What’s the story behind the RM2.6 billion?

I doubt Najib would be so stupid as to place money he had stolen into his personal bank account, especially that large an amount, when he could have used nominees, proxies and overseas banks to cover his tracks. RM2.6 billion is just too large an amount to hide in any Malaysian bank account when even a RM50,000 overseas transfer attracts so many questions from Bank Negara.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said in his Blog posting today he does not believe the RM2.6 billion that was donated to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak could have come from the Middle East because the Arabs are not that generous and it is not easy getting money from them.

Actually the opposite is true. The Middle Eastern governments are spending too much money to assist what they consider as the poorer Muslim countries, organisations and leaders that there are concerns some of this money may end up in the hands of terrorist organisations.

In January this year, The Huffington Post reported that the House of Saud has donated an estimated US$100-US200 billion over a period of 30 years to foreign governments, movements and organisations, as well as to personalities who are viewed as friendly to the Saudi Arabian government.

The fact that the real amount is not known is because everything is done in secrecy and The Huffington Post said it would not be surprised if the amount could even be larger than that.

Qatar and the Emirates are also said to be spreading its money all over the world to assist the poorer Islamic countries, some under the disguise of spreading Islam but in reality as a means of influence buying, just like what the United States lobbyists do.

The United States is aware of the details but what many find puzzling is why does the US keep quiet and not say anything? Is the US in support of what the Middle Eastern governments are doing? Does the US support the move by the Middle Eastern countries to keep US-friendly countries friendly to the US?

And this, according to western reports, is merely the amount spent to assist the spread or propagation of Islam and does not include other causes. One such cause, of course, is to make sure that foreign governments remain friendly to Saudi Arabia and not pressure it into adopting democracy and open elections.

In other words, Saudi Arabia wants to continue as an absolute monarchy and for that to happen foreign governments must remain friendly to the Kingdom. And Saudi buys friends by donating money to them. And that is why while many countries condemn Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Syria, etc., on the lack of democracy in those countries, not a word is said about Saudi Arabia or any of the other Middle Eastern countries that have absolute monarchies or Emirs.

Pakistan reported that the Saudi government approved US$35 billion in 2005 for the construction of mosques and madrassas in South East Asia. Billions more is being poured into western countries to set up Islamic cultural centres, many which are fronts for mosques. While this is presented as part of the effort in propagating Islam, in truth it is more towards the effort in spreading influence and making friends.

And is this not also what the west and America does, make friends through financial aid?

So it is not far-fetched that the Middle Eastern or Arab countries would want to make a personal donation to the Malaysian Prime Minister. In the eyes of the Arabs this is not illegal or even immoral. It is part of doing business in the business of making friends and garnering support.

Did not Anwar Ibrahim, too, receive donations from Saudi Arabia to fund his Islamic activities back in the 1970s before he joined Umno? In fact, he continued receiving Arab aid long after he was expelled from Umno and was sitting in the Sungai Buloh Prison, as was revealed in an Australian television program about 14 or 15 years ago.

The Prime Minister said that the money he received was not smuggled or illegally brought into the country and that it had been done with the knowledge of Bank Negara. Bank Negara, in turn, never said it was not aware of the money.

The fact that the money was not hidden in a nominee or proxy bank account but was placed in Najib’s personal account was because he had nothing to hide. Or else if he did want to hide the money then he not only could have placed it in a proxy bank account but in an account overseas such as in Hong Kong. Then no one would have been the wiser.

There are allegations that this is money laundering. Money laundering would apply if the money is illegal or it is dirty money and you clean it and make it appear legal or legitimate. That is what money laundering means. Money that has been legally obtained and was not obtained through criminal activities and is not hidden is not called laundered money.

As has been explained, the fact that Najib chose to make the whole transaction transparent to the extent of allowing Bank Negara to see it and to place it into his personal bank account was so that all suspicion that there may have been something illegal could be avoided.

I doubt Najib would be so stupid as to place money he had stolen into his personal bank account, especially that large an amount, when he could have used nominees, proxies and overseas banks to cover his tracks. RM2.6 billion is just too large an amount to hide in any Malaysian bank account when even a RM50,000 overseas transfer attracts so many questions from Bank Negara.