Jawatankuasa Kira-kira Wang Negara (PAC) mahu akhbar The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) membekalkan bukti mengenai beberapa siri dakwaannya terhadap 1MDB supaya soalan susulan boleh dikemukakan semasa soal siasat ke atas firma pelaburan negara itu.
Timbalan Pengerusi PAC Dr Tan Seng Giaw membuat gesaan apabila diminta mengulas laporan terbaru oleh akhbar harian kewangan Amerika Syarikat tersebut.
"Kita tidak boleh tanya soalan berdasarkan dakwaan sahaja. Kita hanya boleh buat susulan dengan soalan berdasarkan fakta," katanya ketika dihubungi Malaysiakini.
"Kita tidak tahu sumber laporan itu, bagaimana kita akan soal mereka?
"Menjadi tidak munasabah tidak boleh dijadikan cara (PAC mengendalikan soal siasat semasa prosiding)," katanya.
Oleh itu, Tan (atas, kiri) mencadangkan supaya WSJ memberi bukti bagi membolehkan PAC mengambil tindakan susulan berdasarkan fakta.
Dalam laporan terbarunya, WSJ yang memetik minit mesyuarat lembaga pengarah 1MDB mendakwa mereka menyuarakan kebimbangan sedang disiasat kerana jenayah pecah amanah dan tindakan yang menyalahi aturan kewangan.
Akhbar itu turut mendakwa 1MDB mengutamakan perbelanjaan politik walaupun aliran tunai tidak mencukupi.
Laporan itu juga mendakwa bahawa jutawan Jho Low membantu kerajaan BN mengagihkan dana 1MDB berkaitan pilihan raya umum.
Editor WSJ, Tom Wright juga mendakwa Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak yang adalah pengerusi lembaga penasihat 1MDB memecat dua syarikat firma audit - Ernst & Young dan KPMG - selepas mereka menyoal usaha sama dengan PetroSaudi International.
Mengulas perkara ini, Tan mengesahkan bahawa kedua-dua Ernst & Young dan KPMG telah ditamatkan perkhidmatan mereka oleh 1MDB.
"Kami tahu bahawa mereka telah dipecat tetapi tiada alasan diberikan oleh mereka pada prosiding tersebut," katanya.
Sementara itu, Tan juga mengulangi bahawa adalah sukar untuk memanggil Low kerana namanya belum terdapat dalam mana-mana rekod yang berkaitan dengan 1MDB.
"Namanya kali akhir muncul di Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) dan bukannya 1MDB.
"Kita hanya boleh memanggil saksi itu melalui perbendaharaan. Selanjutnya, (walaupun kita memanggil Low), kita tidak tahu sama ada dia akan datang," katanya.
"Dari segi undang-undang, kita perlu mempunyai beberapa asas sebelum memanggil saksi itu," kata Tan.
Pengerusi PAC Datuk Hasan Arifin bagaimanapun enggan mengulas mengenai laporan terbaru WSJ itu.
"Bukan tugas saya untuk mengulas perkara ini," katanya ringkas ketika dihubungi.
1MDB bagaimanapun menolak laporan terbaru WSJ yang menurutnya membuat "dakwaan tidak berasas” dan dikitar semula sejak pertengahan 2015.
Dalam satu kenyataan, semalam, syarikat itu berkata WSJ memutarkan teori konspirasi dan fitnah yang disebarkan oleh pihak pembangkang di Malaysia. - mk
PAC wants WSJ to submit evidence on 1MDB and difficult to summon Jho Low...
PAC deputy chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw made the call when he was asked to respond on the latest report by the US financial daily.
"We cannot ask questions based on allegations. We can only follow up with questions based on facts," he told Malaysiakini.
"We do not know the source of the report, how are we going to ask them?
"Being unreasonable cannot be the way (of how PAC conducts its interview during proceedings)," he added.
Thus, Tan suggested that WSJ provide them with evidence to allow them to follow up based on facts.
In its latest report, the daily had cited minutes of the1MDB board meeting where the directors had voiced their worry of being probed for criminal breach of trust and financial irregularity.
It claimed 1MDB prioritised political spending despite insufficient cashflow.
