The day Mahathir stole RM2.6 billion
Mahathir is sore that Najib transferred the RM2.6-billion donation into a bank account that carried his name. Mahathir transferred RM2.6 billion into a bank account that was in someone else’s name while Abdullah transferred RM7.4 billion also into a bank account that was in someone else’s name. And that is the main issue here.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
“Having 2.6 billion Ringgit in his private account is also not good. No Prime Minister of Malaysia should have that amount of Ringgit in his private account. And the explanation he gives as to the source of the billions is quite ridiculous,” said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad from his hospital bed yesterday (READ HERE) after finding out that he is not on the verge of death after all and still has many more years left to torment Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
Well, I suppose if Singapore can have its Minister Mentor (abbreviation: MM) in the form of Lee Kuan Yew then Malaysia can have its Minister Tormentor in the form of Mahathir (abbreviation also ‘MM’ for Mahathir Mohamad).
Mahathir is not happy that RM2.6 billion was banked into Najib’s personal or private bank account. What Mahathir does not want to say is that this was what the then Bank Negara Governor, Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, advised should be done when Najib spoke to her about the donation that was going to come in from the Middle East.
Have you realised that even though Malaysia Today has mentioned this point many times since last year neither Mahathir nor Zeti have denied it? They deny many other things that Malaysia Today said except this one point: that Najib sought advice from the Bank Negara Governor before bringing the money into the country.
I mean we are not talking about a small amount of money here. We are talking about RM2.6 billion. Even if you bring in RM2.6 million without first doing your homework the bank is going to jump on you. What more RM2.6 billion.
Mahathir also received RM2.6 billion from 2000 to 2003. Well, actually he did not ‘receive’ the RM2.6 billion. He took it by force. Terengganu people say he stole it — rompak duit Ganu, they said. And it was the RM2.6 billion that Petronas was supposed to pay Terengganu from the second quarter of 2000 to the third quarter of 2003 that Mahathir stopped them from paying and to give the money to Idris Jusoh instead.
Mahathir says that Najib may not have received RM2.6 billion but that it may have been RM4 billion instead. Well, there are also some who say the money that Petronas did not pay Terengganu and which they diverted to Idris Jusoh at Mahathir’s instructions may also not have been RM2.6 billion but may have been RM4 billion instead.
But then Mahathir did not put the RM2.6 billion into his personal or private bank account. And that is the point he is trying to make. Mahathir said, “No Prime Minister of Malaysia should have that amount of Ringgit in his private account.”
Mahathir did not put that RM2.6 billion into his personal bank account or into a special bank account in the name of the Prime Minister. He set up another special account not in his name and asked Idris Jusoh to manage that account. And then Petronas was instructed to give that RM2.6 billion to Idris Jusoh.
And then Mahathir retired and handed the job of Prime Minister to Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Then, from 2004 to 2007, another RM7.4 billion was transferred to this special bank account. So, in total, from 2000 to 2007, under the watch of two Prime Ministers, RM10 billion was siphoned out of Terengganu through Petronas and was transferred to a special bank account that Mahathir set up but not in his name.
This was what Umno Blogger Rocky’s Bru wrote on 13th May 2008:
Wang Ehsan: RM7.36 billion paid to Tganu, March 2004 to March 2007. And we all thought the Terengganu government under the former MB Idris Jusoh was getting about RM1 billion a year from Petronas in terms of Wang Ehsan!
That’s RM7.364 billion in 3 years!
I bet you Ahmad Said, the pro-Palace MB that Pak Lah didn’t want, hadn’t known that the money involved was this much.
I am not an Anak Terengganu but I imagine people from this beautiful (and poor) state must want to know how the money was spent, on what (and who), and by whom! If any state government needs to conduct a forensic audit, it is Terengganu.
So there you are. That was what a pro-Mahathir Umno Blogger (at least he was pro-Mahathir in 2008 although I don’t know if he still is now) wrote. And Rocky was only talking about 2004 to 2007 and not 2000 to 2003 when Mahathir was the Prime Minister.
The issue that Mahathir is raising is: Najib put the RM2.6 billion in his personal bank account whereas Mahathir put the RM2.6 billion in a bank account he set up in another person’s name. And then Abdullah put another RM7.4 billion also in a bank account not in his own name but in another person’s name.
And this is why HRH the Sultan of Terengganu was so pissed with Idris Jusoh and wanted him sacked. Idris Jusoh helped Mahathir, and then helped Abdullah, steal a total of RM10 billion of Terengganu’s money from 2000 to 2007. And it was Idris Jusoh who managed that money and not the two Prime Ministers.
Najib’s ‘mistake’ is he followed Bank Negara’s advice and opened a bank account in his name to receive the money although he did not personally manage that bank account or manage the money. Mahathir and Abdullah did not do that. The bank account they opened was in someone else’s name.
When Mahathir was Prime Minister he managed the RM2.6 billion and he decided how the money was to be spent. When Abdullah was Prime Minister he let Patrick Lim manage the RM7.4 billion and Patrick Lim decided how the money was to be spent — and that was why Mahathir coined the name Patrick Badawi.
And that was one of the reasons why Mahathir was so angry with Abdullah. Patrick Badawi was one reason with the Crooked Bridge, double-track railway, the Fourth Floor Boys, etc., following close behind.
Najib should listen to Mahathir. It is not the RM2.6 billion that is the issue. After all Mahathir took RM2.6 billion from Petronas while Najib received the RM2.6 billion from Arab donors (and Abdullah took RM7.4 billion also from Petronas). The issue is the money should not be in a bank account in Najib’s name — just like Mahathir and Abdullah did not transfer the RM2.6 billion and RM7.4 billion into bank accounts that carried their names but into bank accounts that carried other peoples’ names.
