“These are questions being asked by Malaysians and the international community (in the wake of the 1MDB scandal).”
Malaysia has once again proven to be a unique country with crimes being committed with no criminals being found, he charged. “Some may ask what’s new. The world is very skeptical about Malaysia. The country is not very well regarded in terms of integrity and good governance.”
“Already, foreign countries are proceeding to investigate and prosecute those proven to have broken laws in the 1MDB scandal. These include Switzerland and Singapore.”
1MDB was not based on a “wrong business model” as explained by the Deputy Finance Minister in Parliament but it was set up on a “known flawed business model” rejected by the Government of Terengganu, he added. “The Federal Government had been warned about its unworkability by the state government. Everyone could see it was a highly risky model but the Federal Government decided to proceed and accumulated over RM40 billion in debts.”
1MDB’s predecessor, the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), was wise enough to dump the “business model” but the Federal Government was irresponsible and greedy and amassed billions of ringgit of debts at the nation’s expense, he lamented. “As long as Malaysia continues to have large crimes with no criminals being caught, Malaysia will continue to be a fast failing state.”
Raja Bahrin was commenting on the Deputy Minister of Finance telling Parliament that 1MDB was based on a “wrong business model”. “He also said the government ‘never claimed it was a good investment’.”
These were all facts they should have known well before 1MDB started on its “suicidal spiraling debts accumulating misadventure”, continued Raja Bahrin. “Again, what’s unforgivable and totally irresponsible was the fact that the Federal Government had been well forewarned of the impending high failure risks by a state government that refused to mortgage its future away, no matter how much arm-twisting was applied.”
The MP delved into the history of TIA, set up through the initiative of the Federal Government under Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, as a “sovereign fund” vehicle with intent to pledge as collateral future earnings of Terengganu’s oil and gas revenue with no other known assets or projects in hand.
The Government of Terengganu, then headed by Ahmad Said, realized it was a very high risk concept which would compromise the state’s future, said Raja Bahrin. “The unknown figure of Jho Low who appeared to mastermind the scheme caused further doubts in the minds of the Terengganu Government.”
“Their fears were justified. Jho Low proved to be a controversial figure and the oil price crashed below USD30.”
TIA became 1MDB, reminded Raja Bahrin. “Even before any project was launched it was learnt some hundreds of millions was paid out as commissions to certain individuals.”