JJ - Malaysia’s RM2 billion man

Jamaludin became wealthy on his own, says Najib
By FMT Reporters
August 31, 2018
PETALING JAYA: Najib Razak today defended the late Jamaludin Jarjis against accusations that the latter became wealthy because of his relationship with the former prime minister. Najib said Jamaludin was already a successful businessman even before he became PM. In a Facebook post, Najib said that his confidant, better known as JJ, who was killed three years ago in a helicopter crash, had in 1986 bought a company called EPE Power, which was later listed on the KLSE in the 1990s. “It was during this time that he amassed his wealth and was able to invest in other projects that brought in revenue,” he wrote. Najib said in the 1990s, when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister, EPE Power was awarded independent power producer projects (IPPs) in Sabah for more, go to https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2018/08/31/jamaludin-became-wealthy-on-his-own-says-najib/?fmt=1 

JJ - Malaysia’s RM2 billion man

The current hot topic in the socio-media network is about the RM2 billion man - the late Jamaluddin Jarjis (JJ).

An Umno politician who rose to become deputy minister, minister and an envoy - but still, to many, it is unbelievable that he was able to leave behind an estate worth more than RM2 billion.

And, there is also talk that there are some 200 other billion-ringgit Malaysians yet to be exposed.

To date, after JJ was killed in a helicopter crash, the following three essays contain juicy details how the wealth was sourced and accumulated.

No News Is Bad News has compiled the two essays, now being circulated in the internet, for the easy reading of our readers and followers:

"FinanceTwitter
30 August 2018

JJ’s RM2 Billion Fortune Opens Up A Can Of Worms – Malaysia Has At Least 200 Billionaires

Who says Malay-Muslims are dirt poor? Those who think so should get their head examined. The ethnic Malays should celebrate because at least 200 of their Muslim brothers (and sisters) are actually billionaires. In fact, Malaysia should be ranked third, behind the United States (680 billionaires) and China (338) but ahead of Germany (152), on the list of countries with the most billionaires.

The problem is this – those 200 billionaires cannot disclose their wealth because they got it by plundering, looting and stealing peoples’ money. Yes, they are mostly politicians from the previous Barisan Nasional government. Such conclusion is arrived when the mother of the late Jamaluddin Jarjis filed for “faraid (wealth distribution)” certificate at the Syariah court over his RM2.082 billion estate.

Jamaluddin Jarjis, popularly known as JJ, who died in a helicopter crash in 2015, was a very close friend of former Prime Minister Najib Razak. Sure, we should not bitch about dead people. But hey, we didn’t start it. It was his 85-year-old mother who has actually opened a can of worms that has gotten millions of tongues wagging on social media.

Besides, just because JJ was dead doesn’t mean his extraordinary wealth cannot be questioned. If a man’s ill-gotten fortune is automatically made legitimate after he died, then drug lord Pablo Escobar, gangster Al-Capone and dictator Ferdinand Marcos’s dirty money should become legitimate overnight and belonged to their family members after their death.

The fact that JJ’s mother, Aminah Abdullah, is forced to go to court to get her fair share of wealth speaks volumes that there is probably family feud going on for the RM2.1 billion estate. Under the Shariah Law, the mother gets one-sixth of the estate’s assets, the wife gets one-eighth and the remainder is shared among the children.

The assets in dispute include 22 landed properties in Pahang and Kuala Lumpur, 21 bank accounts with a total of more than RM15 million, several properties in the United States and Mecca, as well as a company he owned. Aminah is questioning how her son could have allegedly given some of the property, which includes 19 companies, to his four children.

One-sixth of RM2.1 billion is worth a staggering RM350 million. That’s a truckload of money for Mr. Jamaluddin’s mother. But the jaw-dropping question here isn’t about wheelchair-bound Aminah claiming her share of the inheritance. The flabbergasted question everyone is wondering is how Jamaluddin Jarjis could accumulate such a massive fortune.

As former Rompin Member of Parliament from 1990 until his death, JJ was one of 191 UMNO warlords who get to decide the prime minister of the country. He was Second Minister of Finance (2002-2004), Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (2004), Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (2004-2008) and Ambassador to the U.S. (2009-2012).

While it’s not nice to badmouth a dead man, its worth to note that like his buddy Najib Razak, Jamaluddin Jarjis wasn’t a saint when come to pretty girls. We’re talking about a minister – Jamaluddin Jarjis – who was allegedly to have molested a female worker in the Havana Club at a five-star hotel – Hotel Meridien – in Kuala Lumpur back in April 2008.

