For Najib '1MDB' Razak, it’s not house arrest but bungalow arrest

Share to help stimulate good governance, ensure future of people & M’sia

No News Is Bad News

Anwar and Najib, birds of the feather?

For Najib '1MDB' Razak, it’s not house arrest but bungalow arrest

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28, 2024: Finance Twitter has posted a damning report titled You Help Me, I Help You – Anwar Welcomes Najib’s Apology, Rushing For “Bungalow Arrest” Law.

Finance Twitter opines that Anwar’s support for Najib “1MDB” Razak is aimed boosting his chances of getting a second term as Malaysia’s Prime Minister come 2027, when a general election is mandatory.

So, Anwar’s support for a convicted kleptocrat, who caused Malaysians billions of ringgit in losses via his mismanagement of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a so-called Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), is for his personal interest, not that of rakyat dan negara (people and country).

No News Is Bad News reproduces below the Finance Twitter report that was reposted by The Coverage:

News

You Help Me, I Help You – Anwar Welcomes Najib’s Apology, Rushing For “Bungalow Arrest” Law

27 October, 2024 

 

Both Anwar Ibrahim and Najib Razak are delighted that the drama runs according to the script. To ensure the 10th Prime Minister could continue his 5-year term without any interruption, former PM Najib would not abruptly withdraw support just like how his faction did in July 2021, which led to the collapse of Muhyiddin backdoor government after just 17 months in power.

In exchange for Najib’s “You Help Me, I Help You” kindness, power-hungry Anwar has agreed to not only cut short his 12 years jail by half, but will also bulldoze a new law to allow the crook enjoys his remaining jail sentence under “bungalow arrest”. To prove his sincerity, Anwar government had even appointed Najib’s useless daughter as a director of Matrade (Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation).

To justify spending jail time in the comfort of luxurious home, there was one final piece to the puzzle – Najib has to apologise, or at least pretends to be sorry for stealing billions of dollars belonging to the people. Less than 24 hours after the crook said sorry, PM Anwar scrambled to welcome – and accept – the half-baked apology as he was extremely terrified of losing power.

That was how Najib had planned to checkmate the weak and empty vessel Anwar as per our article back in April (read here). From the beginning, British-educated Najib was smarter than Anwar, his former UMNO colleague whose ambition to become a prime minister was torpedoed after then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad sacked him, then-his deputy, for corruption and sodomy in 1998.

The fact that Mr Anwar rushed to accept the crook’s apology, instead of waiting for people’s anger to subside, shows his desperation to cling to power. It also confirms Najib’s theory that Anwar would do anything in his power to stay in power, including becoming an obedient poodle of Najib and the disgusting lapdog of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

That explains why Najib’s apology yesterday (Oct 24) was not only half-baked, but did not contain any element of remorse at all. In fact, his expression of regret, which was read by his son (Nizar Mohamad Najib), was nothing but a repeat of his past excuse in blaming everyone else except himself. He was sorry for getting caught red handed, not because he believed it was wrong to steal money.

From July 2018, the day he was arrested and charged for corruption in the US$4.5 billion 1MDB scandal to the day he lost all his appeals and sent to jail in August 2022, and from the first day he served his sentence in Kuala Lumpur’s Kajang Prison up to 26 months in prison, Najib had never expressed any remorse, let alone felt sorry for the financial and economic damages his 1MDB scandal had done to the country.

And we are suppose to believe Najib when his son said – “After much reflection over the course of 26 months in prison, and following significant recent developments relating to 1MDB, I have decided to make the following statement. It pains me to know that the 1MDB debacle happened under my watch as the minister of finance and PM. I would like to apologise unequivocally to Malaysians”?

Najib must be both mentally retarded and intellectually disabled if it took him more than 6 years to realize that. Even then, the defiant thief still tried to insult people’s intelligence, insisting that he honestly believed that the stolen money was donations from Saudi royal family – even though Saudi Arabia, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Securities Commission and the FBI had confirmed there were no such donations.

In fact, not only the U.S. had said for the third time that Saudi donation did not exist, but the FBI had confirmed that Najib stole RM3.2 billion while his stepson Riza Aziz had stolen RM1 billion and partner-in-crime Jho Low had stolen RM6 billion. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir too confirmed as early as October 2018 that the RM2.6 billion dubious donations had nothing to do with the kingdom’s government.

If the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) found in Najib’s personal bank accounts were indeed donations, why were there no witnesses called to testify, including former Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi’s claim in 2015 that he had personally met the wealthy Arab family who donated the money? Is Najib trying to say the US-DOJ and FBI had wrongly prosecuted and sent Goldman Sach banker Roger Ng to 10 years in prison?

Tim Leissner, the former chief of Goldman Sachs’ Southeast Asia operation, had actually exposed more dirty backroom and bedroom deals – sex, bribes and blackmail – during his testimony in a U.S. federal court in the 1MDB trial of Roger Ng, Goldman’s Malaysian head of investment banking. Mr Ng had received RM35 million in kickbacks to take part in the money laundering scheme.

But even before the US$6.5 billion in bonds that Goldman helped 1MDB to raise between 2009 and 2014, which allowed the U.S. bank to earn a whopping US$600 million in fees, the bribery in the form of back-scratching had already begun. During one Thanksgiving trip to New York in 2009, Leissner arranged for Najib to meet with Goldman’s then-CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, ahead of major bond deals for 1MDB.

