Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Next change: A big fish in the South

Latest: MACC probes Iskandar kickbacks. NST's playing the story big, so I reckon something's brewing ...

Updated: Big Cat says Big Fish are found not only in the South but also in high places in KL. Read her latest posting h e r e. One of them very big fish is Azman Mokhtar, the Khazanah boss, Big Cat says. Is he, really? Let's see ...

Original posting:-

Johor assemblymen to be charged for corruption. The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commision is getting very busy in Johore. On Monday, the husband of ex-CEO of Iskandar Investment Berhad was charged in court with corruption. Today, a former Senior Vice President pleaded guilty to charges brought against him by the MACC.

After this, I hear, an ADUN or Assemblyman in Johor will be brought to court to face corruption charges related to the IIB.

Of course, some jokers will say this is a sign that the general election is nigh, especially after the conviction of Khir Toyo. They are not wrong, I tell you. But the dudes at MACC, they tell me GE or no GE, they will still go out fishing for more big fish. In the case of the IIB, the Commission had great help from Earnst & Young. And, of course, some bloggers, notably the now-defunct Irdawatch.

38 comments:

  1. Jasper Bloodstone7:49 pm

    How many big fish are out there?

    Will the barbarians in Malaysia Airlines be probed to it's fullest extent?

    Ditto for the procurement of Sukhois & MiGs for the Air Force, Skorpene subs and Off-shore Patrol Vessels (now morphed into Littoral Combat Ships) for the Navy?

    The Iskandar goings-on must be especially embarrassing to Najib, seeing as how he's on a promo mission for the Zone, and with an upcoming four-eyes meeting.

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  2. Anonymous7:59 pm

    Dear Mr. Rocky,

    I really hope that MACC have the nerve to poke into the Khazanah layer.. There's many bad bad people inside it.. Spending kwsp money like nobody else business... Some of us called it the act of god..but I felt the hidden hand of Khairy playing the puppet master using his oxford buddies left in Khazanah...

    Tom faiz

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  3. Anonymous8:06 pm

    weirdly, why don;t they just go to PKR office and took anuwar 300million or go east and take nik aziz RM60,000.00?
    imam mahdi and a prophet taking bribe, i guess that should be the main event of the century.
    or just go to the north, a caliph and a chief minister giving bribe because his son fondled some breast? even better the news was reported by the caliph's news paper?
    wow, with all this big fish east and north and near MACC office, where the hack is all the MACCs' people?

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  4. I surmise that the whistleblowing provisions introduced in 2004 have yielded results.

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  5. Anonymous9:19 pm

    hahahaha... big fish..please lah Rocky !! ini semua ikan bilis !!

    Shahrizat tu macam mana ?? MACC tarak berani kut !!

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  6. Anonymous10:34 pm

    MACC, do check who got the contract for Putrajaya Site Office building in 1997 when Arlida headed KLCC Project Management team to so called project manage the Site Office development. Wonder why the same 'modus operandi' as argued by the same circle in the old days is surfacing.

    X-Pjya

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  7. Anonymous11:32 pm

    BIG FISH NO FALL NO DIES, small fishes always fall accidently and dies....haha em ay sei sei...(aku melayu undi dacing sayang Ayahanda Tun M ngan Bonda Siti Hasmah)

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  8. Anonymous12:25 am

    I am falling my chair reading your posting... Big fish..? All these people are small fish la.... The big fish is telling the macc who to charge just to make them look good. AnD btw bro rocky... Those who are corrupt are in the govt especially in umno and bn... Dont draw a blind before us because we are not blind...

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  9. For the MACC, the Next Stop after Iskandar, should be MAS, then Khazanah itself and the NFC.

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  10. Anonymous1:30 am

    big fish ka small fish ka, ikan bilis ka or ikan dugong ka kalau salah - kena, oh ya BN people semua corrupted,DAP(err...actually they love cheating,the devil creating this `cheating nature' masa dalam tembuni lagi)and how about PAS? and PKR Anwar ibrahim? not corrupted? ptuihhh!!!!

    p.s
    allo DAPig kalau nak tau apa itu tembuni lu x payah google just get lost from this tanah melayu.

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  11. Anonymous2:29 am

    Woi Si Atan,

    Kenapa MACC tak berani sentuh pompuan lembu tu si Shahrizat?

    Memang celaka betul telan wang rakyat.

    Ikan paling besar lah kau Si Atan.
    you memang celaka cam UMNO lah .......

