GE14 – A ‘LIFE OR DEATH’ STRUGGLE FOR NAJIB? 1MDB SCANDAL SUPPRESSED IN MALAYSIA BUT GROWING HOTTER ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD – REPORT

With elections in Malaysia just two weeks away, finews.asiarevisits the billion-dollar 1MBD graft scandal which is dogging incumbent Najib Razak.

The $5 billion graft scandal would be enough to sink even the most successful candidate anywhere else. The U.S.’ top prosecutor has called it «kleptocracy at its worst», and officials there have all but identified Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak as part of it.

Nevertheless, the scandal doesn’t seem to be making a huge splash on May 9, when Malaysians will choose between Najib and nonagenarian Mahathir Mohamad to lead them. Mahathir, a sprightly 92-year-old former Prime Minister, hasn’t entirely succeeded in bringing the 1MDB scandal to the forefront of the election debate. Instead, he himself is dogged by a scandal over foreign exchange losses in the 1990s.

Spooked by a Close Race

A defeat for Najib and his party would almost certainly expose what has until now remained under cover on 1MDB, and the PM appears spooked by a close race. He and the party have opted for everything from rushing through changes to voting, cash for farm smallholders, and tax cuts for low-income wage-earners.

Outside Malaysia, the focus is squarely on 1MDB, where several noteworthy things have advanced the scandal: Najib’s stepson, Riza Aziz, clinched a $60 million settlement with U.S. authorities over allegations that the sovereign wealth fund bankrolled films including 2013’s «The Wolf of Wall Street» (click here for the real Wolf of Wall Street’s indictment of 1MDB).

Criminal Probe in Singapore Still Ongoing

Jho Low, AWOL for the better part of the last two years, has hit back against having his luxury assets seized, including a $260 million superyacht that he had reportedly holed up in.

Two years on, bankers at the heart of the scandal like Hanspeter Brunner, formerly of Banca della Svizzera Italiana, or BSI, still don’t know their fate. Brunner’s Swiss lawyer told finews.asia that a criminal probe in Singapore is ongoing – this means the long-standing private banker is effectively stuck in the city-state unless he is either cleared or charged.

Concerns Relegated

Given Singapore’s treatment of Jens Sturzenegger, the former branch manager of Falcon Private Bank in Singapore, Brunner and his counsel are probably not counting their chickens before they hatch.

In Malaysia itself, such concerns have been relegated to the back burner. Instead, voters are bracing for what looks to be a blatantly dirty-tricks election. In recent weeks, Malaysia has passed «fake news» laws with stiff penalties, and slated the election for a weekday. This effectively freezes out the prolific Malaysian diaspora in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia, who would probably return home to vote if the election was held on a weekend.

Potential Trade War

Malaysia’s relationship to China, and not the alleged $5 billion corruption racket around 1MDB, has emerged as a central theme in the campaign. Mahathir has pledged more intense scrutiny of Chinese foreign direct investment in Malaysia, something Najib has dismissed as scare-mongering.

Both men’s views on China may be eclipsed by a simmering trade spat between the U.S. and China. Malaysia, along with Hong Kong, are the most exposed in Asia to the fallout from a potential trade war between the two economic titans, Vontobel fund manager Luc d’Hooge told finews.asia.

Immediate Gains

There are few reliable opinion polls for the election, partly because it is a country of 13 sprawling and influential states. The youth vote as well as rural voters are widely seen as linchpins to the election, but very difficult to call. While young voters may be open to abandoning Najib, the ties and family pressure from generations of voting for Barisan Nasional, his party, will weigh strongly, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, a Singapore-based research institute, said.

As for rural voters, many will see no direct advantage from either Najib or Mahathir – and simply decide last-minute for the candidate they feel will give them «immediate gains», ISEAS’ Serina Rahmansaid.

Efforts Foundered

To be sure, his international peers have cooled on Najib, who once golfed with former U.S. President Barack Obama in Hawaii. For example, Najib’s efforts to get a golf game with current leader Donald Trump during a U.S. trip last year foundered. Najib did go to the White House in September, but didn’t get the full Oval Office photo treatment – photographers snapped him being welcomed by Trump after alighting from his car, and later meeting in the Cabinet Room with the U.S. president and other officials.

This month, Najib skipped out of the Commonwealth Summit, a network of more than 50 mainly former colonies of Britain, due to the election campaign, depriving him of a valuable photo opportunity with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May.

Playboy Model-Mistress Pregnant

Regional leaders have also been cool on Najib, the «South China Morning Post» noted: China hasn’t visited Malaysia – officially – since President Xi Jinping’s 2013 visit; Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman won’t be stopping in Kuala Lumpur as part of his world tour; nor have neighbors like Indonesian leader Joko Widodo or the Sultan of Brunei bothered to stop by lately.

For his part, the U.S. lobbyist for Najib and Malaysia, Elliott Broidy, was ensnared earlier this month in a scheme to pay his Playboy model-mistress $1.6 million after she became pregnant. Broidy and his lawyer-wife, Robin Rosenzweig, were reportedly connected to none other than Jho Low.

– https://www.finews.asia