The report also claimed that billionaire Jho Low helped the BN government handle the election-related spending.
WSJ editor Tom Wright (photo) said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also the chairman of 1MDB advisory board, had fired audit firms Ernst & Young and KPMG after they asked questions about the fund's joint venture with PetroSaudi International.
On this, Tan confirmed that both Ernst & Young and KPMG were terminated by 1MDB.
"We knew that they were fired, but no reasons were given by them at the proceedings," he said.
Difficulty in summoning Jho Low
Meanwhile, Tan also reiterated on the difficulty in summoning Low, as the latter's name has not been appearing in any of the records related to 1MDB.
"His name last appeared on (1MDB's precursor) Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) and not 1MDB.
"We can only summon the witness through the treasury. Furthermore, (even if we summon Low), we do not know if he will come," he said.
"From the aspect of law, you need to have some basis to call the witness," Tan added.
PAC chairman Hasan Arifin refused to respond to WSJ's latest report.
"It is not my duty to comment on this matter," he spoke curtly before cutting off the line.- mk
Jho Low kendalikan perbelanjaan politik 1MDB tika PRU-13...
Taikun perniagaan Jho Low dibawa menyertai 1MDB untuk membantu mengendalikan perbelanjaan berkaitan pilihan raya umum, dedah seorang bekas ahli politik parti pemerintah.
Ini di sebalik hakikat bahawa Low tidak memegang sebarang jawatan rasmi dalam Umno, kata ahli politik itu dalam laporan yang diterbitkan oleh akhbar kewangan Amerika Syarikat, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) hari ini.
Seorang bekas kakitangan 1MDB juga dilaporkan sebagai berkata bahawa kerahsiaan sentiasa menyelubungi 1MDB dengan pihak pengurusan kanan enggan berkongsi sebarang dokumen di Google.
Katanya, pihak pengurusan khuatir bahawa dokumen berkenaan jatuh ke tangan pembangkang.
Beliau juga mendedahkan bahawa Low menggunakan kod nama "UC" apabila beliau dihubungi semasa persidangan.
Oh Ei Sun - bekas setiausaha politik Datuk Seri Najib Razak, dipetik sebagai berkata bahawa 1MDB dilihat oleh Pejabat Perdana Menteri sebagai satu cara untuk membiayai projek-projek yang mampu meningkatkan populariti Umno.
Katanya, 1MDB memperuntukkan wang untuk projek-projek yang dicadangkan itu oleh kakitangan di Pejabat Perdana Menteri.
"Jika kita fikir ia boleh membantu mendapatkan kerajaan sedia ada beberapa undi, kita akan mencadangkannya," kata Oh yang kemudiannya meletak jawatan disebabkan oleh kebimbangannya berhubung kurangnya ketelusan dalam kerajaan.
Menurut WSJ, minit mesyuarat syarikat pelaburan negara itu juga mendedahkan bahawa pengerusi lembaga pengarah 1MDB "menyatakan bahawa adalah penting bagi syarikat itu mendapatkan sokongan rakyat Sarawak, terutama penduduk pribumi". - mk
Najib pecat khidmat bekas juruaudit 1MDB, dakwa editor WSJ
Jho Low helped disburse 1MDB political spending...
This is despite Low not holding any formal title within Umno, the politician says in a report published by US financial daily The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) today.
A former employee of 1MDB is also reported as saying that there was intense secrecy surrounding 1MDB, with the senior management refusing to share documents on Google.
The management argued that the opposition might be able to access them, the former employee said.
He also revealed that Low used the code name "UC" when he was dialed into conference calls.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's former political secretary Oh Ei Sun is quoted as saying that 1MDB was viewed by the Prime Minister's Office as a way to finance projects to boost Umno's popularity.
1MDB set aside money for such projects proposed by staff in the Prime Minister's Office, Oh said.
"If we thought it could help the incumbent government pull in some votes, we could propose that," added Oh, who later quit his post due to his concern over the lack of transparency in the government.
According to WSJ, the state fund's minutes also revealed that the board's chairperson had "noted that it is vital for the company to win the support of Sarawakians, particularly the natives".
