Lorrain, however, would not talk. He told me he would never reveal the truth while all those involved are still alive. This ‘I cannot reveal the truth while all those involved are still alive’ statement more or less reveals a lot. This means there are others, and very powerful figures at that, who were involved.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim’s article in the New Straits Times today (READ HERE) brings back memories of my days in Terengganu when I was active in the Rotary Club and was the secretary of the Kuala Terengganu Rotary Club for quite a number of years.
It was then that I met Mak Fook Than a.k.a. Dax Mak. In one trip to Singapore to attend the Rotary Convention, Dax brought his wife along. I, too, brought my wife, Marina, and we travelled to Singapore in one car.
The following day Dax woke up early to send his wife to the airport. She was a stewardess with MAS and had to catch a flight that day. As we were having breakfast, Dax walked in with another woman, not his wife. This other woman was a stewardess with SIA and apparently was his mistress.
Marina and I were intrigued. He had a wife who was a stewardess with MAS and a mistress who was a stewardess with SIA. He drives to Singapore with his wife and drives home with his mistress.
Dax said his wife and mistress have different schedules so he is able to juggle between the two. When one is in town the other is flying somewhere halfway across the world. But what happens if their schedules change and both are in town at the same time?
Chees, swei, Dax scolded me. I hope your mouth is not masin (salty), he said. Masin mouth means what you say comes true.
Anyway, I never got to find out whether his wife and mistress did end up with the same schedule in the end. Not long after that, in 1983, Dax was arrested for the murder of Jalil Ibrahim, the auditor from Bank Bumiputera who was sent to Hong Kong to investigate the multi-billion BMF Scandal and who was found murdered in a banana plantation.
I mean the financial scandal and murder was shocking enough. But to find out that my ‘best friend’ Dax Mak was the one arrested, charged and convicted for the murder was even more shocking. I never did find out until today what really happened but the rumours then was that Dax was an assassin paid to get rid of Jalil who was getting too close to the truth.
Dax’s brother-in-law was a logger in Terengganu, whom I also knew quite well. He would not tell me much other than that Dax may have been the assassin but he murdered Jalil at the behest of certain powerful political figures. Dax may be a murderer, his brother-in-law said, but at least he is principled enough to take the rap without making a deal with the police for a lighter sentence by exposing his ‘employer’.
It was rumoured that Dax was well compensated for remaining silent. And since he did not suffer a death sentence but just a stint in jail he would at least still be alive and still young enough to enjoy the money. (There were also other murders and/or suicides related to this matter but I do not need to go into that).
The other person in the middle of the controversy was Lorrain Esme Osman, who died in London on 8th August 2011. I never met Lorrain back in Malaysia and only met him when I went to the UK in 2009. We became good friends and met often for dinner whenever I happened to be in London.
I tried to korek (pry) from Lorrain the truth behind the BMF scandal and whether it was true that he was the fall guy to become the sacrificial lamb (kambing hitam) for some very powerful politicians. The rumour around town 30 years ago was that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah were both involved in the scandal.
Lorrain, however, would not talk. He told me he would never reveal the truth while all those involved are still alive. This ‘I cannot reveal the truth while all those involved are still alive’ statement more or less reveals a lot. This means there are others, and very powerful figures at that, who were involved.
On the way home my wife commented that Lorrain should talk now because he might die before all those others do, which means we will never know the truth. Anyway, my wife’s mouth was certainly masinbecause two years later Lorain did die without ever revealing the truth. I can only assume, therefore, that those involved are still alive or at least were still alive back in 2011.
Anyway, for the younger generation who may not be familiar with the BMF Scandal, which practically bankrupted Bank Bumiputra and which had to be bailed out by Petronas, maybe you can read (BELOW) what the New York Times wrote 30 years ago back on 8th January 1985.
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(New York Times, 8 January 1985) – A report by a three- man investigative panel has bared details of the biggest financial scandal in Malaysia’s history, calming fears by opposition parties of a Government cover-up.
But lawyers say it could take months or even years for the police here and in Hong Kong to unravel the web of corruption and financial mismanagement enmeshing former employees of the state-owned Bank Bumiputra, this country’s biggest bank.
The report by the panel, led by Auditor General Tan Sri Ahmad Noordin, was released last week by the Finance Ministry. It gives Malaysians their first clear look at a two-year-old loan scandal that has embarrassed the administration of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and has shaken the nation’s leading Malay financial institution.
The investigative committee, which was set up by the bank a year ago, has surprised its critics by the doggedness with which it has pursued the bank’s many bad loans to Hong Kong property developers.
The bank’s Hong Kong subsidiary, Bumiputra Malaysia Finance Ltd., commonly known as B.M.F., paid $1 billion between 1979 and 1983 in bad loans to developers such as the now- defunct Carrian group and its former chief executive, George Tan.
Carrian quickly made and quickly lost a fortune in Hong Kong’s turbulent property market. Mr. Tan was charged in Hong Kong last May with conspiracy to defraud in connection with the collapse of his financial empire in 1983.
In its report, the committee accuses six B.M.F. executives of corruption and calls on the authorities here and in Hong Kong to begin investigations with the aim of charging them in court.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Attorney General’s office said, ”When we’ve got the report, we’ll be in a position to consider what action is appropriate.”
The committee asserts that the six executives and some of their relatives received payments directly or indirectly from Mr. Tan and companies in his Carrian group. The 33-page report (with a 350-page appendix) tells of personal loans and payments made by Mr. Tan to the people who were lending millions of dollars to Carrian.
In a recommendation made last November, the committee has prompted Malaysian police to investigate a $40 million loan by B.M.F. to Carrian Nominee Ltd. and consultancy fees paid to B.M.F. employees without Bank Bumiputra’s knowledge.
The committee has found that B.M.F. continued to lend to Carrian after it announced in October 1982 that it could not pay its debts.
The disclosure that loans were made in 1983 has embarrassed Bank Bumiputra’s former executive chairman, Nawawi Mat Awin, and the man who appointed him in 1982, Prime Minister Mahathir. Mr. Nawawi resigned Dec. 31. The bank’s new chief, Tan Sri Basir Ismail, has frozen all loans through foreign branches and has promised a shake-up of the senior staff.
The Cabinet’s decision to release the report was welcomed by the opposition and other political groups who feared that the Government might try to cover up the scandal.
Lawyers said the police would have to go over the same ground as the investigatory committee, however, because its findings are not admissible in court as evidence.
”It could take months, even years, before police complete an investigation and those responsible are brought to court, if they ever are,” one lawyer said.
”The Government now has no choice but to prosecute them and bring them to court,” said Chandra Muzaffer, leader of the political group known as Aliran.
”The question is whether the blame stops at bank officials or whether there are political figures who were party to the bank’s decisions,” he said.
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