Where’s the ‘Tony Pua’ in the opposition to unearth, pursue the Global Ikhwan money trail?

 

REMINISCING how former three-term DAP lawmaker Tony Pua fearlessly unveiled the gargantuan 1MDB scandal, a netizen has boldly wondered if there is no similar talent in today’s opposition line-up to replicate such feat in the deemed Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings Sdn Bhd (GISBH) scandal.

“Where is our Tony Pua type of person for GISBH? It shows what can be hidden and what can be exposed,” a netizen left a comment on a social media post suggesting that it might be worthwhile to follow the money trail of the company which is said to be a remnant of banned deviant Islamic sect, the Arqam Group.

“Who gave Tony Pua (the) info and courage to expose (his findings) to The Edge and Claire Rewcastle Brown (founder/editor of Sarawak Report)? Same with RPK (the late Raja Petra Kamarudin) and Rafizi (now Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli) How come nothing was said about GISBH? Because people wanted it (the truth) hidden?”

For context, the post on the X platform by Aisehman (@Aisehman) has unveiled that GISBH makes nearly RM190 mil year but “it would be interesting “to see where and to whom (the) money flows out”.

“There could be surprises. Follow the money,” he suggested.

Recall that Pua was MP for Petaling Jaya Utara when he exposed the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal in the Dewan Rakyat in 2010.

Tony Pua

The former political secretary to Lim Guan Eng during the latter’s tenure as finance minister (May 2018 to February 2020) had also held many roadshows on the 1MDB scandal in 2017 during the run-up to the 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018 which resulted in Barisan Nasional (BN) falling out of power.

Malaysia is still servicing billions of ringgit in debts incurred as a result of this scandal. On March 19, Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan told the Dewan Rakyat that the Malaysian government has settled RM48.06 bil with efforts actively on-going to recover 1MDB assets worldwide.

As for GISBH, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Razarudin Husain has recently revealed that police have frozen 153 bank accounts worth RM882,795.94 and shut down 15 other accounts, out of a total 183 accounts linked to the corporation.

He added that the accounts were suspended under Section 44(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA).

Among the long list of assets belonging to GISBH members or associates seized were 22 motor vehicles of various types estimated to be worth around RM1.9 mil while 14 parcels of land have been frozen.

Another 16 vehicles with a total value of RM2.08 million were seized under Section 45(2) of AMLA.

As much as the total bank account value looks intriguing – a mere RM882,795.94 from 153 accounts or a mere average of RM5,770 per account – tongues are wagging as to how the top brass of GISBH can lead a lavish lifestyle overseas when the company has reported to the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) that it is in the red. 

- focus malaysia