In return for the lucrative business deals, Leissner revealed that Goldman was to get jobs at the bank for Najib’s three children, something that the ex-PM liked to call “You help me, I help you”. Unfortunately, the U.S. investment bank declined to hire Najib’s daughter (Nooryana Najwa Najib), forcing Leissner to pull some strings to get her a position with TPG Capital, an American private equity firm in Hong Kong, instead.

Leissner also admitted to having several affairs while working for Goldman, including with Anis Jamaludin, the daughter of Jamaluddin Jarjis, Najib’s best friend. Formerly Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Jamaluddin was appointed as Malaysian Ambassador to the U.S. in July 2009 after he sexually harassed a female worker of a restaurant at a five-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

But even if it was true that Najib was a moron who had been scammed into believing the RM2.6 billion was donations from Saudi, which was not the case, he still can’t explain why he and his wife Rosmah Mansor had spent the money anyway for shopping in Italy. The US-DOJ investigation found that Rosmah had purchased a 22-carat pink diamond necklace using money siphoned from 1MDB. In fact, the US$27 million diamond was purchased in 2013.

Likewise, Najib can’t explain why he had fired former A.G. Gani Patail for investigating his 1MDB scandal, before appointing the “friendly” Apandi Ali as a replacement in 2015. The ex-PM had also initially wanted to sue The Wall Street Journal for exposing the scandal, before chickening out. He certainly can’t explain why his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin, had to be sacked for openly expressing his concern about 1MDB.

Najib consistently lied that the infamous US$680 million (RM2.6 billion) found in his banks was “donation” from the Saudi royal family. His favourite argument that he was not a crook is that he had returned US$620 million from the initial US$680 million. But he didn’t return the US$620 million to his self-proclaimed Saudi royal family because the money was unused. 

In truth, he returned it because he needed to siphon it to somewhere else, as advised by his partner-in-crime Jho Low. The US$620 million was returned to Tanore Finance Corp in August 2013 because Rosmah wanted to buy the US$27,300,000 (RM114 million) pink diamond. The next month (Sept 2013), payment was made to jewellery designer Lorraine Schwartz, known as “Jewish Queen of Oscar Bling”.

The despicable crook’s real intention in the apology note, which moron PM Anwar stupidly accepted, was in the following argument – he had already been punished politically, and that he should not be further “victimised” by the courts as well. What Najib meant was that losing power (in the 2018 General Election) should be his ultimate and final punishment, hence, he should not be sent to jail at all.

Going by his twisted and crooked logic, prime ministers can freely help themselves to national coffers because the worst that can happen to them is losing power since they belonged to the untouchable elites and are supposedly immune from prosecution or imprisonment. Najib, who was born with a silver spoon, basically says it was wrong to send Malaysia’s first political blue blood to jail as he has special privileges.

It appears that Anwar had been convinced by Najib that as the elites, they are above the law and do not deserve to be jailed, no matter what crimes they had done (or will commit in the future). That probably explains why Mr Anwar self-proclaimed himself as “an honourable prisoner” in September. He talked as if he should not be imprisoned, and should have been under “house arrest” at worst.

While he has the right and freedom to accept Najib’s apology, Anwar can only do so in his personal capacity. He cannot and has zero right to forgive the world’s biggest crook on behalf of the 34 million Malaysians. The thief has not even paid a single penny of his RM210 million fine, and the narcissist prime minister had generously given him a 75% discount.

As of March 2024, taxpayers’ money to the tune of RM43.8 billion was paid for 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) debt, with remaining balance amounting to RM9.7 billion – involving a principal of RM5 billion and RM4.7 billion interest. And this clown called Anwar Ibrahim has shamelessly forgiven the criminal who had sent the country to the brink of bankruptcy.

Worse, Anwar’s apple polishers have the cheek to lie, spin and twist about the house arrest – the first of its kind in the history of Malaysia – as if the people are stupid. The Minister of Communications Fahmi Fadzil tries to lie through his teeth that a house arrest bill which PKR president Anwar Ibrahim is rushing to sign into law, has nothing to do with Najib Razak, who is currently serving prison time.

Yet, at the same time, backdoor Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution has not denied that Najib would be qualified for the house arrest based on at least two criteria, including first-time offenders who have not committed serious crimes, the elderly, pregnant women, and persons with disabilities. To hide the gimmick, the home minister said 20,000 offenders can be considered for house arrest.

But out of 20,000 offenders, a smoke screen to cover-up Najib’s release, you can bet that the majority would be forced to stay at care facilities or workers’ dormitories, leaving residential homes to just a handful like powerful politician Najib. Using overcrowded prisons as an excuse, Home Minister Saifuddin said the proposed law on house arrest is aimed at giving first-time offenders a second chance – obviously referring to Mr Najib.

Joining Anwar in the forgiving crusade are Najib’s loyalists in UMNO, clearly trying to build momentum based on the drama script to push for the release of their corrupt “Bossku”. They shamelessly claim that Najib’s apology was sincere, even though the average Joes and Janes on the street could see through the evil plot miles away. The insincere apology was just to soften the ground for the upcoming house arrest.

More importantly, if Najib could be easily scammed by Jho Low and everyone under the Sun, Anwar Ibrahim is technically stupider than the retarded Najib for accepting his apology at lightning speed. The question is, if Anwar is dumb enough to be scammed by Najib, shouldn’t a brilliant Najib replace him as the Prime Minister? Perhaps now everyone can steal money and apologise later when caught.

Source : Finance Twitter