What was the payment for?
What was the consideration?
What services did Iron Rhapsody or Cutting Edge provide to TIA (??)
What did they do to earn US16m (RM65m)?
This is just one question that the media should korek-korek.
Just follow the money and connect the dots.
4. Some more news :
https://www.thethirdforce.net/ambank-failed-to-inform-1mdb-that-jho-low-firms-were-major-subscribers-of-rm5b-bonds-court-hears/
Shahrol Halmi testified AmBank did not tell 1MDB that JoLo linked companies major subscribers of RM5b bonds issued in 2009
- RM700m discount on sale of RM5 billion Islamic Notes
- eventually bonds ended up in EPF, Socso
- May 15, 2009 AmBank inked secondary subscription with Aktis, Country Group
- days before primary subscription agreement inked between AmBank and TIA
OSTB : Ok Tuan-Tuan they cheated us (the Malaysian public and the Malaysian taxpayers) depan belakang, kiri dan kanan.
This is the area of bond valuation. It is not difficult but there are simple formulas involved. Here is an example of how they cheated us.
When the Malaysian Government guarantees any borrowing by the Ministry of Finance the interest rates charged are really, really low. When I helped negotiate a US Dollar loan for the Government (with the Japanese banks in the mid 1990s) I believe the interest rate was below HALF PERCENT PER ANNUM ONLY (0.50% per annum).
This is because (until today) the Sovereign Risk for the Government of Malaysia is super solid. So when the Government issues bonds or guarantees bonds the interest rates on the bonds are also very, very low.
This makes the bonds quite low yielding. If foreign banks, insurance companies, pension funds, EPF, SOCSO buy Malaysian government bonds they will earn a steady but smaller interest payment.
Now imagine some crooks come along and they are able to manipulate the Malaysian Government into issuing government guaranteed bonds at some crazy, gila babi interest rates like 5% or 6% or whatever. What will happen?
The financial market in the whole world will be hungry to take up such a bond. Because Malaysia is a first class sovereign risk. Why should the Malaysian Government pay 5% or 6% on a bond when the lenders are willing to charge much, much less interest rates.
But this is what happened. So they set up the underwriters.
Just like when a listed company issues new shares (IPO) there is an underwriter bank. On Wall Street they are known as Investment Banks. The underwriters will agree to buy up the entire share issues (at a lower wholesale price) thus guaranteeing that the IPO will be successful.
Then the underwriters will try to unload the new shares on the market (hopefully at the full market price). Many millions are made this way. Many shirts and underwears are also lost in the same way.
The same method applies for the RM5b TIA / 1MDB bonds. The underwriters bought ALL the bonds at a "wholesale" price. Then they sold the bonds at the full market price to the market (they sold to EPF, SOCSO etc).
But because the Bonds were so overpriced, ie the interest rate was so high, that is how the "underwriters" made a killing of RM700 million ??
- RM700m discount on sale of RM5 billion Islamic Notes
- "secondary subscription with Aktis, Country Group"?
- Aktis, Country Group made combined RM494.62m from flipping the bonds
Hello, hello there is some money missing here.
So who pocketed the difference between RM700m - RM494m = RM206 million???
The question is WHY did the Ministry of Finance agree to such an insanely high interest rate when the bond was Guaranteed by the Government of Malaysia?
If the interest rate on the Bond was so high, why not insist that EPF and SOCSO "underwrite and subscribe" the entire issue from Day 1? Then EPF and SOCSO would have earned that extra RM700 Million.
Why give those JoLo linked companies the opportunity to make a buta RM494 million?
I hope the Police will investigate this angle carefully. The Police must have a financial expert or engage a financial consultant who can show them how to do bond pricing calculations. Here is a simple Bond Pricing formula:
Kalau nak rujuk contoh lagi simple, kita guna contoh Ah Long 'Beli Surat Pajak'.
- Lets say TIA (T'gganu Investment Authority) pajak rantai emas bernilai RM1000.
- Tetapi TIA dapat pinjam RM500 sahaja.
- Tiap bulan kena bayar RM100.
Katakanlah TIA dah bayar untuk 2 bulan lepas itu bulan 3 pula sangkut.
Kalau tak bayar kedai pajak, rantai emas RM1000 akan burn.- So TIA jumpa Ah Long untuk jual Surat Pajak tadi.
- Ah Long kira-kira lepas itu dia kata 'Saya kasi awak RM300 lah. Beres'.
- So TIA dapat RM300.
- Cashflow TIA RM600 - atas emas RM1000
- TIA rugi RM400.
