When Gani sold out Zeti and Abu Kassim

By MT Webmaster Last updated Aug 31, 2016

On 24 July 2015, Najib confronted Gani who panicked and revealed that there was a plot to force him to resign during the Cabinet meeting of 29 July. Najib then launched a pre-emptive strike and killed the coup. And this is what upset Mahathir three days ago, prompting him to say there were three Tan Sri and that one betrayed the other two. Realising that he blundered by saying that, today Mahathir says there is a fourth Tan Sri who betrayed the three, insinuating that the betrayer was the IGP when in actual fact the betrayer was Gani.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Three days ago, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad grumbled that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak would be in jail today if not for the fact that the three Tan Sri tasked with the job of nailing him were betrayed. The impression Mahathir gave was that one of the three Tan Sri betrayed the other two.

The three Tan Sri are former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Abu Kassim Mohamed, former Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, and former Bank Negara Governor Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

Today, Mahathir backtracked on that earlier statement and suggested that there were four and not three Tan Sri and that the one Tan Sri who was not betrayed is the one who betrayed the other three. This was what Malaysiakini reported today:

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has clarified that there were four individuals with the title ‘Tan Sri’ and one of them could have allegedly betrayed the rest. Previously, the former prime minister gave the impression that it was one among the three accused of plotting against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who was the purported turncoat.

“Well, there is one who is not included. There were four of them, one of them is not included. It is probable that the one (not included) is the one who betrayed,” he told reporters in Putrajaya.

So, now Mahathir says there were actually four and not three Tan Sri in that ‘gang’ — Abu Kassim, Gani, Zeti and one more. And the Tan Sri who was not betrayed was the one who betrayed the other three, said Mahathir. Since everyone knows that the Special Task Force that was set up to investigate 1MDB was headed by four Tan Sri — the three named above plus the IGP — the reporters asked Mahathir whether the Tan Sri who betrayed the three was the IGP.

Mahathir smiled and said he does not know and cannot confirm who the fourth Tan Sri who betrayed the other three is for fear of getting arrested.

So, according to Mahathir, it was four and not three Tan Sri who were tasked with the job of bringing down Najib. Malaysia Today actually said last year that if was six Tan Sri if you include Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. Anyway, Sarawak Report has confirmed the rest of the team in the graphics below.

Yesterday, Sarawak Report also confirmed what Mahathir said today — that there were four Tan Sri in the team that was supposed to oust Najib.

What is most interesting about what Sarawak Report said is that they confirmed what Malaysia Today said for the last one year. And Mahathir as well did the same thing — confirmed what Malaysia Today said for the last one year. Suddenly I am at a loss as to what to write other than ‘I told you so’.

This is what LSS has to say on the matter:

Whether deliberately or accidentally, Mahathir’s implicit confirmation that there was a conspiracy to topple Najib by the three Tan Sri and the subsequent posts by RPK and other UMNO blogs have caused an adverse reaction.

Both Uncle Lim Kit Siang and Sarawak Report have reacted to this. But Sarawak Report has gone too far in their latest article by saying that the DYMM YDP Agong had agreed with the three Tan Sri to remove Najib.

According to Sarawak Report, this was why Najib launched a counter-coup to remove Muhyiddin, Shafie Apdal, the Special Branch Head and A-G Gani.

However, the problem with Sarawak Report’s version is that it scandalises and slanders DYMM YDP Agong by suggesting that YDP Agong made a U-turn and became quiet and continued to support Najib for whatever reason after Najib had removed those four persons.

There can only be two outcomes from Sarawak Report’s story:

1) SR had lied about the Agong having agreed with the three Tan Sri; or

2) Our Agong did not do the right thing for the country after Najib had removed the four persons.

Which one is true, SR? Version 1 or version 2?

I think Sarawak Report has made a grave mistake to drag our Agong into their story and I am sure there will be an adverse reaction from many Malaysians. This adverse and immediate reaction from Uncle Lim Kit Siang and Sarawak Report shows that the conspiracy story will probably get even more hangat over the coming weeks.

