While we all will agree that significant cases of corruption should be investigated and prosecuted, it is common sense that priority should be given to those which involve much more money, where the sums run into billions.
The returns on investigating these are likely to be much bigger and we would be in a much better position to get the sharks instead of the minuscule ikan bilis (anchovies), which many of us like to consume with our daily nasi lemak.
Over the last two days, we waited with bated breath for some serious charges to be levelled against some seriously big buaya (crocodiles) but that was not to be.
Yes, it involved a few million in bribes but being Malaysian, we are used to people stealing, embezzling, or getting contracts unfairly, etc, in the billions of ringgit.
It is a rather sad reflection of the times and of our poor, pillaged country that the public sits up and takes intense notice only when corruption, etc, involves hundreds of millions of ringgit at least and/or the involvement of a prominent personality and novel new ways of making or stealing money, such as the 1MDB where borrowed money in the billions was stolen.
There are at least three of them which need to be investigated as soon as possible and if we do not hear from the investigating authorities shortly, a justified lack of confidence in their competence and integrity may well arise.
They are the alleged inadequate 1MDB settlement with Goldman Sachs involving billions of US dollars, the RM600 billion inappropriate spending by the Muhyiddin Yassin government and the unsolved RM9 billion littoral combat ships (LCS) scandal.
The 1MDB-Goldman Sachs settlement
If we want to talk about grand theft and corruption, which really should be the priority, let’s start with the mother of them all, the self-styled strategic development company called 1MDB. No, we are not going to go way back in time to the origins - let’s talk about settlements.
This is the one with that rogue investment bank giant, Goldman Sachs, who arranged US$6.5 billion in bonds for a rather fat fee for 1MDB and then actually facilitated almost all of their theft with crooks such as Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, Najib Abdul Razak’s co-conspirator.
Our previous attorney-general Tommy Thomas, by his own account, had them on the ropes and was about to deliver a few crushing knockout punches when the government changed and new negotiators were brought in, as I explained here and urged a thorough probe of the settlement.
The effective settlement was for US$2.5 billion cash, while there was a US$1.4 billion guarantee if there were shortfalls in the recovery of assets purchased from the theft of bond proceeds. Apparently, and anyone with sense can anticipate this, there were no shortfalls.
Thomas was looking for a settlement closer to US$9 billion instead of US$2.5 billion cash.
Amidst allegations of political funding arising from this deal, it is necessary to investigate the deal thoroughly to ensure that there was no hanky panky in the negotiation process. Or if there was hanky panky, to nullify the agreement with Goldman Sachs, go for a higher settlement and prosecute those who were responsible.
And make the process transparent, declassify the agreement as a secret and let the public have a look at the deal. Why should it be secret in the first place? This is an ongoing case which does not seem to have reached any conclusion despite being periodically highlighted.
The RM600 billion ‘improprieties’
My antennas twitched when I first read this. Surely Muhyiddin could not have filched RM600 billion - that would be too large an amount. Ahh, it became clearer later. The “...RM600 billion is the full allocation. (We are) reviewing where there are violations of procedures and leakages,” Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim clarified.
And then the MACC further said its initial probe on the alleged misappropriation of RM600 billion in funds by the previous administration has revealed that only RM92.5 billion of a lower RM530 billion amount came from government sources.
Confusing? Yes, most certainly. We, the rakyat, need clarity over this. What is being investigated, is it RM92.5 billion? Is that money which disappeared or was it improperly allocated? Even in the least-worst scenario, that could well involve billions, perhaps tens of billions of ringgit.
It’s been some two months since the first allegations were made. Why the deafening silence until now?
The RM9 billion LCS scandal
Here, it is pretty much established that there was an RM9 billion contract, RM6 billion was paid out and not a single one of those LCS - ships that are supposed to patrol our coastal waters - was delivered. How could so much money disappear and no ships appear?
Our new defence minister, Umno’s deputy president and newly elected MP Mohamad Hasan, does not seem to be too concerned. Perhaps it happened during Umno’s watch and quite a few of them are allegedly implicated, including his bosses and colleagues at Umno.
Mohamad said: “We will ensure that the ships are built; no point talking about history. That is important because it (LCS) is a strategic asset of the armed forces.”
What does he mean by that? History is not important? No point recovering RM6 billion? No need to prosecute those who were responsible? Just complete the project and carry on? Anwar must not take this lying down. Time to pull up, Tok Mat.
Given that the authorities have had much time to investigate (unless they did not investigate when the backdoor governments were in power) and the strength and benefit of a Parliamentary Accounts Committee report, it is rather strange that nothing of note has materialised. Why?
With investigations lacking or even non-existent when such large sums of money are involved, will frying some ikan bilis kill the stench? Most certainly not. The mix of strange smells could prove to be rather noxious and toxic to those doing the frying. - Mkini
P GUNASEGARAN says when there is smoke, it is wise to reconnoitre.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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