have been brought to book so far. The apparent negligence and huge sums earned through 1MDB have provided US investigators their most compelling evidence yet against what many believe to be rogue behaviour by the major bank.

It was Sarawak Report that first exposed the huge commissions being earned by Goldman Sachs from 1MDB in 2013, by publishing the terms of two so-called power purchase bonds, which together with a later third offering netted commissions totalling just under $600 million for the bank. The market price for such services was a fraction of that amount.

The former South East Asia boss, Tim Leissner has already been picked up in the United States and is understood to be cooperating with the DOJ enquiries. A new case against the global bank is where 1MDB now seems headed as it gains even more international significance.

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