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  12. Anonymous7:11 am

    Normally the allocation for development projects from the Federal to the State will go directly to the respective agencies such as State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN), JKR, etc. But for the case of Johor, after the announcement of South Johor Economic Region (SJER) by Abdullah Badawi in 2006, the allocation from the Federal Government for the Johor corridor was channeled to the corridor agency (IRDA) and Iskandar Investment Berhad (IIB). Since Khazanah “created” both companies, public can easily make guess who was responsible for the “divergence” in Federal allocation in South Johor.

    Under the 9th Malaysia Plan (9MP) for 2006-2010, the Federal Government has disbursed close to RM7 billion for the two newly set-up companies to award to third parties (contractors and what-not) to undertake various projects such as building highways, river cleaning, blueprints, etc. Out of that RM7 billion, RM2-3 billion went to IIB, while the remaining RM4-5 billion went to IRDA.

    According to The Star article today, the duo to be charged in relation to the RM2 billion package. Meaning, almost all allocation from the Federal to IIB somehow went to the hand of the duo! How can this thing happen? What about the RM4-5 billion that went to IRDA? Can the public expect MACC to make further announcement soon?

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  13. bro,clearly corruption everywhere.river of life ask ekovest to handle?aaawwww...cmon..hisham use to be my neighbor..lim kang ho...lol!

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  14. Anonymous9:40 am

    Compare to Taib and others you know I know, they are just Ikan bilis, just monkey see, monkey do!

    BL

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  15. Mazlan9:52 am

    Big Cat is damn correct. IIB is a Khazanah tool with Khazanah appointees. What sort of oversight was there. Even if Khazanah head honchos did not take the money they should be fored for lack of proper oversight.
    The same Khazanah that has handed over MAS to AirAsia for a song and is now allowing Tony F to asset strip it bare and turn it into a shell!

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  16. Anonymous10:36 am

    No to TONY !No to TONY !No to TONY !No to TONY !No to TONY !
    No to Azman !No to Azman !No to Azman !No to Azman !
    No to Danny !No to Danny !No to Danny !No to Danny !
    sudah muak dengan lu orang punya angkuhan.
    sudah muak dengan Najib punya playsafe blue ocean high income nation 1M cool.
    Najib is presiden of UMNO, and will be Ketua Pembangkang Parlimen.
    arjuna waspada
    changkat lobak

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  17. karim hashim1:35 pm

    Hi Rocky, perhaps you might want to find out more on how the Medini land deals were structured with the Arab Consortiums and a Sri Lankan individual, who hides behind few companies registered in British Virgin Island. How the hell Khazanah signed the deal with these suspicious companies is a mystery.

    You will find out that the deal involved:

    1) I sell to you Medini land at x dollar, but you can sell back to me at x+y dollar. (Never mind if you make profit y dollar from me atas angin).

    2) When I sell to you at x dollar, you pay me in many INSTALLMENT over few years. But when you sell back to me at x+y dollar, I IMMEDIATELY pay you cash. (Never mind if you actually RECYCLE my money to pay me as the original land owner).

    3) In addition, if you feel that you cannot make 20% profit from the land plots, you can return the land back to me, and I pay you higher at x+z dollar. (Never mind if you actually pass all the business risks to me because I am stupid).

    4) Together we create many vehicles to undertake projects on Medini, we use government money to fund those projects, either using grant of soft loans. (See, the government cannot let us fail).

    Let's not kill the excitement Rocky. You need to do some investigative journalism. Ask MACC if they are aware about this. By the way, all these agreements were signed by Khazanah people on behalf of IIB.

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  18. Anonymous2:20 pm

    It is all just 'sandiwara'. The real dirty big boys are well protected by the agency.

    The real show would only happen when GE13 changes the govt. I bet those leeches would take the first plane out of the country

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  19. Jasper Bloodstone2:40 pm

    Mazlan 9:52 AM

    On a point of clarification, didn't MAS get into deep s**t multiple times before Tony F even appeared on the scene? To the point of restructurings, asset bundling and such like?

    Seems to me that you may have an awfully selective memory!

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  20. Anonymous4:44 pm

    Aisey....I was looking to the lady's picture on the right hand side of the paper clip...is that the wife of the suspect?

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  21. Anonymous5:09 pm

    KHAS UNTUK EN TONY F...

    http://yatiechomeyl.blogspot.com/2011/12/now-not-everyone-can-flya-letter-to.html

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  22. Anonymous5:53 pm

    The real big fish that escaped were the Pakatan guys - like Selangor MB, The Selangor DAP Ex-Co guy whose assistant was found dead, and now the Perak DAP guy who was reported to be corrupt (of course, as alleged by the BN fellows lah).

