Mahathir and 1MDB: What’s the real deal here?
LSS
1. Mahathir is just rehashing his various allegations against 1MDB – all of which has been debunked and proven to be lies for two years now.
2. He alleges that the Govt overpaid for the IPP energy assets but this was proven wrong as these IPPs were sold back at approximately the same price which 1MDB bought it at.
3. As a result, the debts of 1MDB had been reduced to RM27 billion now. It is no longer RM42 billion or RM55 billion while all short term debts and bank loans have been cleared.
4. The current outstanding debts comprises of a 30 year bond of RM5 billion that will come due only in the year 2039, a USD3 billion bond due in the year 2023 and a USD3.5 billion bond due in the year 2022. There is also a RM2
5. There is also a RM2.4 billion Bandar Malaysia bond due between 2021 and 2024 but this is tied to the sale of development rights for the Bandar Malaysia land.
6. Already, the govt has received 9 bids from Global Fortune 500 companies, of which the highest press bid was for USD7.5 billion to USD10.5 billion (RM44 billion). The govt will make a decision soon.
7. Mahathir alleges there was no need to buy the IPPs in the first place as some agreements were soon to expire. The truth is that the purchases were a packaged deal that includes 13 different Power Plants only only 2 were close to expiry but was already being renewed at time of purchase.
8. As a result of 1MDB’s venture into the power industry, all the lopsided IPP deals that has cost us tens of billions of losses yearly that was signed by Mahathir has been resolved.
9. This is why since 2012, no opposition leaders talk about lop-sided IPPs anymore. This move by 1MDB has saved Malaysia at least RM200 billion in the next 20 years.
10. On top of this RM200 billion in savings from eliminating lop-sided IPP deals, Mahathir has also never mentioned that 1MDB fully paid for the much-needed construction and upgrade of 8 military bases – including the giant 750 acres Sendayan air force base in Seremban.
11. Hiding pieces of critical and groundbreaking info like these shows the extent of how malicious and deceiving the Mahathir and the opposition are – and we have not even come to the tens of thousands of student scholarship and Haj pilgrimages that 1MDB also paid for.
12. And the reason that 1MDB is alleged to be under investigation in 7 countries is because Mahathir himself sent his lackeys, Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Matthias Chang, to all these countries to make reports and providing selective information.
13. Even after two yeas, neither the Prime Minister nor 1MDB itself has been named as a suspect in any case anywhere in these 7 countries.
14. Despite Mahathir saying that the Najib will be arrested if he goes overseas – especially in the USA, Najib is now visiting the White House at the US President’s invitation.
15. It is also not true that the government lost money when selling the TRX land and Bandar Malaysia land to 1MDB. 1MDB remains 100% govt owned so how can there be a loss?
16. As for the allegation that the TRX land cost RM7,000 psf at the time of sale to 1MDB, this is complete bullshit. The RM7,000 psf of land referred to by Mahathir is for a very small piece of land of 20,000 sf situated right next to Pavilion KL that was bough by Pavilion for expansion purposes. It is a small plot in an already fully developed location with ready infrastructure. Only Pavilion would have paid so much for that piece of land. Since then, no other pieces of land in Malaysia had reached RM7,000 psf.
If Mahathir truly believes the land is worth RM7,000 psf, then TRX is more than happy to sell all the land to Mahathir at a discounted price of RM5,000 psf.
17. Mahathir cannot compare that small piece of land to the land in Imbi when 1MDB first bought it. 1MDB had to put in RM3 billion to relocate the squatters and many established structures restaurants, markets, public housing and shophouses as well as prepare the development plans and build tunnels and infrastructure for the TRX land.
18. If none of these were done, no one would pay RM7,000 psf or even RM700 psf for this land as a it was an expensive undertaking that only the government (via 1MDB) had the political will to execute.
19. Mahathir also alleges that the land in Penang Island is over-priced at RM135 psf. If today, someone offers to sell you land on Penang Island at only RM135 psf then you would grab it. Even the Penang Chief Minister’s famed 60% under market priced bungalow is priced at RM270 psf.
20. True, the Penang land had problems in resolving squatters – exactly like the TRX land initially. But the value of what 1MDB can do is to resolve these problems and enhance the value of the Penang land – just like what 1MDB did with TRX.
21. Mahathir is also lying to say that development in TRX is slow. All you need to do is to go look at the site today and you will see a 106 floors building that is already 70% complete and will be higher than Mahathir’s KLCC when it opens next year.
22. On top of that 106 floors signature tower, HSBC has made TRX its regional HQ along with Prudential. Affin Bank also has a plot there along with Australia’s Lend Lease and Tabung Haji. There is also an upcoming project by one of China’s leading bank to site its regional HQ there.
23. None of those funds that Mahathir alleges has gone missing comes direct from 1MDB but was allegedly diverted from 3rd party entities that dealt with 1MDB. All of these entities are owned or linked to IPIC/Aabar senior officials.
24. This is why in April 2017, 1MDB signed a settlement agreement with IPIC to recover these funds. As a result, 1MDB has been able to monetize its USD2.5 billion fund units which had been accused by Mahathir of being worthless.
25. It is from this monetization of units that 1MDB had been able to use to pay USD620 million to IPIC in Aug 2017 as part of its settlement agreement. The agreement will also resolve the USD3.5 billion bonds that IPIC has guaranteed.
26. With the resolution of its settlement agreement, the ongoing TRX development as well as the final award of the development rights for Bandar Malaysia for approximately RM30b to RM40b, 1MDB can more than afford to pay back the RM27 billion remaining bonds and still generate a big profit.
28. This is unlike the RM32 billion loss in his BNM Forex Scandal that has zero hope to ever recover.
Unlike 1MDB that had built 8 military bases, leaving legacies in TRX and Bandar Malaysia, resolved the long-standing lop-sided IPPs to save us RM200 billion, gave tens of thousands of scholarships and Haj pilgrimage and likely to turn a profit for Malaysia, Mahathir’s RM32 billion BNM scandal benefited exactly ZERO Malaysians.
