by choo choo curi, Donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for rolling stock robbery & corruption affairs
You would have thought that after being caught with his pants down raping 1MDB to the tune of $30 billion, Najib would have stopped. He was helped in Malaysia's largest single act of Kleptomania by his step-son Riza Aziz (which implicates Rosmah), croney Jho Low, Lodin, Shahrol Halmi and Ismee from 1MDB, Serigar Abdullah from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Chief Secretary to the Government, Ali Hamsa.
Economic Plundering Unit's (EPU) Nor Mohd Yakcop must have been con-sulted. Sycophants from the ruling party UMNO - Ahmad Mazlan, Shahrir, Azalina, Rahman Dahlan, Syed Keruak and many others - benefited cash-wise from it so handsomely that they dare not expose Najib for fear of self-incrimination in massive corruption.
It was the same brains mistrust of Najib - Ali Hamsa, MoF and EPU - which faked leasing arrangements involving government land to borrow $30 billion from EPF for so-called PPFI projects. Now they dare not reveal what projects this humongous $30 billion was spent on or who the Bumiputra contractors were, citing OSA privilege. Most importantly, the MoF has no idea how it is going to repay EPF the $30 billion other than by rolling the debt over and over again, hoping God will find a solution . Assuming that each contract was worth $10 million, the projects must have gone to 3,0000 Bumiputra contractors; yet the Malaysian Bumiptra Contractors Association knows nothing about it. Into whose pockets exactly did the $30 billion disappear into, Najib, Serigar and Hamsa?
Now Najib has proposed the $55 billion ECRL project which was apparently not discussed by the Cabinet. Works Minister Fadillah Yusof maintained in July that the cost was $30 billion and disputed a Sarawak Report expose that Najib planned to illegally and criminally inflate the cost by another $30 billion to $60 billion to plug the huge $30 billion hole he created in 1MDB's balance sheet.
CLICK HERE AND HERE.
However, Najib's 2017 Budget speech three days ago proved Fadillah a liar. He confirmed that project albeit now re-costed at $55 billion. We can now see why Fadillah was so keen to play down Sarawak Report 's damning post on pre-planned corruption. His brother, Sarawakian Bustari Yusof, is a huge beneficiary of the $30 billion Pan Borneo Highway designated for Sarawak and Sabah.
CLICK HERE.
Padding government procurement contracts is nothing new and has been perfected by none other than Najib himself. The 2002 Scorpene Submarines contract signed by Najib jumped from $4 billion to $8 billion and got Altantuya killed. Similarly, government purchases of fighter planes and armoured patrol vehicles and many others.
In 2008, the government also undertook the Double Tracking Railway Project (
DTRP) costing $25-30 billion. The line stretched from Padang Besar in Perlis at the extreme north to Johor Baru in the extreme south. There was much thievery in this, as the project originally started in 2001 with Mahathir budgetting $45 billion, reduced to $18 billion finally. Then, India Raiways was elbowed out by Badawi in favour of China CREC (China Railway Engineering Corporation). We can easily assume that at least 10% or $2.5 billion was given as kickbacks to prime ministers, top politicians and the ruling party.
Now we have the ECRL coming in at $55 billion so far, and awarded without open tender to a China state-owned company, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). Najib has been busy flogging 1MDB's crown jewels to several China companies - 100% of IPP company EDRA for $16 billion including debt (book loss $2 billion) and 60% interest in the Sungei Besi or Bandar Malaysia Land development project for $7.5 billion.
China companies are also major investors in Iskandar land in Johor. A few years ago, the Sultan of Johor disposed $4 billion of land also to China parties. For a man who in clear racist tones blamed the Chinese for the 'Tsumani' that saw Najib and UMNO/BN lose the popular vote at the 2013 General Election, this is surely perverse masochism. But, Najib is desperate. He is being accused world-wide of heading a Kleptocratic regime by robbing and raping 1MDB to the tune of $30 billion, at least.
Najib's answer to it all is not to apologise, resign honourably and go to jail. He proposes to counter Kleptocracy charges by committing even more brazen acts of robbery and corruption. The facts of the $55 billion ECRL project are simple. At $55 billion, the 600 km ECRL will be the most expensive railway line in the world at $92 million per kilometer. Even at $25 billion, the project will not break even in a hundred years. That is so too with the earlier DTRP. And why tunnel through hills and mountains at stratospheric cost when the old Gemas-KB line is already there to be upgraded?
Looking at the last available 2012 audited accounts of our national railway company KTMB, it made a loss of $300 million on a turnover of $455 million. Even if turnover has doubled in the last 3 years, it is unlikely that KTMB made an acceptable profit after tax or Return On Investment (ROI).
In justifying these white elephant projects, the EPU will usually come out with very fanciful pie-in-the sky projections. That somehow passenger and freight volumes will increase ten or hundred fold to justify the huge expenditure.
Of course, Najib will classify all the dream projections under OSA and tell the citizens that it is in their interest not to know details of $55 billion of the public's money!
Simple maths tells us that for a $55 billion project, the annual interest cost alone will be, say at 3%, $1.65 billion per year. Can the rail link from KL to Kota Bahru generate this amount of money to cover interest alone, when that for the DTRP does not? What about the operating and annual costs? And what about repayment of the $55 billion loan capital. Where is the money for that coming from?
The simple and shocking truth is that the lowest of the low and most shameless serial liar, fraudster and criminal in Malaysian history does not care. Najib is proposing to solve one massive crime at 1MDB with another massive crime at KTMB, and passing the buck to the grandchildren of our grandchildren. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.
But, the reality too is that Malaysia may go bankrupt soon with this kind of blatant robbery by Najib, and it is we who will end up having to pay the price. How can the Malays and UMNO stand by idly and just let it happen, more so when Asia Sentinel says three murders have revolved around Najib as well - Altantuya, Hussain Najadi and Kevin Morais?
In the end, Najib's fraudulent sell out to China will constitute
high treason for which hanging would be the only appropriate punishment!