1MDB IPO

[sgd]

The latest news is that the AG, which is spearheading the 4 department task force (AG, BNM, MACC, Police) investigating WSJ's claims has just gotten an earlier retirement due to 'health issues' (more specifically, kidney failure). He was originally scheduled to mandatorily retire in 3months time in Oct this year.

This brings up many questions - (1) Why can't we wait till Oct or even extend his tenure, since he is in charge of the task force, which IMO is the most important investigative team that was formed in the last 20years of Msian history (2) Kidney failure is chronic in future and does not happen overnight. Why now? (3) Where is the health report (not the one that did the medical examination on Anwar's semen samples) that says he is not fit for his job immediately?

It doesn't take someone with an common sense quotient of 180 to answer these questions.

From a perspective of the AG, the burden on the extraordinary task force, or pressure from the most important investigation, may over-stress the already fragile body and mind. He may make the request for the earlier retirement.

(speculating from the other perspective)

The obvious idea everybody has is to retire the old put in someone new loyal to you that don't have old ties to the old system and final outcome of whatever investigation would be favorable or at the very least lead to nowhere.

That why I say all leaders in the world will jealously hang on to their power. They rather everything else burn around them than let go.

but what if you also needed to go against somebody equally powerful as yourself, you can't kill them or blow them up so openly, so only way is find some legal way against them and now having a new AG in your pocket would help plenty later wouldn't it?

agree 110%. yr analysis is fantastic. fortunately u are not licensed for your analysis...

that's most kind of you to say so haha , btw your articles posted here are most excellent reads


Another juicy tit bit from google search. Hmm ... Fall guy?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/nyregi....html?_r=0

[weijian]

Changes have came in fast and furious.

In a stroke of political genius (or pure survival instinct?), Najib has appointed 4 well respected members of the PAC (Public Account Committee - the ones who come up with all the XXX mil dollar leakages every year in public service) as deputy ministers into his new cabinet. The PAC, made up of 9 BN MPs and 5 opposition MPs, started its inquiry into 1MDB in early May and will have to halt its current proceedings, while waiting for new members to be appointed.

This move is brilliant. It basically kills 3 birds with one stone throw - (1) After maiming the AG, PAC is next. (2) Install 4 loyalists to the PAC to shift its allegiance, (3) Try to buy the allegiance of the current 4 MPs going to his Parliament.

When the dust eventually settles, there will be enough material for many political observers to write a 'How to survive in politics' manual.

[greengiraffe]

Changes have came in fast and furious.

In a stroke of political genius (or pure survival instinct?), Najib has appointed 4 well respected members of the PAC (Public Account Committee - the ones who come up with all the XXX mil dollar leakages every year in public service) as deputy ministers into his new cabinet. The PAC, made up of 9 BN MPs and 5 opposition MPs, started its inquiry into 1MDB in early May and will have to halt its current proceedings, while waiting for new members to be appointed.

This move is brilliant. It basically kills 3 birds with one stone throw - (1) After maiming the AG, PAC is next. (2) Install 4 loyalists to the PAC to shift its allegiance, (3) Try to buy the allegiance of the current 4 MPs going to his Parliament.

When the dust eventually settles, there will be enough material for many political observers to write a 'How to survive in politics' manual.

Its the people who have been sacrifice in the selfishness (not selflessness) of political survival...

[greengiraffe]

Unbelievable... just so ironical:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993846/ - for a moment i thought website was 1MDB...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolf_o...2013_film)

His son in law is the money sponsor for Hollywood blockbuster , with Leonardo Di Carprio as lead actor : " wolf of Wall Street". Content similar, sex, stock market crime, drugs and woman"

[HitandRun]

I'll be very surprised if Najip can survive the next GE. Lots of M'sians that I know are furious big time! But then again, I've been surprised many times before. Love live kleptocracy!

[sgd]

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malay...uthorities

For this to have any closure there needs to be a fall guy without tainting the PM or his family, since he is an outsider and his tubby fingers is seen in everything likely candidate.

I learned after reading news last year about the thai Princess Srirasmi fall from grace and her family all got rounded up thrown into prison for trumped up charges, that if you are an outsider too close to the center of power there's a chance when things go wrong they will save themselves and throw you to the lions.

[CityFarmer]

The thread, was original meant to discuss 1MDB IPO, a business issue. Due to unforeseeable, the thread turned into a politically one. I have moved it to Other sub-forum.

