Let us be very, very clear at the outset that the announcement (see below) on 24 April 2017 at the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) means that, IPIC WON, and Najib/Malaysia's Ministry of Finance (MoF)/1MDB LOST the arbitration case.
(Click on pic for enlarged view).
Basically, the LCIA decision means that Malaysian Taxpayers will have to cough up US$4,705,450,000 (apprx. US$4.7 billion or RM20 billion) between now and 2022, as follows:
1. US$1,205,450,000 (appx. US$1.2 billion or RM5 billion) in equal instalments in July and December 2017 to be paid to IPIC.
2. US$3,500,000,000 (US$3.5 billion or RM15 billion) to paid to 1MDB bondholders in 2022, PLUS all interest, about another RM1.2 billion due to them between now and 2022.
I have put MoF in front of 1MDB, as the LCIA settlement would have been impossible without the MoF guarantee. In short, this is yet another disgraceful bailout of 1MDB by the Malaysian Taxpayer. 1MDB does not have any cash to guarantee anything.
What does the decision mean? It means that:
1. IPIC's claim of US$1.2 billion/RM4.2 billion that had originally been agreed to by 1MDB, and later unnecessarily disputed, was legitimate. It was not a fraudulent or frivolous claim as bandied about by MoF/1MDB. It is also an absolute lie by Najib, MOF/1MDB that this money will be paid from redeemed "units" parked through Jho Low with undisclosed fund managers or Brazen Sky or BSI Singapore. The LCIA announcement makes no mention of it at all! The "units" fib was cooked up by Najib and his gangsters. I dare Najib to reveal the name of the "units" fund. All the money disappeared long ago into Najib's pockets and much of it invested in USA & UK properties and other assets by his cronies Jho Low, Riza Aziz, Qubaisy and Husseiny. Refer my earlier blog post. CLICK HERE.
2. It is now 100% confirmed by Najib, MoF, 1MDB and the Malaysian government that US$3.5billion/RM15 billion it said had already paid to IPIC was false. They all knowingly lied about it.
3. US$3.5/RM15 billion of funds already disappeared from 1MDB into the pockets of Najib and his cronies between 2009-2013.
4. The Malaysian Taxpayer is now being forced by Najib and his thieving government to PAY TWICE for 1MDB'S bond debts!
5. No one in Malaysia - Najib, Deputy Finance Ministers and Chairman, Executive Directors and CEOs of 1MDB - has been charged in court for multi-billion ringgit fraud, looting, money-laundering, financial and economic plunder, false accounting and/or conspiracy to do so. This is happening despite last April's PAC Report recommending that ex-1MDB CEO Shahrol Halmi be charged with financial mismanagement. The IGP and AG, a pair of Najib's shameless sycophants, are obviously sleeping on their job.
6. Auditors Detoilette, in which one of Najib's sons is a full partner, has (so far) got away with shameful sub-standard work. In any other country, it would have been subjected to multiple lawsuits by the government and/or banks and bondholders for professional negligence. Remember Enron and how auditors Arthur Andersen eventually had to close down?
7. The suggestion by scurrilous "analysts" briefed and conned by Jho Low that this settlement weakens the US DoJ kleptocracy case is an attempt at damage control, with one eye on the looming GE14.
If anything, it strengthens their case, as here is a clear admission by Najib and MoF/1MDB that US$3.5 billion/RM15 billion it claimed it had already paid to IPIC never went to them, and now they have to come up with another US$3.5 billion/RM15 billion.
Any other claim by any "analyst", Minister/Deputy Minister from Najib's government of thieves, MoF Chief Thief Serigar or 1MDB executives, is a BLATANT LIE designed to try and pull the wool over the Rakyat's eyes. More than that, it is an attempt by serial liar and thief Najib to save face, now that it has been globally confirmed that there was massive fraud at 1MDB!!!
It was confirmed more than a year ago that IPIC was claiming US$6.5 billion or RM28 billion from 1MDB. Najib, his sycophantic Ministers and 1MDB all pretended that this was an outrageous claim even though the auditor general had already revealed that at least US$3.5 billion or RM15 billion was missing from 1MDB's balance sheet.
In July 2016, the Us DoJ had also confirmed in its kelptocracy claim, mainly against Jho Low, Riza Aziz and Qubaisy and Husseiny (of Aabar, a subsidiary of IPIC), that the missing US$3.5 billion had been deliberately siphoned out from 1MDB to offshore tax shelter companies controlled by Jho Low, Qubaisy and Husseiny, between 2009 to 2013. This would not have been possible without a conspiracy involving top 1MDB directors and Najib, who from day one had sole approving authority as Chief Advisor to 1MDB. More than that, Najib has from 2009 been the Finance Minister under whom nestles MoF and its wholly owned subsidiary, 1MDB!
Najib's cronies had created off-shore tax shelter bearing names very similar to IPIC's subsidiaries to carry out their fraud. They siphoned the moneys out of 1MDB. The real IPIC and its subsidiaries never received the money under dispute.
What is interesting though is what was not announced. IPIC had claimed US$6.5 billion from 1MDB. The LICA settlement only accounts for US$4.7 billion. What happened to the balance of US$1.8 billion or RM8 billion? Is it likely that the Arabs would forgo US$1.8 billion? For sure, Najib/MoF/1MDB are hiding something big! The silence is deafening!
But everyone has forgotten one important aspect of this peculiar arrangement between 1MDB and IPIC. Who cooked up this guarantee arrangement? Who was the "brains" behind it? If right from the beginning MoF had given a Malaysian Government sovereign guarantee, it could have saved the Taxpayer billions of ringgit.
This guarantee agreement is protected by the OSA. I bet that if the OSA documents were to be declassified, we will find that some Najib crony has been a substantial beneficiary of the guarantee fees! Was it a certain Malaysian Indian tycoon fraudtrepreneur? I did not say crooked crony. With Najib and his government of thieves, that is, of course, guaranteed!
(Click on pic for enlarged view).
Basically, the LCIA decision means that Malaysian Taxpayers will have to cough up US$4,705,450,000 (apprx. US$4.7 billion or RM20 billion) between now and 2022, as follows:
1. US$1,205,450,000 (appx. US$1.2 billion or RM5 billion) in equal instalments in July and December 2017 to be paid to IPIC.
2. US$3,500,000,000 (US$3.5 billion or RM15 billion) to paid to 1MDB bondholders in 2022, PLUS all interest, about another RM1.2 billion due to them between now and 2022.
I have put MoF in front of 1MDB, as the LCIA settlement would have been impossible without the MoF guarantee. In short, this is yet another disgraceful bailout of 1MDB by the Malaysian Taxpayer. 1MDB does not have any cash to guarantee anything.
What does the decision mean? It means that:
1. IPIC's claim of US$1.2 billion/RM4.2 billion that had originally been agreed to by 1MDB, and later unnecessarily disputed, was legitimate. It was not a fraudulent or frivolous claim as bandied about by MoF/1MDB. It is also an absolute lie by Najib, MOF/1MDB that this money will be paid from redeemed "units" parked through Jho Low with undisclosed fund managers or Brazen Sky or BSI Singapore. The LCIA announcement makes no mention of it at all! The "units" fib was cooked up by Najib and his gangsters. I dare Najib to reveal the name of the "units" fund. All the money disappeared long ago into Najib's pockets and much of it invested in USA & UK properties and other assets by his cronies Jho Low, Riza Aziz, Qubaisy and Husseiny. Refer my earlier blog post. CLICK HERE.
2. It is now 100% confirmed by Najib, MoF, 1MDB and the Malaysian government that US$3.5billion/RM15 billion it said had already paid to IPIC was false. They all knowingly lied about it.
3. US$3.5/RM15 billion of funds already disappeared from 1MDB into the pockets of Najib and his cronies between 2009-2013.
4. The Malaysian Taxpayer is now being forced by Najib and his thieving government to PAY TWICE for 1MDB'S bond debts!
5. No one in Malaysia - Najib, Deputy Finance Ministers and Chairman, Executive Directors and CEOs of 1MDB - has been charged in court for multi-billion ringgit fraud, looting, money-laundering, financial and economic plunder, false accounting and/or conspiracy to do so. This is happening despite last April's PAC Report recommending that ex-1MDB CEO Shahrol Halmi be charged with financial mismanagement. The IGP and AG, a pair of Najib's shameless sycophants, are obviously sleeping on their job.
6. Auditors Detoilette, in which one of Najib's sons is a full partner, has (so far) got away with shameful sub-standard work. In any other country, it would have been subjected to multiple lawsuits by the government and/or banks and bondholders for professional negligence. Remember Enron and how auditors Arthur Andersen eventually had to close down?
7. The suggestion by scurrilous "analysts" briefed and conned by Jho Low that this settlement weakens the US DoJ kleptocracy case is an attempt at damage control, with one eye on the looming GE14.
If anything, it strengthens their case, as here is a clear admission by Najib and MoF/1MDB that US$3.5 billion/RM15 billion it claimed it had already paid to IPIC never went to them, and now they have to come up with another US$3.5 billion/RM15 billion.
Any other claim by any "analyst", Minister/Deputy Minister from Najib's government of thieves, MoF Chief Thief Serigar or 1MDB executives, is a BLATANT LIE designed to try and pull the wool over the Rakyat's eyes. More than that, it is an attempt by serial liar and thief Najib to save face, now that it has been globally confirmed that there was massive fraud at 1MDB!!!
It was confirmed more than a year ago that IPIC was claiming US$6.5 billion or RM28 billion from 1MDB. Najib, his sycophantic Ministers and 1MDB all pretended that this was an outrageous claim even though the auditor general had already revealed that at least US$3.5 billion or RM15 billion was missing from 1MDB's balance sheet.
In July 2016, the Us DoJ had also confirmed in its kelptocracy claim, mainly against Jho Low, Riza Aziz and Qubaisy and Husseiny (of Aabar, a subsidiary of IPIC), that the missing US$3.5 billion had been deliberately siphoned out from 1MDB to offshore tax shelter companies controlled by Jho Low, Qubaisy and Husseiny, between 2009 to 2013. This would not have been possible without a conspiracy involving top 1MDB directors and Najib, who from day one had sole approving authority as Chief Advisor to 1MDB. More than that, Najib has from 2009 been the Finance Minister under whom nestles MoF and its wholly owned subsidiary, 1MDB!
Najib's cronies had created off-shore tax shelter bearing names very similar to IPIC's subsidiaries to carry out their fraud. They siphoned the moneys out of 1MDB. The real IPIC and its subsidiaries never received the money under dispute.
What is interesting though is what was not announced. IPIC had claimed US$6.5 billion from 1MDB. The LICA settlement only accounts for US$4.7 billion. What happened to the balance of US$1.8 billion or RM8 billion? Is it likely that the Arabs would forgo US$1.8 billion? For sure, Najib/MoF/1MDB are hiding something big! The silence is deafening!
But everyone has forgotten one important aspect of this peculiar arrangement between 1MDB and IPIC. Who cooked up this guarantee arrangement? Who was the "brains" behind it? If right from the beginning MoF had given a Malaysian Government sovereign guarantee, it could have saved the Taxpayer billions of ringgit.
This guarantee agreement is protected by the OSA. I bet that if the OSA documents were to be declassified, we will find that some Najib crony has been a substantial beneficiary of the guarantee fees! Was it a certain Malaysian Indian tycoon fraudtrepreneur? I did not say crooked crony. With Najib and his government of thieves, that is, of course, guaranteed!