    How come MACC is not focused on these BIGGGGGGGG FISH?

    Rocky has the answer but he is very kedekut...dowan to share!!

    PARAMESWARA

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  23. Anonymous7:59 pm

    Dear dato rocky

    Really all small fish la..like ikan bilis. mayb this fish bigger than ikan bilis. but the bawal and siakap are untouched. IMDB is an exmaple..go check la how they can buy a stake in a company called petro saudi international BVI. Then a year later sell back the shares at a paper profit of usd 200mil....but did u know that imdb bought cash for 49 pct, but when it was sold, they were paid via finance papers...dato. this deal USD1 bilion la..compare to the RM50-60 mil big fish deal, USD1 bil is surely like a Moby DIck

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  24. Anonymous8:08 pm

    Salam bro rocky. With people like you in cyberspace, I feel relieved that youre intent on kicking the gov's ass in the right direction. Please soldier on, my prayers are with u.

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  25. Anonymous8:19 pm

    Just a few general observations with regard to corruption for discussion sake with no express or implicit sanction of corruption:

    1. Exactly how deleterious is corruption to an economy is moot or speculative.

    On the TI 'skewed' perception indice or balderdash (whichever view one takes), China and India lie below Malaysia but cumulative economic growth data over the past 20 years or so cannot erase the fact that those 2 are no stragglers in the economic stakes. To a lesser extent so are 2 other members of BRIC (Russia and Brazil)especially Russia where oligarchy is a fashion statement in political circles. Similarly, Indonesia has been growing pretty impressively on the back of 'institutionalized' corruption. and when you look at the TI index, countries bracketed with Malaysia are no mean slouches either. For further proof just look at this map based on TI data and tell me how the corrupt world fares in relation to the not so corrupt in terms of economic growth:

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/World_Map_Index_of_perception_of_corruption_2010.svg/1000px-World_Map_Index_of_perception_of_corruption_2010.svg.png

    It is evident that there is no solid facts showing any significant correlation between corruption and economic growth. Those Third World basket cases would still be mired at the bottom of the pile even if every deal or project was sanitized or deemed corrupt free by an independent watchdog. Prove yet again, policies and other variables matter more than corruption.

    2. Yes, there have been numerous studies on the matter but the jury is still out on this one. Two perspectives for starters a) deleterious:
    http://8iacc.org/papers/kaufmann.html

    or Mauro's seminal study:http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/issues6/ (solid points there but still not convincing enough in light of the observations in (1)

    b) blase?:http://www.dnaindia.com/money/column_is-corruption-good-or-bad-jury-is-out_1333247

    Whichever argument is more valid maybe irrelevant for corruption is something pernicious and impossible to rid. The art is to manage and tap into the potentialities of existent corruption while staving off future malignant growth. In other words, 'managed' corruption After all, money laundering is a very significant contributor to the economic growth of at least one jurisdiction in these parts so who knows if we come up innovative/creative ways of optimising the business of corruption, we might yet stand to benefit from it in the long run.

    And this coming from someone who favours the GST, a constitutionally mandated budget cap or alternatively a balanced budget provision, 'optimised" fiscal and monetary policies, a freeze on operating expenditure, removal of all subsidies, a reformed Personal and Corporate tax structure, a wealth tax on the Chingkie pigs etc etc...food for thought, anyone?

    Warrior 231

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  26. Anonymous10:13 pm

    Yo government of the day, quit monkeying around we need real leaders

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  27. Happy New Year Rocky.
    May year 2012 brings you much happiness and good health.

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  28. Anonymous2:59 am

    Khazanah has failed again. The analost-MD and Directors of Khazanah were well-aware about the wrongdoings in Iskandar, but they tried to cover up to protect some of their MCOBA friends that were involved since day 1. MACC should start zooming at IRDA as well. Check out the previous CEO, his right hand man-in-crime, ex-Head of Technical and few others.

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  29. Anonymous5:33 am

    Ini semua kerja Khazanah! Pandai-pandai bagi arahan kepada EPU supaya menyalurkan peruntukan RMK9 sebanyak RM7 bilion kepada IRDA dan IIB. Sekarang apa sudah jadi?

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  30. Anonymous10:26 am

    Rocky doesn't know the meaning of big fish. Big Fish can't be caught, so these are the biggest fish available to fry.

    I can bet you that Ling Liong Sik and Toyol will ultimately be freed and be discharged.