Nothing went wrong, just a fine-tuning, and please continue the chat.

Thanks

Regards
Moderator

[thor666]

https://m.malaysiakini.com/news/306536

Seems like a political power struggle now, and a very interesting few weeks to unfold.

I am of the opinion that either 1. Najib be forced out of power via his party, or 2. We will witness malaysia as a police state, where Najib may use his position and influence on the police to supress dissent. Feel sorry for malaysians.. But those I know, like my colleagues, are working in stable SG for good reason.

Sent from my D5503 using Tapatalk

[greengiraffe]

Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal: Australian connection in Malaysia scandal

• THE AUSTRALIAN
  
• OCTOBER 24, 2015 12:00AM
  

0

Ben Butler
[Image: ben_butler.png]
Margin Call columnist
Melbourne

[Image: 538746-c0972438-7968-11e5-80ed-95011193132b.jpg]
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak. Source: AFP
[b]Sitting on the canals behind the glitzy towers that line Broadbeach, on Queensland’s Gold Coast, the low-rise Icon Corporate Park doesn’t look much like the kind of place you’d find a funds management company looking after billions of dollars caught up in a financial scandal that is rocking Malaysia.[/b]
But this modest address, at a modern low-rise located at 2 Miami Key, has emerged as host to Australian key players, some with colourful histories, caught up in the controversy engulfing Malaysia’s debt-ridden sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB.
In Malaysia, the scandal involving hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly paid into the bank account of the country’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, has left behind a trail of arrests, accusations and alleged murder.
In August, police arrested three senior officials at the ­Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission, which has been investigating 1MDB, over alleged leaks to London-based website Sarawak Report.
The controversy has also touched Australia’s ANZ Bank: it owns a quarter of Malaysia’s AmBank, which loaned 2 billion ringgit ($660 million) to 1MDB and where Mr Najib kept the account in question.
AmBank’s founder, Hussain Ahmad Najadi, was shot dead in a Kuala Lumpur street in 2013. Before his death he hadn’t been involved with AmBank for years, but his family insists the murder is linked to his discovery of corruption at the bank. Police say he hadn’t made a report about the alleged graft before he was shot and the case has been solved, with a tow-truck driver sentenced to death by the High Court last year. ANZ, thousands of kilometres away in Melbourne, is more than just a passive shareholder in AmBank — incoming CEO Shayne Elliott, who takes up his post in January, was until last week one of three representatives on its board. Several ANZ executives also occupy key roles within the Malaysian bank.
Mr Elliott quit the Malaysian bank board earlier this month, citing the increased workload when he takes over from Mike Smith as head of ANZ in the new year.
While Mr Najib has denied any wrongdoing, the 1MDB scandal has sparked investigations in ­Malaysia, Switzerland and the US. It is believed corporate watchdog the Australian Securities & Investments Commission is aware of media coverage linking the Miami Key offices and 1MDB. But neither it or federal police are investigating whether there is an Australian connection to the scandal.
But in December last year ASIC launched a full-scale probe of an array of other goings-on at one of the companies doing business at 2 Miami Key. Avestra Asset Management, including alleged insider trading connected to a takeover bid for Harvest Court Industries, a company where Mr Najib’s son once sat on the board.
A 200-page affidavit sworn by senior ASIC investigator Glenn Childs, filed in the Federal Court last month and obtained by The Weekend Australian, reveals a complex web of transactions involving Avestra and other companies connected to 2 Miami Key.
The probe follows ASIC’s successful prosecution of Avestra in December for breaching takeover law by failing to tell the ASX it had acquired more than half of listed AG Financial — yet another company giving its address as 2 Miami Key. Avestra was fined $45,000. AG Financial owned AG Stockbroking, which despite going into administration last year still faces as many as a dozen Financial Ombudsman Service claims from customers, some dating back to when company was called Freeman Fox and controlled by “wealth educator” Peter Spann. Another company giving Miami Key as its address is Bridge Global Securities. It’s a subsidiary of Bridge Global Capital Management, which backdoor-listed on the ASX in June following a tussle with ASIC.
Reports in Singapore and Malaysia allege a Cayman Islands entity called Bridge Global Absolute Return SPC Fund (BGARF), which is linked to Bridge Global and Avestra, was used to cover up a $US2.23bn hole in 1MDB.