Amazingly, barely hours after the incident, the victim whose buttock was grabbed withdrew her statutory complaint against JJ, with rumours that she was paid millions to keep her mouth shut. The case was never heard again. To save his close buddy from potential trouble, Prime Minister Najib posted JJ to America as Malaysia’s Ambassador.

Jamaluddin Jarjis was also somehow involved in the 1MDB scandal when it was exposed in 2016 that Goldman Sachs hired Anis Jamaludin, daughter of Jamaluddin Jarjis, as far back as 2010. Ms Anis worked for Goldman as an investment banking analyst in Singapore from July to November 2010. Tim Leissner, then Goldman’s co-president for Southeast Asia, was working to forge closer business ties in Malaysia.

It is believed that the idea of 1Malaysia Peoples’ Housing Scheme (PR1MA) was mooted by JJ. Last year, the then-PM Najib Razak revealed that the PR1MA Malaysia had awarded more than RM15 billion worth of contracts to 574 Bumiputera firms. Overall, PR1MA had awarded more than RM22.4 billion worth of contracts to its business partners – comprising developers, contractors as well as vendors.

Yet, despite Najib’s promise to build hundreds of thousands of the affordable housing for the people – every year – the fact remains only 11,944 units of PR1MA homes have been sold by November, 2017, as admitted by former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim. Interestingly, JJ was actually the Chairman of 1Malaysia Peoples’ Housing Scheme (PR1MA).

Had he benefited from the scheme through kickbacks during the process of awarding the contracts, hence, resulting in under delivery of housing for the people? PR1MA is clearly a cash cow where the chairman could easily enrich himself. JJ had only served the Cabinet as minister for a short period from 2002 to 2008 and he was already worth a mind-boggling RM2.1 billion.

Therefore, it’s not an exaggeration to estimate that the newly crowned UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is worth conservatively RM20 billion. As the former Deputy Prime Minister, not to mention his past important portfolio in Defence Ministry and Home Ministry, there’s little doubt that Mr. Zahid possesses 10 times more wealth than JJ.

Not bad for a Malay who spoke very little English.

Two years ago, Mr. Zahid courted controversial when his plan to import 1.5 million Bangladesh workers into the country was exposed. Using his brother Abdul Hakim Hamidi as his proxy, each cheap labour would be charged RM3,000 – potentially generating a cool revenue of RM4.5 billion for the Hamidi family. The project was believed to have proceeded secretly.

Heck, it’s safe to presume all the 191 UMNO warlords have reached the billion ringgit milestone in their capacity as division chiefs who determine the fate of the UMNO president. All the 191 UMNO warlords have their own pet projects to enrich themselves. That was how the Malaysian prime minister, by virtue of being UMNO president, kept his power.

For example, Haris Onn Hussein, the brother of former Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein Onn has a 20.16% stake in Ekovest, a company awarded the contract to build the Setiawangsa-Pantai Expressway (SPE) at a cost of RM3.738 billion with a concession period with the Government for 53½ years. That’s a cash cow the Hussein family can milk for half a century.

Even a Tier-3 UMNO warlords such as Tajuddin Abdul Rahman – nicknamed “Six Million Dollar Man” for his role in offering bribe to the tune of RM6 million for his UMNO division chief post – was already a billionaire years ago. This is the same Tajuddin who screamed until foaming at the mouth warning the Malay-Muslims about “Christianity, Chinese and Communist”.

Amusingly, his own “Ali Baba” company – Detik Utuh Sdn Bhd – was a partner with Chinese-based Crest Builder Holdings Bhd in a 49:51 equity participation involved in building Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Tapah campus in Perak in 2013. Crest Builder had put the university’s construction cost at RM285.

89 million.

While the construction cost was nothing to shout about, Mr. Tajuddin was given a cool 23-year concession to setup and maintain the campus, at a staggering RM1.3 billion. Essentially, Tajuddin’s Detik Utuh, an inactive construction company with no prior performance record in the industry, has been milking RM56.5 million every year for maintaining “new buildings”.

Like UMNO’s 191 division chiefs, their comrades from the 191 MCA division chiefs were believed to have done quite well too. For example, MCA Deputy President Wee Ka Siong, despite being mocked and laughed off as “Cry Baby Wee”, became an instant billionaire through his pet project – the RM12 billion PKFZ scandal – first hatched in 2001.