    Godfather

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  31. Anonymous10:32 am

    MACC should go after the dudes in Khazanah - esp amok and gang. By the way, Khazanah being govt investment arm which uses public should be funds be transparent about their investments and the people they appoint to manage their investments. All investments using public funds needs to be audited and scrutinized. They are answerable not only to their daddy in cabinet but also in parliament. all investments, the ROI and independent audit report (by scrupulous auditors) must be tabled in parliament and report should be made public. Is high time someone told them that they are not using their daddy's money to gamble.


    You are a seasoned business reporter rocky with great connections, tell me do you see a level playing field even among bumiputras....can a highly capable bumiputra businessman or professional with no strong cable, succeed on merit alone.....there is so many such individuals out there. Why aren't you, an intelligent and worldly bumiputra fighting to equalise this sharply inclined playing field where wealth is horded a few, not necessarily worthy bumiputra lords.......this I believe is far greater threat to the Malay race than any other bogeyman you can conjure up at the behest of your pay master..

    Jebat

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  32. Anon writes ...

    Salam bro rocky. With people like you in cyberspace, I feel relieved that youre intent on kicking the gov's ass in the right direction. Please soldier on, my prayers are with u.

    8:08 PM

    xxxxxx

    Thank you. Soldier on I definitely will. I hope I get your support not only now but also when I kick the DAP/PKR/PAS state gov's ass in the right direction. Some people don't mind if we bloggers go after BN but start calling us names when we go aftere the wrongdoers in Pakatan. Strange.

    Appreciate your words of encouragement. Happy New Year to you.

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  33. Anonymous12:31 pm

    when you kick the DAP/PKR/PAS state gov's ass in the right direction please consider what is the determinant of right

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  34. Anonymous1:28 pm

    Latuk:

    What do you go after Pakatan about ? Khalid's cows ? LGE's son ? Teoh Beng Hock's guilt ? Anwar's videos ?

    Did you say anything about cows for condos ? How about commissions paid on defence deals ? How about a member of the cabinet using zakat money for personal use ? How about a cabinet member having cash paid into his account every month ? How about enriching the world's richest Malay even further ? How about insider trading suspicions on MAS/AirAsia ?

    Since you are paid by Najib, I doubt you will jeopardise your ricebowl. Shame on you.

    Godfather

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  35. karim hashim3:19 pm

    MACC PROBES ISKANDAR KICKBACKS -

    The Khazanah people, especially Azman Mokhtar, should know that MACC is hinting something - they are now going through the files of all agreements signed by Iskandar Investment Berhad with foreign 'investors'. All these deals were signed by Khazanah Nasional on behalf of IIB.

    Those who were called by MACC over the last 6 months were not only IIB staff in charge of procurement, but also staff who are in charge of corporate matters. And boy, MACC themselves were shocked on how much were revealed to them. Can't blame those IIB people, they were interrogated like criminals.

    Many of IIB deals were lopsided, giving advantage to foreign investors. And yes, what MACC meant with "foreign agent" is a guy by the name of Imran Markar - a Sri Lankan who lives in Dubai and London. He claims to be a good friend of Azman Mokhtar, and he sits in the Board of three companies - Medini Iskandar Malaysia S/B, Global Capital and Development S/B and Medini Central S/B. And he also the beneficiary of Terra Lumina S/B. All these companies are vehicles of Medini land sale. With the profit sharing, dividends, marketing commission being schemed up in the agreements between these parties, no wonder MACC called this 'legalised corruption'.

    If any of the Khazanah people - those in the inner circle of Azman Mokhtar - read this, they should be afraid. Especially people like GS, ZKA and HZM. MACC knew this. Good luck and see you guys in jail.

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  36. Anonymous6:48 am

    MACC..pls make sure nobody will jump from the window...
    and let's see if the DAPig and Barua Council will cry foul if somebody really jump down from the window...

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  37. Soon Huat9:36 am

    Knowing how Khazanah works, their Comms will surely be in touch with you, Rocky, for damage control. Do update the blog, and don't trust them too much with their story-spin. These people are criminals at the highest level, playing billions of Ringgit of our tax money.

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  38. Sima Zian1:14 pm

    Karim Hashim 3:19 PM

    So, when there's so much publicity being given to a proposed "iconic wellness project" in the Iskandar zone as a JV between Khazanah & Temasek Holdings, it's all a load of crap and bull's poop?

    Which means that the Singgies may not know what they are in for as far as the I zone is concerned.

    The next bilateral retreat between Najib and Lee Hsien Loong should be interesting!

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