Ah Long pula pergi ke kedai pajak, dia tebus rantai emas dengan bayar RM300. Tapi dia dapat rantai emas bernilai RM1000. So total cost Ah Long RM600. Jadi Ah Long untung RM400.
- Sekarang datang pula Ah Long 1MDB.
- Dia offer RM100 saja untuk beli surat kedai pajak daripada TIA tadi.
- TIA rugi RM600 sekarang.
Same thing Ah Long 1MDB tebus rantai emas dengan bayar RM300. Tetapi sekarang pula total cost Ah Long 1MDB hanya RM400. So maksudnya untung dia lebih ia itu RM600.
Soalannya kenapa TIA begitu bodoh setuju terima hanya RM100 untuk surat pajak tadi? This is what the Police must investigate.
Kenapa Ministry of Finance boleh setuju scheme yang begitu bodoh macam itu?
Kenapa Ministry of Finance boleh setuju bagi untung "discount" RM494 JUTA kepada
- "secondary subscription with Aktis, Country Group"?
- Aktis, Country Group made combined RM494.62m from flipping the bonds
Actually it is NOT TOO IMPORTANT if those companies were linked to JoLo or not.
What is MORE IMPORTANT is how did the Ministry of Finance agree to such a high interest rate borrowing (under a Government Guarantee) and hence to such a high coupon discount rate? Itu soalan utama.
5. Here is more news:
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2021/03/02/c4-calls-for-probe-into-allegations-involving-1mdb-linking-former-bank-negara-governor-zeti
- C4 said it is seeking answers, Zeti was in office between 2000 and 2016
- CAD reported to Bank Negara that funds received from JoLo in 2008 and 2009
- C4 asked if Dr Mahathir aware
- Zeti member of Council Of Eminent Persons
- Zeti's appointment could have clouded committee
OSTB : Some extra points to consider.
Sat (Feb 27, 2021) Edge reported S'pore police informed BNM
Why are these 'exposes' coming out now? The info about the Singapore CAD giving information to BNM could have come only from Singapore.
Last year 2020 the news leaked about those Statutory Declarations signed by Zeti's son as part of a deal with the Singapore authorities. Singapore was basically letting them off the hook "in exchange" (??) for confiscating the funds in the accounts. (That US16 million or RM65 million).
But after that nothing happened in Malaysia.
So now, on February 27, 2021 there has been yet another 'expose' that the CAD of Singapore Police had advised BNM in 2015 about that money deposited in Singapore over 2008 - 2009.
Which has now become the subject of investigation by Police here as per the news above.
These were US Dollar transactions, hence under the legal jurisdiction of American laws.
There is a new president in Washington. The Vice President Kamala Harris was a former Attorney General of California - a Prosecutor.
Are the Americans putting the squeeze on Singapore to "clean up" their act? Because Singapore is certainly a haven for all kinds of "money" from all over this part of the world (from Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Philippines, and certainly from 1MDB and TIA.
The post-Trump US Treasury has started cracking down on how other countries regard the US Dollar. You can see this :

The other question is how come that money is still intact in the bank accounts in Singapore? Since 2008-2009? That was 13 years ago.
When exactly did the Singaporeans "freeze" the bank account(s)?
What are the full amounts of money in that bank account(s)?
is it RM65 million? Is it more than that? Is it more than say RM100 million?
What is the exact balance in that bank account(s) in Singapore?
I believe TIA initially had funds of RM3.0 billion. The Wikipedia says TIA had RM6.0 billion. Ok what is RM3 billion or RM6.0 billion? Lets not split hairs over a few billions ok.
But after TIA changed name to 1MDB I recall Najib saying the Paid Up Capital of 1MDB was only RM1.0 million. How come? What happened to the initial RM3 billion in funds in TIA? I once asked a VVVIP this question. There was no answer.
On the political front, I recall at that time there was plenty of resistance in the BN government to share any oil oyalty money with Terengganu. It was money that was given reluctantly.
Well looking at this TIA caper, it looks like the oil royalties that were given to Terengganu were "spirited out". What was given with the right hand was taken out with the left hand.
In 2008 JoLo was around 27 years old. I seriously doubt a 27 year old punk can do all this by himself. Especially since the Menteri Besar and the DYMM Sultan of Terengganu were against this TIA deal. Yet he was able to push it through. There must have been serious muscle backing him up in Putrajaya.
- So how many UMNO people (for example) knew?
- How many government people were involved.
- The MoF was certainly in the know.
- Who are all the people who knew?
- Who profited illegally?
- More than 13 years have gone by and the shit is still floating on the surface.
- When will this country clean up this mess once and for all?
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.