NAJIB'S 1MDB POISON SPREADS TO HIS FAMILY, REVISITS ZETI & HUSBAND, BITES 'CUNNING' NAZIR

Is there any nice, honest and good member left from the Razak family? Initially, millions of Malaysians and even some foreign investors were tricked into believing that at least there was one good soul left from Malaysia’s equivalent to United States’ Kennedy family – Nazir Razak. After all, Mr. Nazir had criticised his tainted brother, Najib Razak, over his 1MDB scandal.

Today, thanks to The Wall Street Journal, people have finally started to understand the real meaning of “Birds Of A Feather Flock Together”. If the Razak family, that’s including Najib and Nazir, still doesn’t understand how this game is being played by foreign media, then they’ve no business rubbing shoulders, let alone golfing with their president.

The Western do not go for an instant kill like the Vikings. That would be too boring and not profitable. Instead, they go for the Hollywood style, prolonging and breaking up a good drama into many episodes and seasons. By doing so, readers would be yearning for more, which in turns generate handsome profits, the same way TV series are being produced.

Clearly, The WSJ has more episodes and evidences – with a plan for them to be revealed slowly but surely. Perhaps Najib, Nazir and their band of supporters should try playing some round of “Pool” or “Billiard” with a real hustler (*grin*), if they haven’t done so. The supposedly clean and innocent Nazir, younger brother of Najib, has now been hustled.

Hustler WSJ dropped a tiny bombshell that the CIMB boss had his fair share of 1MDB scandal when he helped big brother Prime Minister Najib Razak into accepting and distributing US$7 million (£4.88 million; RM27.32 million) to politicians before the 2013 national election. Panicked, the banker is now crying, bitching, whining, and moaning how he wishes he had not helped his brother.

Apparently, Nazir Razak claims innocence of his involvement in the funds distribution, the money of which the WSJ claimed originated from 1MDB. True, personally he might not have taken a penny from the US$7 million. However, assuming he received and distributed the money under his personal capacity, he might have committed the crime of “money laundering”.

The moment US$7 million entered CIMB banking system, it should have had triggered an alarm. The purpose of the funding has to be declared and banking regulations and compliance must be met satisfactory, unless Nazir personally cleared himself by virtue of being the Chairman of CIMB Group.

Amusingly, Nazir claims he wasn’t sure of the source of the funds because his belief was the money was from donations raised from corporations and individuals. In other words, he had assumed the money was clean because it came from his brother. It’s also safe to assume there were no supporting documents to prove the money from his brother wasn’t from drug or arms trafficking, were there?

Therefore, isn’t this the same like drug mules smuggling drugs, only to scream innocence when caught with their pants down hence yelling about not knowing what was inside the package they were asked to carry? If Nazir Razak could argue his case out of the law, then all the drug mules should be forgiven for being ignorant and naive too.

If Nazir was a professional, which he should be, he should have at least excused himself from acting as a middleman accepting and distributing the money. Let other bankers do the job because of his “special relationship”with his brother. To cry innocence when the water is under the bridge now is rather too late, don’t you think?

Give the public a break. He attended Alice Smith School, University of Bristol and University of Cambridge. His father was the country’s second prime minister and his own brother Najib Razak has been in politics for 40 years. To claim he didn’t know the funding was tainted (regardless of 1MDB or otherwise) is an insult to the peoples’ intelligence. As Chairman of CIMB Group, surely he wasn’t that dumb.

But he did admit to his mistake right after the exposure by The Wall Street Journal, did he not? Well, the problem is he admits only after the revelation by the U.S. media. Obviously he would keep quiet if the WSJ didn’t reveal his involvement. And the fact he admits to what was published means what the WSJ has been publishing is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

This mini Razak scandal also begs the question – was Bank Negara (Central Bank) made aware of such transactions? Will Governor Zeti play “tai-chi” again, arguing that as long as CIMB Bank doesn’t tell the Central Bank of such transactions, the same way Ambank had done, she wouldn’t care and no one should wake her up from her slumber land?

One has to remember Nazir Razak wasn’t born yesterday, let alone a banker who’s still wet between the ears. His bank – CIMB Bank – was the result of a merger between CIMB, Bumiputra-Commerce Bank and Southern Bank Bhd back in 2006. The main juice of the merger was the Southern Bank, the most successful bank at that time.

Nazir tried forcing his way to acquire the Southern Bank from its boss Mr. Tan Teong Hean. Tan, who had been driving the bank for 23 years, however, refused to sell so the furious Nazir turned to brokers Chua Ma Yu and Tawfiq Ayman, who happened to be (*drum please*) the husband of Governor Zeti.

To defend Southern Bank from CIMB’s hostile takeover, Mr Tan proposed to buy a controlling stake in Singapore insurer Asia General Holdings for RM2.07 billion. As expected, Governor Zeti rejected the proposal but approved CIMB’s takeover of Southern Bank. With pressure from Nazir’s political connection (Najib was then Deputy Prime Minister) and Zeti’s indirect interest, Tan Teong Hean lost his empire.

So you see, Nazir is a cunning and experienced banker who should not be mistaken as an innocent and adorable sheep. To think he’s different from his crook pirate big brother is a huge mistake. Without his brother Najib Razak, he would not have had owned CIMB Group. He needs his brother as much as his brother needs him – birds of a feather flock together. - http://www.financetwitter.com/