4 TASK FORCE TAN SRI'S - MORE THAN 7 DAYS TO CONFIRM/REFUTE THE $2.6 BILLION WSJ MONEY-LAUNDERING ALLEGATION RE PM NAJIB? NO ARREST YET? KABBERUP AH? PULL YOUR FINGERS OUT, NOW!

by may the farce be with you, donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for task farce affairs

By now, everyone in the universe knows about the Wall St. Journal and Sarawak Report's exposé some 2 weeks ago about possible financial misfeasance, fraud, CBT and international money-laundering allegations against 1MDB and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

PM Najib is also Finance Minister, chief advisor to the Board of Advisors of 1MDB and sole authority for approving and signing projects for it. 

Instead of  suing immediately, PM Najib's lawyers sent WSJ a "clarification" inquiry letter. This was roundly panned as amateurish by many critics who asked if the PM was just buying time and making a show of it when caught with the proverbial smoking gun in his hand. In turn, WSJ's reply was seen as pointedly telling PM Najib's solicitors to go back to law school!

If anyone hasn't heard about all this, they must be dead, or, be someone employed or service-contracted by Grossmajib, since one of the pre-requisites of such an engagement is that you must be born with the brains missing.

To re-cap, 1MDB, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), has since 2010 borrowed $46 billion in bonds and bank loans to finance its operations, but according to its critics, has not satisfactorily explained the details of some $20 billion in  "investments". Suspicions have been aroused by two change of auditors, apparently strange commercial arrangements and unexplained movement of billions of ringgit between 1MDB and 3rd parties such as Jho Low and Petro-Saudi in the Middle East.

There are also allegations that 1MDB over-paid to the tune of billions of rinngit in acquiring deliberately valuation-inflated IPPs and land bank for quid-pro-quo "donations" to the ruling party. Poor planning seems to have bedevilled 1MDB, as with insufficient cash flow to service debt interest, it had to be bailedout by a $950 million "standby credit facility' from the MoF, and $3.5 billion loan from Abu Dhabi Commerial Bank Group. More billion ringgit Taxpayer bailouts are apparently are in the offing!!

The bombshell that was dropped by the WSJ and Sarawak Report some two weeks ago was the allegation that shortly before the 2013 general elections, some $2.6 billion in total was transferred via overseas banks to the personal bank accounts in Malaysia of Prime Minister Najib.  Next came the news that an unexplained $2 million had also been deposited into the personal bank account of PM Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor.

At the very least, this appears to constitute money-laundering. It seemed to imply that this money was used by PM Najib to illegally fund party campaign expenses, and possibly buy votes and rig elections.

It did not help that instead of immediately and unequivocally refuting implications of financial impropriety, PM Najib gave the guarded and shady reply that at no time had he misused 1MDB funds or made any personal gains from the $2.6 billions!!??

The screaming questions of how a PM on a salary of about $30,000 a month could have access to $2.6 billion outside of government, where and who it came from, and what it was verified as being used for, have all, to-date, remained unanswered!

A few days earlier , the Rakyat had suddenly been told that a 'Task Force' had been set-up in March 2015 to "probe" possible financial improprieties and malfeasance at 1MDB. When news broke out about the $2.6 billion, the Task Force claimed it was already aware of the transaction, but made no clarification why Bank Negara had allegedly done nothing about it since 2013.

The Task Force apparently comprises a "loose" confederation of 4 Tan Sri's:

1. Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, heads of Bank Negara.

2. Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, Inspector General of Police.

3. Tan Sri Abu Kssim, head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency Commission.

4. Tan Sri Gani Patail, Attorney General.

"Loose", since our Ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin, did not seem to be aware of its existence, who led it or what its terms of reference and scope or time frame for investigations and reporting were. All the Tan Sri's, directly or indirectly, report to PM Najib. So, is the Task Force independent of the influence of the PM? Who ordered the Task Force to be set up?

However, news swirled that the Task force was not looking into PM Najib's personal bank accounts and the mysterious $2.6 billion! 

Given that the WSJ and Sarawak Report had given very precise details of the movement of the $2.6 billion from abroad, it should have taken Bank Negara no more than, max, 7 days, to investigate and announce the who, what and why of the $2.6 billion, and why no action had been initiated against PM Najib in 2013 for as alleged, at the very least, money laundering!

5 persons connected with  1MDB and MoF and who were arrested and remanded in custody by the MACC in recent days, in order of arrests, are:

1. Jerome Lee Tak Loong, 39, Group Executive Director of construction company Putra Perdana Berhad.

2. Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman, CEO of Ihsan Perdana S/B.

3. Ariffin Ismail Shahul Hamid, 28, sole owner of a trading company..

4. Rosman Abdullah, 48, Managing Director of a construction and development company.

5. Nik Isfahanie Tasnim, 27, a despatch rider, working for Ariffin (see 3 above).

But, the silence from the Task Force about all the burning questions, is deafening. It is fuelling speculation by bloggers and online and offline commenters, that the objectives of the Task Force may not be to arrest and charge anyone for possibly the heist and crime of the century, but as one blogger so succinctly put it in local manglish, "to kabberup"!!

Many regard the 5 pretty much previously unknown men arrested by MACC as 'kucing kurap' (in Malay) or 'small fry'.

The $64,000 question is, why hasn't the Task Force arrested PM Najib and interrogated him about the $2.6 billion, which on the face of it is so incriminating, that in any developing or developed country, it would have seen the PM and entire Cabinet resigning, and fresh elections called. 

Come on  4 Tan Sri's, who are you working for, the Rakyat or 1MDB and PM Najib?  Who funds and pays your salary? The Rakyat or PM Najib?

Only the brain-dead can take so long to complete basic investigations on matters and arrest the big fish on money-laundering, CBT, fraud, dereliction of fiduciary duties and gross abuse of power etc., that have been pointed out as suspicious for nearly 3 years.

Are the investigations really heading towards a dead end, a complete 'kabberup', since the number 4, in Chinese, 'tsei', means 'dead'?

In the meantime, PM Najib, his lobotomised Cabinet and defenders and party sycophants are doing nothing to endear themselves to the Rakyat by defending shady deals with bankrupts like Lie-ster and his also bankrupt Sabah Indian promoter to try and discredit The Edge and Sarawak Report. There is egg all over the face of these establishment politicians and their stooges. Suspending The Edge for 3 months is a disastrous move. The stench from these 'wag the dog' tactics are over-powering, and the actions, appalling to the extreme.

PM Najib, the more you repress, the more dictatorial you become, the more you try and 'kabberup', the more you will be cornered and hung by your own hand! You are the prime architect of all that has now been exposed, especially the $2.6 billion. Resign now. Think of the country and the poor, suffering Rakyat, and not of your selfish, thick skin. Your own people are deserting you by the millions. The do not believe your weak and spindoctored explanations. Bow out with some dignity and honour, today!

Donplaypuks® with complete kabberups, man!