KUALA LUMPUR - Prime Minister Najib Razak can threaten all he likes, arrest as many critics he wishes, have his henchmen make the most outlandish statements but calls for his resignation won't go away.
There's nothing he can do to repair his mauled reputation, nothing how many hundreds of million he continues to squanders on foreign publicists.
Experts say his only way out if he wants to stay on as PM and pre-empt the flood of corruption charges that will surely be leveled at him, his wife Rosmah Mansor and their family is to turn Malaysia from a flawed democracy into a full-fledged dictatorship.
"Don't put it past Najib to use force including military intervention to seize power and freeze the political activity against him," said a political watcher. "He has nothing to lose and is dangerous."
Fueling the dire predictions against Najib is the sharp plunge in global oil price, which last night broke below the key $41 per barrel level. This will hurt the income of national oil firm Petronas, on whose revenue Najib's cash-strapped administration depends for funding for the government's operations, projects and policy executions.
The sharply plummeting Ringgit will also serve a final squash to the already dying 1MDB investment fund, which Najib created after taking power in 2009 and which has become the proverbial last nail for his political coffin.
The corruption-tainted 1MDB is riddled in debt of up to RM42 billion, of which RM27 billion is purportedly still unaccounted for and 'gone missing'.
The sordid saga of has riled up Malaysians from all walks of life, even splitting Najib's Umno party down the line.
"If we are not able to gather many people at Bersih 4, then Najib can say, 'I have allowed Bersih 4 (to gather) and I shall continue to remain in power until the 14th general election," Maria Chin Abdullah, a prominent social activist told a forum last night.
"Right now, I propose that Najib allow us to prove whether Bersih 4 will succeed or not. If we fail to attract many people, Najib can carry out his institutional reforms. Or Najib can allow a motion of no-confidence be tabled in Parliament."
Maria was referring to a planned mammoth gathering to be held on August 29, where hundreds of thousands of Malaysians are expected to protest against Najib's handling of the ongoing political and economic crisis, plus demand for reforms.
Not surprisingly Najib has ordered the police to block the rally. Even so, the organizers are confident that Malaysians, fed up and frustrated at the stagnating economy and endless politicking, will show up in droves. Many grassroots members from Najib's own party have expressed interest to participate,
Global corruption spotlight
Najib has often boasted of his wife's close connections with wealthy and powerful Arab royalty and tycoons. He even explained away a stunning cash amount of RM2.6 bil (US$700 mil) traced to his personal bank accounts as being 'donation' from the Middle East
While not hesitant to stamp out public dissent, Najib in a face-saving gesture, has agreed to let the International Anti-Corruption Conference and Transparency International hold their 16th bi-annual anti-corruption conclave in Putrajaya on September 2-4.
Despite being the host, Najib is likely to be targeted. The event is billed as “the world premier forum that brings together heads of state, civil society, the private sector and more to tackle the increasingly sophisticated challenges posed by corruption.”
According to Asia Sentinel, the conference was originally scheduled for Tunisia, but because of a scheduling problem over parliamentary polls it was moved to Malaysia with the cooperation of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
This makes it all the more uncomfortable, since the MACC’s chief, Abu Kassim Mohamed, was hurriedly sent on vacation in July as the MACC appeared to be closing in on Najib over suspicious transfers of US$681 million into his personal AmBank Account in 2013. The money was transferred back out a few weeks later into an account in Singapore that has now been closed, said the Asia Sentinel.
Even the Arabs are dumping Najib
Meanwhile, despite being banned by the Malaysian authorities, UK-based Sarawak Report website has dropped another bombshell.
According to the whistle-blower website, a second head has rolled at the very top of Abu Dhabi’s Aabar sovereign wealth fund, giving yet another strong signal that there are major concerns in the Gulf state over being drawn into Najib’s escalating financial and political scandals.
A low key announcement has been released over the past few hours to confirm that the Mohamed al Husseiny, Chief Executive Officer of Aabar, a subsidiary of International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) will be replaced, active from August 24th i.e. next Monday.
According to the Gulf Business Times no reason has been given for the sudden departure. However, the fund claimed in its announcement that the decision was “part of Aabar’s succession plans”.
Reuters has also quoted a source to say that al Husseiny will be moving to join a private equity firm.
"This will add to the international focus on Malaysia - sadly for the wrong reasons. Even the Arabs involved in the 1MDB deals are distancing from Najib. The global money trails will provide the IACC with all the juicy material they need. It will be most disappointing if the IACC ends their conference without calling for Najib to reform himself and his own administration," said the political watcher.
1MDB contagion
According to the Sarawak Report, observers of recent developments can hardly fail to conclude that this second sudden departure, following so soon after that of the former Chairman, Khadem al Qubassi (Husseiny was his right hand man) is linked to the unravelling scandal of 1MDB.
Sacked – Aabar CEO al-Husseiny (left) and Chairman Al Qubassi (right) were the two key players from Aabar in the deals with 1MDB
Mohamed al-Husseiny was the Chairman of Aabar-owned Falcon bank at the time that US$681 million was transferred into the Malaysian PM’s private account at AmPrivate Banking in KL, March 2013.
Aabar and 1MDB
Sarawak Report has repeatedly pointed out the pivotal role of Aabar in several of 1MDB’s most questionable investment deals over the past few years. Moreover, we have highlighted several instances of apparent conflict of interest with respect to the former Chairman al Qubasi and CEO al Husseiny.
Specifically, we have noted that 1MDB’s three bond issues totalling USD$6.5 billion, involving Aabar and negotiated by Goldman Sachs, contained several irregularities, which created huge and unnecessary expenses for Malaysia.
Lack of transparency has meant that it has been extremely hard to determine why these bonds were managed in such a costly fashion and why Aabar was included as joint guarantors of the money at all – issues which have also been repeatedly raised by several members of the opposition and by the former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir and others.
Al Qubassi’s party persona was revealed by Sarawak Report
Al Qubaisi was a night clubbing companion and business party of the PM Najib Razak’s 1MDB proxy Jho Low
The former Chairman of Aabar, Khadem al Qubaisi, was meanwhile involved in numerous separate business ventures linked to Prime Minister Najib Razak’s proxy at 1MDB, the businessman Jho Low, including the purchase of Coastal Energy by CEPSA and a bid to buy the London Claridge’s Hotel chain.
Al Qubaisi was sacked shortly after Sarawak Report published extensive evidence of his extravagant ‘alter ego’, which included partying with Jho Low in some of the world’s most expensive nightclubs.
Sarawak Report also published evidence showing that Jho Low’s company Good Star had paid an unexplained sum of US$20 million into a personal account belonging to Al Qubassi at the Luxembourg private Edmund de Rothschild bank.
Good Star was the company that siphoned a total of US$1.19 billion out of 1MDB PetroSaudi joint venture in 2009.
Mohamed al-Husseiny
al-Husseiny was considered the side-kick to Chairman Al Qubasi at Aabar and IPIC – he was also Chairman of Falcon Swiss Private Bank
Sarawak Report has also highlighted similar irregularities on the part of al Husseiny, who was generally regarded to have been al Qubasi’s right hand man.
Last year, al Husseiny controversially announced that it was he who had personally financed The Wolf of Wall Street on behalf of Najib Razak’s producer step-son Riza Aziz to the tune of US$100 million.
Sarawak Report pointed the obvious conflict of interest, given Aabar’s advantageous investments with 1MDB.
More recently we reported that al Husseiny was also the Chairman of the Board of Aabar-owned Falcon Private Bank, which had coincidentally paid US$681 million into the Prime Minister’s personal account just two days after the conclusion of a US$3 billion dollar bond issue by 1MDB, purportedly linked to another joint ‘strategic partnership’ venture with Aabar to develop the Tun Razak Exchange in KL.
Falcon Swiss Private Bank, owned by the Abu Dhabi wealth fund Aabar
No reports over suspicious transactions appear to have been made about the transfer of such an enormous sum by Falcon to a politically connected person and to date no information has been forthcoming from any party as to the actual source of the so-called ‘donation’ to the Prime Minister through the Aabar Bank.
Yet, despite the growing scandals and the recent sacking of al Qubasi, Aabar stepped in last June to rescue 1MDB from a series of huge debt defaults on its exposure of RM42 billion.
The Malaysian development fund was retrieved from bankruptsy by a massive injection of a US$1 billion cash payment on June 10th in order to meet debt repayments due that week, plus a commitment by Aabar to carry the fund’s future repayment demands for the next 12 months, in return for the promise of undisclosed assets to be provided by June 2016.
As disclosed on the London Stock Exchange – no comment from Najib or 1MDB
Najib - nothing to answer for
The Malaysian Prime Minister cum Finance Minister cum head of 1MDB has so far refused to disclose what those assets might be, but it is widely assumed they include land transferred by the state to 1MDB, supposedly to be developed by the fund.
All these shady deals have played their part in escalating the current furore around the shocking indebtedness of 1MDB and the resulting weakening of Malaysia’s economy.
Meanwhile, the scandal over the billions that have apparently gone missing thanks to these deals and the unexplained hundreds of millions that have appeared in the Prime Minister’s personal accounts have brought the country into an unprecedented political crisis.
The sacking of al-Husseiny is the clearest possible sign that Abu Dhabi wants to clean up their side of this scandal. However, Malaysia’s own leadership has persisted in maintaining that the Prime Minister has nothing to answer for. - MAILBAG
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