NEW HELL FOR MALAYSIA – AS CROOKS GATHER UNDER MUHYIDDIN REGIME: BOMBSHELL EXPOSE – NEW AG IDRUS HARUN’S ‘DIRTY SECRETS’ REVEALED IN THE FREEING OF MUSA AMAN

By now, it’s crystal clear that the newly appointed Attorney General Idrus Harun is as corrupt, if not more corrupt, than former Attorney General Apandi Ali, who despite stacks of evidence and international investigations, went ahead to clear his boss – former Prime Minister Najib Razak – of wrongdoing over corruptions involving 1MDB and SRC International funds.

Hilariously, when Apandi decided to clear Najib during a press conference on Jan 26, 2016, the half-past-six attorney general was proudly holding up a chart of the money trail (showing flows of funds from SRC International to Najib’s personal bank accounts) implicating Najib. That same piece of money trail chart would be used 4 years later to grill the Apandi over his cover-up attempt to protect Najib.

Now, everyone believes more than ever that Najib will definitely walk away a free man, even though the High Court will only deliver the verdict next month (July 28) over allegations of plundering RM42 million of SRC International money. Not only has A.G. Idrus dropped money-laundering charges linked to 1MDB scandal against Riza Aziz, he has also just dropped all charges against Musa Aman.

Riza Aziz, the stepson of Najib Razak and favourite son of Rosmah Mansor, was slapped with 5 charges of money laundering on July 5, 2019, involving US$248 million (RM1.25 billion), which were misappropriated from sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). However, everything turned upside-down after a change of government due to a coup by Muhyiddin.

Thanks to the appointment of Idrus as the new attorney general by PM Muhyiddin, Riza was stunningly discharged not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on May 14, 2020. Riza is required to return about US$107.3 million (RM465.3 million) worth of overseas assets which he acquired as part of a settlement. After stealing US$248 million, he just needs to return 43% of his loot.

Less than a month after freeing Riza Aziz, A.G. Idrus has decided yesterday (June 9) to let go of another big crook – former Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman. Under the instruction of the Attorney General’s Chambers, all 46 corruptions and money-laundering charges against Musa Aman were dropped. The hilarious part was the reasons given by Idrus to free Musa.

The new attorney general argued that a trial would be untenable due to unavailability of documents from Hong Kong-based banks and the unavailability of some witnesses. If that’s true, it means his predecessor – former Attorney General Tommy Thomas – was not only incompetent, but also a dumb lawyer who didn’t know the importance of documents and witnesses.

But if Tommy Thomas, appointed by now-collapsed Pakatan Harapan government, was such a fool, why did Idrus Harun decide to free Riza Aziz using a lame excuse – which cannot be substantiated – that he had been advised that his predecessor (Thomas) was preparing to consider the controversial settlement between the prosecution and Riza (Thomas had rubbished such advice)?

Perhaps the genius A.G. Idrus can explain why he religiously listened to Thomas to free Riza Aziz but at the same time, chose “not” to listen to Thomas to charge Musa Aman. Clearly, the Attorney General’s Chambers under the leadership of Idrus Harun is nothing but an errand boy of backdoor PM Muhyiddin, who is being blackmailed to free all the UMNO crooks.

The biggest joke was when the seemingly clueless Idrus defended his decision to withdraw the prosecution against Musa based on an old affidavit by yet another former attorney general – Abdul Gani Patail. A.G. Idrus said – “The former AG defended the decision taken in 2012 to take no further action against Musa, as investigations revealed the monies involved were political funding.”

Musa’s corruption and money-laundering trial had not even started and the A.G. Idrus happily accepted a 10-year-old decision by a former A.G. who was known to be linked to the corrupt former Chief Minister of Sabah. Yes, netizens on the social media have already started mocking and insulting Idrus as not only corrupt, but also the laziest attorney general ever appointed.

Based on Riza Aziz and Musa Aman astonishing discharges, the attorney general has the habit of cherry picking what his predecessors had said to make his job easier as ordered by the backdoor Perikatan Nasional government. He didn’t care about any new evidence. He just bulldozed his decisions based on what this former A.G. had said or what that former A.G. had done.