I also think that Mahathir made a very bad judgement in suggesting the three Tan Sri got betrayed by one of their own and had implicitly confirmed the conspiracy suspicions which has now led to this story from Sarawak Report.

SeaDemon Says also published his opinion in his blog today as follows:

Muhyiddin was the first one to admit that there was a conspiracy to topple Najib Razak. Then recently Mahathir himself named the conspirators as former Governor of Bank Negara Zeti Aktar Aziz, former Attorney-General Gani Patail, and former head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Abu Kassim. Mahathir’s favourite news portal Sarawak Report has now joined in and underscored the role of the three in trying to bring down Najib Razak. This time around, the Sarawak Report (SR) has gone overboard by including His Majesty The Yang DiPertuan Agong into the conspiracy. (READ MORE HERE)

Actually there is a bit more to the story than what Mahathir and Sarawak Report are telling us and the person who spilled the beans was actually Gani Patail and not the IGP. And this was what happened:

On the afternoon of Friday, 24th July 2015, Najib summoned Gani to his office and asked him whether it is true that he had prepared a charge sheet to arrest him (Najib) and that the charge sheet had been prepared two months before that, and even before the Special Task Force was launched and the investigation into the affairs of 1MDB had started.

Najib then asked Gani whether the Special Task Force had been set up with the consent of His Majesty the Agong since it definitely was not set up at the behest of or with the consent of the Cabinet. And should the charge sheet not have been prepared after the investigation had been completed and after a crime had been established rather than even before the investigation had started?

Najib also asked Gani whether it is true that Abu Kassim gave a copy of this charge sheet to his business partner, Rashpal Singh, for him to deliver to Clare Rewcastle Brown of Sarawak Report and that Rashpal had flown to London to meet Clare.

It is well known within the MACC circle that Rashpal has been Abu Kassim’s business partner since before his MACC days and that Rashpal is his bagman who collects under-the-table money on his behalf. Hence there is no one Abu Kassim trusts more than Rashpal to handle extremely sensitive and confidential matters such as the sale of classified documents and dealings with Sarawak Report.

In fact, in one blog posting last year, Clare actually confirmed that she met someone from Malaysia and that during this meeting she was followed and photographed. She also said she has lodged a report with the UK police regarding this matter.

When Najib revealed that he knew about everything that was going on, Gani panicked and confessed to the whole thing. Gani suspected that maybe the IGP had informed Najib regarding the details of the plot so he might as well come clean and confess.

That same evening, Najib met His Majesty the Agong during a dinner function and he informed His Majesty about the meeting with Gani a few hours earlier. His Majesty was outraged and told Najib to come see him on Monday morning, 27th July 2015.

On Monday, Najib went to meet His Majesty who handed him a letter terminating Gani’s services as the Attorney General. The following day, 28th July 2015, Gani was officially removed as the Attorney General, and the following day, 29th July 2015, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was removed as well.

In that 24th July meeting, Gani revealed that Muhyiddin was going to use that charge sheet to force Najib to resign with him (Muhyiddin) taking over as the new Prime Minister and that if Najib refuses to reign Muhyiddin would use that charge sheet to arrest him (Najib).

On that 29th July Cabinet meeting, instead of Muhyiddin using that charge sheet that Gani had prepared to arrest Najib, Muhyiddin and Gani got axed. And contrary to what they alleged, it was His Majesty the Agong who removed Gani and not Najib who removed Gani without the Agong’s consent.

So on that score Sarawak Report, the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) and the Pakatuns, are wrong. It is just that Gani knows what happened and he knows why it happened but be cannot say so lest everyone would know it was he who sold out the rest of the five Tan Sri.

After that both Muhyiddin and Tengku Razaleigh tried to cover their backs by saying that they were aware of the conspiracy to oust Najib and they also know who are those involved in the conspiracy, which was supposed to have happened on 29th July 2015, but that they were not part of the conspiracy.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK