NAJIB HAS DOOMED MALAYSIA: 20 questions on 1MDB still unanswered, ex-NST chief tells authorities

KUALA LUMPUR -The authorities need to find answers to a list of 20 questions on 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), from its formation to the various deals that it has executed leading up to the string of controversies that have culminated in debts worth billions of ringgit, veteran newsman Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said today.

The former editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times said the situation has become so bad that the future generations will be saddled with a “terrible” burden and catastrophe.

“The problem now is no longer about whether 1MDB needs a bailout but how far the process has been carried out and the expenditure we have had to fork out,” he said in his latest post on his blog.

Splitting his blog entry into three parts, Kadir said all parties that are investigating the state-owned fund - which includes the National Auditor-General’s Department, Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), police and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) - must first look into all who were involved in the creation of 1MDB.

He named former Employees Provident Fund (EPF) chief executive Tan Sri Azlan Zainol, Sime Darby president and chief executive Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh, 1MDB chairman and Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) chief executive Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin and Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) chief executive Tan Sri Ismee Ismail as key witnesses, as they were founding directors of the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) which was initially intended to be the launchpad for 1MDB.

Kadir also queried the role played by billionaire tycoon Tan Sri T. Ananda Krishnan, who allegedly lent RM2 billion to 1MDB to settle a loan with local banks Maybank and RHB Capital, claiming that the money may have come from an earlier sale by Ananda of an independent power producer to 1MDB subsidiary Edra Global Energy.

“Was Ananda used as a cover up? Or was his name used to hide the fact that in reality the RM2 billion came from the Treasury or other government sources?” Kadir asked.

Shifting his sights on Goldman Sachs, Kadir said investigators must get to the bottom of why the US-based bank was paid exorbitant commissions worth nearly RM2 billion for helping 1MDB dispose of bonds in two tranches between the years 2012 and 2013.

Raising more questions is the fact that Goldman Sachs’ former Malaysia chairman and managing director, Yusof Annuar, is now the country chief executive for Deutsche Bank - which leads an international consortium of six banks that wants 1MDB to settle a RM3.5 billion loan ahead of its September 2015 deadline, Kadir added.

Ticking off a long list of names, Kadir also questioned the role played by flamboyant billionaire Low Taek Jho and carpet trader Deepak Jaikishan in 1MDB, and Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s position on the debts accumulated by and cash flow of 1MDB, which the newsman claimed had caused the ringgit to depreciate.

“These questions and many other questions related to 1MDB and the authorities in charge of it must be asked by investigators.

“Elements of cheating, complicity, abuse of power, corruption, dereliction of corporate responsibility and betrayal of trust are among the issues that must be delved into by investigators so that the guilty can be brought to face justice and the country’s money and assets that were used by 1MDB are recovered.

“The effects of the systematic scandal of 1MDB must be contained and limited to protect the national economy,” Kadir said. - Malay Mail