The money was supposed to be the capital plus profit from 1MDB’s joint venture with a Middle Eastern company called Petrosaudi Holdings.
Under the 2009 deal, 1MBD tipped in $US1bn in cash while Petrosaudi contributed assets in Turkmenistan and Argentina, ­valued at $US2.7bn. It is alleged about $US970m eventually flowed to a company controlled by Najib associate Jho Low.
While it’s not clear where the money came from, the Wall Street Journal and other outlets have ­reported some $US700m also ended up in Mr Najib’s account at AmBank, most of it coming from the account of a BVI company at Abu Dhabi-owned Falcon Bank.
Malaysian reports allege that in 2012 1MDB converted its investment in the joint venture into a half share in a Petrosaudi company, Petrosaudi Oil Services.
This was then sold to a company called Bridge Partners International, which despite its similar name doesn’t appear in any documentation issued by the Australian Bridge Global group.
Bridge Partners didn’t pay in cash but in promissory notes — IOUs — which 1MDB then invested in Bridge Global Absolute ­Return. According to Bridge Global’s prospectus, Bridge Global Absolute Return is managed by Hanhong, a Hong Kong securities company in which it planned to buy a half stake.
Bridge Global Absolute Return owns almost 10 per cent of Bridge Global, making it the company’s second-biggest shareholder behind another mysterious offshore entity, Merrill Capital, which owns 10.2 per cent.
Despite its name, Merrill Capital appears not to be linked to Merrill Lynch, according to Mr Childs’ affidavit. It is instead a UAE company associated with Mr Goh that owns some 8.5 per cent of Avestra.
To cover the Petrosaudi hole, it’s alleged that in 2012 1MDB signed a deal with Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Corporation under which IPIC guaranteed $US3.5bn of bonds issued by 1MDB. In return, IPIC got an option over 50 per cent of 1MDB’s power assets in the event they listed on an exchange.
To unwind this deal, 1MDB paid out $US2.22bn between May and November last year. It’s alleged this money was then passed to Bridge Global Absolute Return, enabling 1MDB to redeem its ­investment in cash and covering the hole.
On October 13, Bridge Global told the ASX it had abandoned plans to buy out the manager Hanhong after “several key Hanhong personnel departed jeopardising the ongoing future of the business”. It also said it was aware of “unconfirmed offshore press reports as to Avestra’s management of funds from” 1MDB.
Bridge Global admitted key Avestra executive Paul Rowles, who’s a target of ASIC’s investigation, was involved in the management of some of its “proprietary trading and investments, and was a key part of the company’s capital raising activities”.
Until last month, the two ­companies also had a director in common, Jason Dixon. He quit Bridge Global on September 16 “to pursue his own business interests” and was replaced by Nathan ­Carbone, formerly an executive with the CBA in Hong Kong.
Bridge Global said it had not managed any Avestra funds since April 2013 and insisted Mr Rowles had “resigned from all aspects of the day to day business of the ­company”.
It said it “is not managing any funds on behalf of Avestra or 1MDB, nor is it aware that any shareholder funds invested in (Bridge Global) are associated with any funds from 1MDB”.
Bridge Global chairman Simon Lill told The Weekend Australian he “can’t rule out” an association between Bridge Global Absolute Return and 1MDB.
Bridge Global Absolute Return is “not a company I or the board of Bridge Global, ASX-listed, is ­responsible for the operations of,” he said. Mr Lill said he also did not know who was behind Hanhong’s owner, Bahamas-based M&A Ventures. Mr Lill said he was “not on the day-to-day operations”.
The Weekend Australian approached Bridge Global’s executive director, Neil Sheather. He referred inquiries to Mr Lill.
Avestra’s responsible managers, Paul Rowles and Clayton Dempsey could not be reached.

[SincereKen]

Come to think of it, Jib Kor has deep pockets and this translates to financing new cabinet skeletons to help propel out of troubles; scot free away unharmed or continue his political obsessions.

A humble opinion to improve M'sia's current system is to let "International Reform Committee" to rule over and command a structural reform in their current political mandate(s). While there is certainly righteous individuals who puts M'sians at the top of their interests, citizens needed to admit that the majority are after the interests of self - Self v.s Social Interests.

Who is to judge? Forget about judging & dissolve the cabinet filled with dark puppets and skeletons.. Let external forces intervene for the betterment of our neighbor with the assumption(s) of spillover effects to SG!

Questionably Insane,
SK