Clare Rewcastle Brown: the prober now being probed
The plot thickens and we may be on the verge of seeing an even more interesting development to the 1MDB issue. Yes, the story has not ended yet. In fact, it is only beginning. So expect things to get hotter over the next few weeks.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Yesterday, there were two very interesting Blog postings: Millions In Cash Go Into Rosmah’s Account – How Come? EXCLUSIVE! (READ HERE) and Stunning indictment of Sarawak Report (READ HERE).
For six years or so Clare Rewcastle Brown had used her Sarawak Report to attack Abdul Taib Mahmud, the Sarawak Chief Minister, and his family, with only one objective in mind: to bring down Barisan Nasional Sarawak and hand the state to PKR.
It was a single objective and her kuda who will be the new Sarawak Chief Minister once PKR takes over the state is Baru Bian, who has made a number of trips to London to meet Clare.
Along the way, PKR’s de facto chief, Anwar Ibrahim, decided to remove Baru Bian as the PKR Sarawak head and replace him with a Muslim candidate. Clare was furious. She closed down Sarawak Report and phoned Anwar to give him a piece of her mind. If Anwar did not reinstate Baru Bian as the PKR Sarawak chief then Sarawak Report would stay closed and Clare would not help PKR bring down Taib.
Anwar relented and a few days later Sarawak Report was back in business.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad saw that Sarawak Report was a suitable vehicle to be used in bringing down the Prime Minister so he met up with Clare to discuss the possibility of Sarawak Report working with the anti-Najib forces.
The possibility is always there, of course, but it all boils down to the issue of money. Sarawak Report is well funded by those who want Taib out and who want PKR to take over Sarawak. To do the same in the oust-Najib-campaign even more funding would be needed.
Thus far it has been a one-way fight. Sarawak Report has been hitting Taib and his family but Taib did not hit back. But now Najib’s people are not going to allow Clare to continue hitting the Prime Minister and his family without any retaliation.
Investigators are now probing Clare and Sarawak Report to establish how much money she has been receiving these last few years and who is the one (or the ones) who is/are funding her (although they already more or less know who). They already know that the money comes from outside the UK but what they now want to know is how much of that money is undeclared and has been hidden from the eyes of the UK taxman.
They are also trying to establish how Clare from just a reporter changed her lifestyle after she started attacking Taib and now, after she started attacking Najib, her lifestyle is taking on the shape and form of the very people she is attacking. There is no doubt that Clare is flush with money and someone is spending big bucks to finance her attacks on Najib, said the investigators.
The investigators want to prove that Clare is a gun for hire and her only motivation is money and not to search for the truth. In fact, say the investigators, in Clare’s so-called search for the truth, she is even prepared to resort to fraud and fake documents just to run down her targets.
Well, good luck to the investigators because I am sure that a sharp cookie like Clare would know how to cover her tracks and not leave a paper trial. After all, her job is to probe others so she must know what mistakes they made, which means she would know what to do to avoid getting caught.
The investigators, however, claim that it is not difficult to get to the truth. They point out the lavish multi-million-apartment that she lives in which would not be possible unless you are in the million-dollar bracket.
Once her wealth has been established, legal suits would be filed against her. The investigators say that the lawyers are already looking into this and they plan to take her for everything she owns. They would not reveal their strategy but the investigators are confident that finally Clare has overstepped the boundary in her latest revelation regarding Rosmah’s bank accounts.
It seems a legal suit will also be filed against Affin Bank Berhad for collaborating with Clare by revealing private banking details. If they decide to also press for criminal charges against those in Affin Bank guilty of this collaboration, that person or persons may try to make a deal to stay out of prison by revealing the links and dealings with Clare, which will further strengthen the case against her.
Meanwhile, the Thai police has asked the Malaysian police for the names of a number of Malaysians who can assist them in the Xavier Andre Justo investigation. Dr Mahathir’s aid, Sufi Yusuf, is said to be amongst five Malaysians alleged to be involved in the crime of data stealing and the crime of doctoring emails. Hmm…will Sufi be spending Hari Raya in Kuala Lumpur or in Bangkok this year?
What the Thai police is also investigating is the money trail to Justo. The police want to establish how much was really paid and how it was paid, in cash or through electronic transfer. They want to know who else paid Justo other than the RM15 million that is already public knowledge. In the event cash was smuggled into Thailand to pay Justo that would constitute another crime since smuggling cash into the country without declaring it is against the law.
The plot thickens and we may be on the verge of seeing an even more interesting development to the 1MDB issue. Yes, the story has not ended yet. In fact, it is only beginning. So expect things to get hotter over the next few weeks.