According to Forbes, there are 17 Malaysian billionaires in terms of US dollar in net worth. There are more if the fortune is measured in Malaysian Ringgit. Adding these 17 Malaysian business owners to the 191 UMNO warlords and voila, you have more than 200 billionaires. And we have not even talked about family members of politicians who become billionaire due to nepotism or using crooked means.

Nazifuddin, second son of ex-premier Najib Razak is a jolly good case study. Mr. Nazifuddin was linked to a Get-Rich-Ponzi-Scheme called UFUN. In 2015, all hell broke loose when the uFun Store had allegedly swindled 120,000 people involving at least 38 billion Baht (US$1.13 billion, £720 million, RM4 billion) in Thailand.

Now, will it be an exaggeration to suggest that Najib’s net worth is at least RM100 billion? In the same breath, those who believe that the ethnic Chinese were rich because they have robbed the Malays should think again. At least, they should be proud UMNO has produced

191 Malay billionaires, more than the Chinese. Jamaluddin Jarjis is the clearest proof!!

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Forwarded as received.

*From my London accountant friend ..a Pahang guy who was a Director of DARA n TNB.He knows the inside story of JJ.*

I served as Director of DARA or Lembaga Kemajuan Pahang Tenggara for 8yrs...before JJ made his move to be Rompin MP .I left DARA, when it was still a Regional Govt Authority.

When TM decided to publish all privatised Govt entities,I was shocked to find,the names of Tengku Mahkota Pahang and JJ as owners of DARA with all the land.

2 large cattle farms( Dara Beef and Pahang Beef with over 12000acres of land),

Sawira Palm Oil Mill,

Teh Dara Plantations.

DARA Lam Soon ,

DARA Fabricators ,

DARA Aquaculture,which were formed to benefit the displaced Iron Ore Mine Workers of Ibam ,and rakyat of Pahang Tenggara specifically,suddenly became personal properties of JJ.and TMahkota.

It was a betrayal that I couldnt swallow.

The newco called DARA TRUSTConsortium, started the classic Asset stripping and made instant multimillionaires of a few who were loitering below the millionaire level, and all these were done quietly,swiftly and cunningly.

To add some coatings of charity and rakyat benefit...

UMNO of Rompin, Pekan, Endau, all benefited.....but the biggest beneficiaries of all are the 2main stake holders who had no qualms or tinge of guilt about what they did but moved quietly to strip DARA.

JJ then went to insist on the setting up of a UNITEN Campus in Bandar Muadzam and siphoned off a big chunk.of approved budget allocation for UNITEN Bangi for Muadzam Campus which was in his Constituency.

The move angered top management of TNB...so much so that the CEO refused to sign the cheque of RM60m ...for Muadzam!!!.

(I had the same problem when forced to sign a cheque for IPP in Pakistan which was a non starter and took 6yrs to complete).

But JJ had Najibs backing...so u can imagine who benefitted from all the transactions!!!!

What has been disclosed is tip of the iceberg....many more which could only be discussed quietly in dark corners of Karaoke rooms......

Written by Syed Akbar Ali on his blog

About 1/3 or maybe even 1/2 of JJ's RM2.1 Billion assets rests in a power station, an IPP now known as NUR Power.

This power station was once owned by NUR Sdn Bhd of which I was a Company Director.

The power plant is now easily worth over RM1.2 Billion. It has THREE valuable licenses : a power generation license, a power distribution license PLUS a license to sell back power to TNB. Just these licenses were worth hundreds of millions of Ringgit.
At one time YTL and Scomi Bhd showed interest in buying our plant. The Scomi boss met me at a golf club and while we were pissing in the Men's Room he offered RM650 million cash to buy our power plant. We had no plans to sell out.

Here is the story.

I say my company because I am still a Director of the company which was the major shareholder, founder, developer and owner of Northern Utility Resources SB (NUR Sdn Bhd) - the owner of the power plant.

We held a 40% stake in Northern Utility Resources SB. Our associates held another 20%. Together we controlled 60%.

Khazanah Nasional controlled the balance 40% (20% through TNB and 20% directly).

We built and commissioned a 225 MW gas fired power plant in Kulim Hi Tech Park at a cost of just over RM1.0 Billion. The Asian Financial Crisis saw factories shutting down at the Kulim Hi Tech Park where we built the plant. This stressed our cashflows.

