Thursday, October 15, 2015

1MDB, our company - not about whether crime committed? But whether 'mis-used' not in Malaysia's interest??

1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) - it is not whether 1MDB committed a crime or not that we are concerned about.

1MDB is the concern of Malaysians because it belongs to us - it is our company. It belongs to Najib, Lim Kit Siang, me and every other Malaysian, and we want to be assured that it has not been used for the best interest of Malaysians. We want to be assured that this company has not done things that is anti-Malaysia and against the best interest of Malaysians. 

We want to be assured that some people(or entities) have not benefited wrongly, including also that this has resulted in Malaysia not being sold off to foreigners... Remember, that as of 2011, foreigners owned 41.7% of equity in corporate sector.
...in 2011, Bumiputra Malaysians owned 23.5%, and non-Bumiputra Malaysians owned 34.8%. Well, that means the remaining 41.7% are owned by foreigners, making them the biggest group that own equity in the corporate sector....Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, as recorded in the Hansard of the Parliament on October 31, 2013, said: "... dari segi pemilikan ekuiti dalam sektor korporat. Bumiputera setakat tahun 2011 ialah 23.5% dan bukan bumiputera sebanyak 34.8%..." - Beyond the statistics on equity ownership (Malaysian Insider)

The Bumiputra corporate company equity rate had also gone up from only 2.4% in the 1970s to 23.5% in 2011 - Full text of PM's speech at the Bumiputera economic empowerment programmes launch14/9/2013
The question of concern now, is how much of Malaysia are now owned by foreigners - not Malaysians. Has 1MDB done things that resulted in greater ownership of Malaysia by foreigners.

The Attorney General, amongst others, said that the Bank Negara Malaysia allegedly gave permission to 1MDB to take out from Malaysia US$1.83bil (RM7.58bil). There is an indication that Bank Negara (or maybe even some of its officers) may have done wrong in allowing the money out of the country. Did this happen? Maybe, these officers need be investigated ...Was there special treatment accorded to 1MDB or other GLC - that allows them to take out billions from Malaysia...






Wednesday October 14, 2015 MYT 8:05:07 AM

A-G: 1MDB did nothing wrong

PUTRAJAYA: Bank Negara Malaysia did not stop 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) from remitting cash to investments abroad despite being the gatekeeper, said the Attorney-General.

Addressing reports on why the A-G’s Chambers had not acted on Bank Negara’s recommendation against the state fund, Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali said it was because there was no offence to act on.

He said the alleged offence under the Exchange Control Act 1953 only applied if the company involved knowingly made a false statement to the central bank.

He said the forms required to make a cash transfer did not require applicants to supply the names or bank account numbers of the recipients or the manner in which the funds were channelled.

“Since there is no requirement, the omission on the 1MDB official’s part to disclose is not an offence under the Act,” he added.

He put the blame on Bank Negara as the controller for not requesting further information from the fund, stopping the remittance or directing Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Bhd to advise 1MDB to revert to Bank Negara for a review of the permission.



At a lightning-fast press conference, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali said he had cleared 1Malaysia Development Bhd of any wrongdoing because it had answered all of Bank Negara’s questions. His first press conference was over in minutes as he did not take any questions from the more than 50 journalists present.

1MDB had obtained three permissions from Bank Negara to make remittances on Sept 29, 2009, Sept 6, 2010, and May 20, 2011.

Mohd Apandi said Bank Negara had taken no more than three days to approve them on all three occasions.

This contradicts Bank Negara’s decision on Oct 9 to revoke three permissions granted to 1MDB for investments abroad worth US$1.83bil (RM7.58bil).

In a statement, the central bank had said that the permissions were revoked because the investments were obtained based on inaccurate or incomplete disclosure of information.

“If Bank Negara does not request certain information, how could 1MDB be faulted as it has filled up the form as required and responded to the queries made?” Mohd Apandi asked.

“In this respect and given the fact that there is no new evidence made available, we do not see the necessity to review,” he concluded.-- Star, 14/10/2015

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