Senior strategist for BN Penang in GE13
The government had also sold prime land in Kuala Lumpur to 1MDB in 2010 at below-market rates to develop a financial centre, in a joint venture with the subsidiary of an Abu Dhabi sovereign fund, WSJ reported.
Meanwhile, a leader of the BN, the former ruling coalition in Penang, is reported to have said that Low had returned to Penang, which is his hometown, before the May 2013 election and acted as a senior strategist for the BN.
The leader said that Low told the candidates for the election that if they needed money for their campaigns, they could request from him and he would deliver the funds.
Among the things the candidates requested money for, the leader said, was to paint voters' houses and give out free food and other favours.
Coalition party politicians from the ruling federal colaition said the money did not flow through official Umno channels and the source of the funds, along with its total size, were unclear.
"The money was flowing like hell," another former coalition lawmaker said, adding that he assumed the funds were from corporate donors.
According to WSJ, Low’s school friend Geh Choh Hun organised a group called 1Malaysia Penang Welfare Club, which handed out checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars to non-government groups.- mk
Najib sacked former 1MDB auditors, says WSJ editor
The 1Malaysia-Penang Welfare Club...
The 1Malaysia-Penang Welfare Club, which is on a massive donation drive in Penang, has expressed unhappiness that its ‘noble’ intention has been misconstrued by certain quarters.
At the dinner, jointly organised with the Women's Centre for Change (WCC), Geh handed out a total of RM340,000 to 29 NGOs working on issues relating to women and children.
Geh presented a mock cheque of RM200,000 to the WCC fundraising ambassador Annie Chin, while the other NGOs received RM5,000 each.
The dinner featured free flow of beer, lucky draws, a fashion show and entertainment by Taiwanese-Hokkien sensation Only You.Several BN leaders were among the 800 guests, who also included well-connected billionaire Low Teck Jho - or Jho Low (right) - as he is better known.
The club has been making waves since the beginning of the month by organising free dinners in various locations, especially in the Pulau Tikus area under the Bukit Bendera parliamentary constituency. - mk,15 April 2013
1MDB and the Money Network of Malaysian Politics
Wall Street Journal,Dec. 28, 2015
Prime Minister Najib Razak tapped wealth fund to ease ruling-party’s victory
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was fighting for his political life this summer after revelations that almost $700 million from an undisclosed source had entered his personal bank accounts.
Under pressure within his party to resign, he called together a group of senior leaders in July to remind them everyone had benefited from the money.
The funds, Mr. Najib said, weren’t used for his personal enrichment. Instead, they were channeled to politicians or into spending on projects aimed at helping the ruling party win elections in 2013, he said, according to a cabinet minister who was present.
“I took the money to spend for us,” the minister quoted Mr. Najib as saying.
It still isn’t clear where the $700 million came from or where it went. But a six-month Wall Street Journal examination revealed that public entities spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a massive patronage machine to help ensure Mr. Najib’s United Malays National Organization stayed in power. The payments, while legal, represented a new milestone in Malaysia’s freewheeling electoral system, according to ruling-party officials.
The UMNO has led every Malaysian government since the country’s independence from Britain in 1957, making it one of the world’s longest-ruling political parties. Its extraordinary grip on power has delivered economically for Malaysia, boosting living standards and establishing the country as a fast-growing emerging market and U.S. ally in Asia.
But its dominance of the vote, its critics contend, has prevented Malaysia’s democracy from maturing in a similar fashion, instead leaving a system riven by patronage and vote-buying that analysts say has consistently skewed results in UMNO’s favor.
The Journal examination, which included interviews with ruling coalition politicians and former government employees as well as a review of documents related to a state-investment fund Mr. Najib set up, found hundreds of millions of dollars in unreported political spending. Much of it flowed from public sources or programs set up for other purposes.
The effort relied heavily on the state investment fund Mr. Najib controlled, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., according to minutes from 1MDB board meetings seen by The Wall Street Journal and interviews with people who worked there.
The prime minister, who is chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers, promised repeatedly that the fund would boost Malaysia’s economy by attracting foreign capital. It rolled up more than $11 billion in debt without luring major investments.Continue reading...
Kalu gitu orang2 miskin tak boleh mati...
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