With a lazy and incompetent political appointee like Idrus Harun, does the country really need to waste taxpayers’ money to appoint an attorney general? Perhaps he thought people were too stupid to do some research as to why former A.G. Gani Patail had refused to press charges against Musa Aman, whose corruption activities is well known throughout the state of Sabah.

The dirty secrets that the disgraced A.G. Idrus does not want people to know are the close family relationship between former A.G. Gani Patail and the Musa brothers. In the same year (2012) Gani issued his affidavit not to prosecute Musa, Sarawak Report had similarly exposed the jaw-dropping family connection among the crooks.

Apparently, the timber mafia organization in Sabah saw how Gani Patail and Musa Aman’s brother – former Foreign Minister Anifah Aman – are actually related by marriage. Anifah’s wife is the sister to Johan Samad, the Deputy Director of Yayasan Sabah who happened to be Musa’s close associate, who is in turn married to Fazar Ariff, the sister of former A.G. Gani Patail’s wife.

Which part of cronyism, nepotism, conflict of interest or abuse of power in Gani’s 10-year-old flawed affidavit that A.G. Idrus Harun didn’t understand, or pretended not to understand, when he justified his decision to free billionaire Musa, arguably the “Timber Mafia Godfather” of Sabah? But what is the so-called documentary evidence from Hong Kong that Idrus was talking about?

When Michael Chia Tien Foh was arrested in 2008 by the Hong Kong authorities, the island’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) seized S$16 million (RM40 million) from him as he was trying to leave the city with the cash. Musa had claimed he did not know Chia, but photographs suggested both knew each other. In fact, Chia was Musa’s facilitator for kickbacks.

The dirty money was believed to have been channelled through a complex web of bank accounts in Hong Kong and Singapore managed by Michael Chia, partly to be paid to Musa Aman’s lawyer in Sabah – Richard Christopher Barnes. Mr Barnes would then transfer the ill-gotten money to bank accounts held by then-Chief Minister of Sabah in Switzerland.

The story of how Michael walked away a free man was equally mind-boggling. When the “money laundering” scandal exploded in 2008, the then-Attorney-General Gani Patail and then-Home Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein went to Hong Kong to try to “settle” the matter with the Chinese authorities. Both Gani and Hishammuddin told the ICAC that the money belonged to UMNO.

Thanks to Gani and Hishammuddin, the untouchable Chia flew out of Hong Kong in style. The ICAC was told that Chia was only the courier or bagman for UMNO. The Hong Kong ICAC told the “official Malaysian delegation” led by Hishammuddin that they (the ICAC) had to “freeze” the dubious money – but for only three years, after which the money would be released.

Like Najib’s 1MDB scandal, where A.G. Apandi Ali cleared PM Najib of wrongdoing, the same happened in Hong Kong, where the ICAC cannot proceed with prosecution because A.G. Gani Patail cleared Michael Chia of wrongdoing, despite both Najib and Chia were caught with their pants down. Foreign countries can’t do much because the culprit was none other than the corrupt Malaysian government.

Musa’s corruption and money laundering activities were so glaring that even the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) Operations Review Panel had requested Gani in 2012 to review the decision not to charge Musa for graft. That means even the corrupt Barisan Nasional regime, who controlled the MACC in 2012, thought it was too ridiculous not to charge Musa.

Of the 46 charges Musa was initially facing, 30 corruption charges were related to him receiving US$50.1 million from eight logging concessionaires as inducement to give timber concessions to 16 companies. The remaining 16 money-laundering charges were related to him receiving proceeds from illegal activities amounting to US$37,845,491.60 and S$2.5 million.

It’s unbelievable that none of the 46 charges can nail Sabah’s biggest crook after former A.G. Tommy Thomas and the MACC had spent so much time on the case during the previous Pakatan Harapan government. The joke on the street says A.G. Idrus Harun may again quote another former A.G. – Apandi Ali – to free the world’s biggest crook – Najib Razak.

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