Researching the biggest con jobs in the world on the Net was as interesting as the search results -- revealing some interesting facts and figures.
Far too many had made too much at the expense of the ordinary man. Fraudsters, imposters and cheats readily exploit one weakness of the human being – greed.
Stacker lists the top financial swindlers including Charles Ponzi who earned infamy with his name and Bernie Madoff who scammed thousands with promises of big returns on their investments.
Then there’s Jordan Belfort of whom the infamous movie “Wolf of Wall Street” was made with stolen Malaysian money. He spent 22 months in prison after stealing more than US$100 million as part of a drug and sex-fuelled frenzy of corporate theft based on the so-called "pump-and-dump" scheme.
Belfort would buy large amounts of worthless stock to drive up its price and then sell his shares all at once.
Also making the list are Viktor Lustig who “sold” the Eiffel Tower – twice – to scrap dealers and the many involved in the non-existent sale of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
But Malaysia has not been left out of this notorious list. Jho Low is listed and Wikipedia says he claimed to be a financial expert and “trusted by Malaysian prime minister, Najib Abdul Razak, in managing 1MBD”, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.
Wikipedia adds: “[..] caused Malaysia to end up in heavy debt and further devaluation of its currency.”
Now, another possibly Malaysian name can be added to this list – that is if this person even exists. Unlike Lustig who used expensive paper to forge a government letter, the former did no such thing.
His letter was on plain white paper which just bore just his purported name and address and details of his supposed company with an offer to donate two million units of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine to the Penang government.
Two days ago, Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow and former finance minister Lim Guan Eng made a song and dance about the federal government preventing Penang from giving free vaccination to the people of Penang.
But the federal government had its own (right) reasons for doing so. Yesterday, it was confirmed that the offer was not blocked but that it was a scam.
The Coordinating Minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) Khairy Jamaluddin said checks with Sinovac in China found that no contact had been made as alleged by the supposed donor.
A company search also found that the donor's company did not exist as it was not registered in Hong Kong,
Who is being protected?
“The offer is bogus. It is completely untrue. We checked with company records in Hong Kong and the company does not exist. No one even knows who 'Yong Chee Kong' is,” Khairy said.
Despite egg on the faces of Chow and Lim, Khairy was magnanimous in saying that a police report will be lodged in order to identify Yong for creating much confusion for chief minister Chow
In an immediate face-saving statement, Chow called on the director of the company that pledged the donation to clear his name.
Chow said the state had carried out due diligence by first asking the Health Ministry for permission to obtain the pledged vaccines. This was refused by the ministry on March 12.
Really, Mr Chief Minister? No right-thinking person will make grandiose announcements or pledges without having the product in hand. How could you rely on a piece of paper whose signatory had yet to be identified? If you must know, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush!
How could you make the declarations and lock horns with the federal government without even knowing the people behind the donation? To add insult to injury, Chow said that the state had carried out due diligence by first asking the Health Ministry for permission to obtain the pledged vaccines.
Requesting the ministry of permission does not amount to carrying out due diligence by a long shot. Didn’t it occur to someone in the Chief Minister’s Office to do an online check on the company? This is elementary, YB Chow.
How can Chow just accept a note with no letterhead with no due diligence and no background checks? Did "someone" slip that letter to the CM's office? Or is there something more that he does not want to tell?
The Penang government advocates and prides itself as being head and shoulder above the rest in transparency and accountability. The time has come for the leaders to practice what they preach, come clean and explain the course of events which led to this ignominy.
Previously, conpeople masquerading as intermediaries had caused many headaches for the undersea tunnel project in Penang. Will the Penang state government remain silent and protect yet another intermediary or accept the shame in wanting to protect him or her? - Mkini
R NADESWARAN is astonished that no due diligence had been carried out before entering into a war of words with the federal government. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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