The 1MDB investigation hitting a blank wall

But did they not also say the charge sheet had been drafted more than three years ago in July 2015? So, how then did they draft the charge sheet more than three years ago when today the investigation is still only 60% complete? And with that I will leave you to ponder on that Eighth Wonder of the World.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Basically, the investigation into the 1MDB affair is not going as well as Pakatan Harapan had hoped (READ MORE IN THE NST NEWS REPORT BELOW).

First of all, they cannot seem to link Najib Tun Razak to the crime of stealing RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money — if, in the first place, RM42 billion has been stolen from 1MDB.

At best, they can ‘hang’ Najib for poor management and bad business decisions. And that in itself is not a crime. As the saying goes: you cannot jail someone for stupidity.

CCID director Datuk Seri Amar Singh said police could not conclude their investigation into 1MDB due to the “complexity of the case”

In this case, however, Najib’s ‘stupidity’ seems to be in trusting the wrong people rather than in poor management and bad business decisions. In other words, Najib is not guilty of poor management and bad business decisions but is guilty of putting the wrong people in charge who are the cause of that poor management and bad business decisions.

But then, even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is guilty of the same thing. Abdullah Ang, Tan Koon Swan, Ling Liong Sik, Eric Chia, Samsudin Abu Hassan, Tajudin Ramli, and many more, were all hand-picked by Mahathir and they all made a mess of things — either due to poor management, bad business decisions, and/or corruption.

So, if Najib should be jailed for putting the wrong people in charge of 1MDB, then Mahathir has to spend the rest of his days in the adjoining jail cell to Najib. That is basically what it all boils down to.

The mattress that ‘proved’ Anwar’s guilt

Mahathir wants Najib nailed and jailed before the end of this year. But that is almost impossible unless they fabricate the evidence and put him through a sham trial in a kangaroo court. Mahathir, however, wants to make it look legit and not like what happened in Anwar Ibrahim’s sham trials almost 20 years ago.

But then everyone knows Anwar buggered a long list of boys and men so they could get away with a sham trial. In Najib’s case, they cannot carry a mattress in and out of court to ‘prove’ his guilt like they did with Anwar. And even if they get Amar Singh to parade handbags, shoes and jewellery every day in front of the media, that still does not prove Najib stole RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money.

The bigger issue is, even if they can prove RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money was stolen, they cannot prove Najib was the one who stole that money. And even if they can prove Najib stole that money, it was stolen overseas and not in Malaysia. Hence they cannot charge Najib for that crime — if in the first place they can even prove that a crime has been committed.

Gani Patail drafted the charge sheet back in July 2015 and more than three years later the investigation is still only 60% completed

And that is why MACC announced they have solved only 60% of the case and will need until the end of the year to close their investigation. The long and short of it is: so far, they have no case and if they want to make a case they will have to fabricate their case and all the evidence that comes with it.

But did they not also say the charge sheet had been drafted more than three years ago in July 2015? So, how then did they draft the charge sheet more than three years ago when today the investigation is still only 60% complete? And with that I will leave you to ponder on that Eighth Wonder of the World.

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(NST) – Investigations into the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal are expected to wrap up by year end.

Those with knowledge of the multipronged investigation said the remaining 40 per cent of the probe involved information and evidence in no fewer than five countries.

This part of the investigation has seen officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the federal police’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department liaising with their counterparts in the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the Middle East and Singapore.

Investigators, sources said, were working to find evidence to build a case.

“This includes illicit transactions carried out between 2011 and 2014.

“This is not a Hollywood movie. It is a complex probe and the investigators are determined to build a strong case and cover all areas.

“If one were to look at the trail as reflected in the US’ Department of Justice report, or the documents that were made public, it is easy to understand the magnitude and complexity of this case and why you can’t expect the 1MDB probe to be completed without these due processes,” one of the sources told the New Straits Times.

MACC Chief Commissioner Mohd Shukri Abdull said they needed more time to complete their investigation so “just be patient”

Another source told NST that among the most critical part of following the paper trail was having airtight evidence to support the allegation that laundered monies linked to 1MDB had made their way back here and into accounts linked to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak between 2011 and 2014.

“Prosecution cannot be carried out against a crime that took place abroad, but investigators can follow the trail and secure evidence right up to the point the crime is committed here,” the source said, adding that evidence from local banks involved in the suspicious transactions was not enough.

It is understood that the police investigation is centred on alleged criminal breach of trust, while MACC is focusing on money laundering.

The question of the next big development in the case has continued to be a topic of discussion among many, with the latest being Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh, who yesterday said the public had asked her, “When will Najib go to jail?”

She replied: “It is in process and procedures must be followed.”

Kadir Jasin is shocked at the lack of progress in the 1MDB investigation

Media and Communication advisor of the Prime Minister’s Office Datuk A. Kadir Jasin also touched on the matter, saying he was shocked to read the paragraph in a statement issued by the attorney-general on Friday which read:

“It is public knowledge that the investigation papers (IPs) into the numerous fraudulent deals connected to the 1MDB affair have not been submitted to the chambers by the MACC and the police (save one IP concerning Jho Low, which resulted in charges and the issue of warrants of arrest against him and his father last week). Upon receipt of the IPs from the investigating agencies, this office is required to study them, prepare charges and prosecute the alleged accused at trials.”

Kadir said: “People are losing their patience waiting for the prosecution involving 1MDB. I learnt that there are countries eager to assist Malaysia in recovering monies embezzled from 1MDB.

“A question to the IGP (Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun) and MACC chief commissioner: is there a problem?”

“Is there a problem?” Kadir Jasin asks the IGP

In an immediate reaction, CCID director Datuk Seri Amar Singh said police could not conclude their probe into the scandal due to the “complexity of the case”.

He referred NST to Fuzi, who did not respond to queries sent by phone.

MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull said the agency needed more time to complete its investigation, responding with: “Just be patient”.

The commission’s deputy chief commissioner (operations), Datuk Seri Azam Baki, had said that the remaining 40 per cent of the investigation into the case involved dealings overseas, adding that 60 per cent was completed in three months.