We went to TNB to sell our excess power to them (a tiny, measly 100 + MW of excess power). They refused to help us out. My boss was Indian and the TNB guys used to refer to our plant as the "IPP K_ling".

Later TNB offered to buy out our 60% stake - but after agreeing on the purchase price they refused to sign the Sale and Purchase Agreement pula. Psychos.

There was a Court process where we were also frustrated. There is another story there too but I better not say it here.

1. Folks, guess who was the Chairman of Tenaga Nasional Berhad at the relevant times of our difficulties negotiating with TNB?

ANSWER : JAMALUDDIN JARJIS or JJ.

2. Then the company was put into receivership by the syndicate of banks where the main shareholder of the main bank CIMB was guess who - Khazanah Nasional Bhd again.

The CEO of CIMB was of course the brother of the Super Kleptocrat.

And JJ was of course Super Kleptocrat's super duper crony buddy - all rolled into one.

The story is not over. The consortium of Bankers (led by CIMB Bank and Khazanah of course) then sold our power plant.

3. Guess who bought our power plant?

ANSWER : JAMALUDDIN JARJIS.

By that time he had joined the Najib gomen and he set up a company to buy our power plant from the Banks (via the Receivership). His company was called NUR Power Sdn Bhd (very original).

The story is still not over. Guess how much JJ paid the Banks for our 225 MW power plant that is worth about RM1.2 Billion (or more).

Because by this time our power plant was (and still is) selling its full output of 225 MW. Annual cashflow in excess of RM650 million?

So guess how much JJ paid for our power plant?

Less than RM700 million !!

The Banks gave him about a 50% haircut (discount) from the amount owing to them. We had built the power plant for over RM1.0 Billion !! Fuiyyo !!

So JJ - the ex Chairman of TNB - got his retirement gift from Khazanah Nasional which controls TNB and also controls CIMB. He paid RM700 million or less for our power plant that was worth over RM1.2 Billion.

The story is not over yet. JJ raised a loan to buy our power plant. We heard that just one bank, Maybank gave him the loan to purchase our power plant.

We built the power plant.

We hired the Austrians (Germans actually) as our contractors.

I used to visit the construction site often.

I even bought a house in Kulim because eventually I would have had to move there.

Then the kleptocracy stepped in and just pirated away all our efforts.

Now they are fighting over their ill gotten gains - ill gotten gains from other peoples' sweat, hard work and life. Becayse one of our FOUR Directors has since passed away - with nothing from his investment and his life efforts given to his widow and family.

JJ's widow, his mother and his children are now fighting over what was pirated from other peoples' honest and hard work.

To JJ's family - sebahagian besar harta your late father bukan duit halal pun. That is why you are now fighting over the money. It is ill gotten money.

Karma is not with you.

To my friend Dato Azam Baki of the SPRM - you should investigate the story of NUR Power Sdn Bhd. There is most certainly a serious conflict of interest that JJ - the former Chairman of TNB, can buy over an IPP fo his personal gain where TNB itself was not only a shareholder but a major determinant of that IPP's fate.

When TNB refused to buy excess power of just over 100MW and later refused to sign the Sales and Purchase Agreement AFTER agreeing to buy us out, it sealed the fate of our power plant.

This must be investigated."

Jamaluddin was killed on April 4, 2015 after the helicopter he was travelling in crashed at Kampung Sungai Pening, Semenyih, Selangor.
(Update) Jamaluddin Jarjis' mother seeks share of son's RM2 billion estate
By Nor Azura Abdul Jalil and Rahmat Khairulrijal - August 29, 2018 @ 12:54pm
KUALA LUMPUR: The mother of the late former minister Tan Sri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis has filed a lawsuit seeking a share of her late son’s properties worth at least RM2.1 billion. Aminah Abdullah who filed the suit on March 2 at the Syariah Court is also seeking the court to issue the Islamic wealth distribution (faraid) certificate for this matter. The 83-year-old mother has listed various assets belong to the former Rompin member of parliament, including 22 landed properties in Pahang and Kuala Lumpur, 21 bank accounts with a total of more than RM15 million, several properties in the United States of America and Mecca, as well as a company he owned … for more, go to https://www.nst.com.my/news/crime-courts/2018/08/406001/update-jamaluddin-jarjis-mother-seeks-share-sons-rm2-billion-estate