Zeti Aziz’s family received millions from Jho Low
Senior officers of AmInvestment Bank Bhd (Ambank) have conspired to help two companies linked to Jho Low, make millions in profit from flipping 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) bonds the first day it was issued.
The RM5.0 billion bond sale was arranged by Ambank and approved by TIA chief executive Datuk Shahrol Halmi despite the objection from a shareholder, the Terengganu Government.
READ MORE HERE: The Untold Story Of Zeti’s Involvement With Jho Low
The RM5 billion bond issuance, purportedly for the joint development of Pulau Bidong with Mubadala (which Mubadala later denied), was rushed on the advice of TIA’s special adviser without resolving issues raised by its board of directors. Money that 1MDB raised from that bond was used to pay the initial US$1.0 billion for the PetroSaudi JV. However, investigators have confirmed that US$700 million was moved to a company belonging to Jho Low, Good Star Ltd.
Money trails by investigators discovered that Jho Low had transferred millions of dollars to various individuals and entities including to Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s husband, Dato’ Dr Tawfiq Ayman.
The money paid to Cutting Edge Industries Ltd came from Jho Low
Only RM4.385 billion proceeds were raised from the RM5 billion debt papers. The bond carried a coupon of 5.75% per annum but had 6.68% effective return per annum due to the discount. The interest of 5.75% was very high since the issuance of the bond is directly guaranteed by Government.
A 5.75% coupon over 30 years means interest payments alone would total RM8.625 billion, bringing the total that need to be repaid by the government to RM13.625 billion — 3.1 times the RM4.385 billion net proceeds raised in May 2009.
While there is a need to take into account the time value of money, as money in 2009 is not the same as money in 2039, it is clear the money raised would not generate the required 6.68% return per annum to cover the debt taken, let alone repay the principal.
The miscalculation is one that the country and its people ultimately have to pay. Investigators have discovered the RM5 billion proceed from this bond have been largely siphoned for the benefits of Jho Low and entities and individuals related to him.
The bond issuance was a “bought deal”, which meant that AmBank, as the lead arranger and primary subscriber for the 30-year papers, bought the entire issuance either for itself or for a selected group. It then subsequently sold RM4.5 billion at a discount to Aktis Capital Singapore Pte Ltd and Thailand-based Country Group Securities Pcl.
The bonds were sold to Country Group and Aktis Capital at a 13% discount — they paid RM87 against the face value of RM100. Ambank had immediately resold the bonds on behalf of the two companies to local investors (mainly pension funds and insurers) for between RM100 and RM105 allowing Jho Low to make windfall profit of US$113 million.
Country Group then instructed Ambank to send of US$113 million of the profit to Acme Time Pte Ltd in Singapore. Investigators have discovered that Acme Time’s account in RBS Coutts was controlled by Jho Low and Eric Tan Kim Loong. Money trails conducted by investigators found that Jho Low had transferred millions of dollars to Dato’ Dr Tawfiq Ayman.
Ambank had facilitated the selling of the bonds to Country Group and Aktis Capital to make huge profits through a quick flip instead of selling bonds directly to the eventual local buyers — insurance companies and pension funds. Malaysians got cheated twice as the bonds were sold at a discount and then sold at a higher value to Malaysian institutions, eg EPF, SOCSO and insurance companies.
This scandal happened with the involvement of several senior Ambank officers and the failure of regulators to detect and stop the transactions.
Besides Jho Low, Dato’ Dr Tawfiq Ayman and children made millions from the Big Flip!
Investigations by MACC, PDRM and other Law Enforcement Agencies discovered that Zeti’s Husband, Dato’ Dr Ayman and children received millions of dollars from Jho Low through Iron Rhapsody account with UBS AG, One Raffles Quay, Singapore.
Iron Rhapsody Ltd was established to receive money from Jho Low. The registered owners of Iron Rhapsody are Dato’ Dr Tawfiq Ayman and Alif Ayman Aziz bin Tawfiq Ayman. Iron Rhapsody received a total of USD16,219,409.23 from entities registered under the name of Jho Low.
Iron Rhapsody received monies which are related to the RM5 billion bond from:
1) Central Holding Ltd amounted to USD1,250,000 on 18 December 2009. Jho Low is the beneficial owner of this entity;
2) Butamba Investment Ltd amounted to USD7,420,088.92 on 18 Jun 2008. Jho Low is the beneficial owner of this entity;
3) ACME Time Limited (BVI) amounted to USD567,086.31. Jho Low is the beneficial owner of this entity. ACME received USD113,426,210 from the quick profit from the issuance of RM5 billion bond.
4) Sherman & Sterling LLC amounted to USD6,250,000 and USD732,234 on 17 December 2009 and 21 May 2009 respectively. The source of Sherman & Sterling fund was from Good Star Limited who has illegally received USD700,000,000 from fund which was siphoned from the issuance of RM5 billion bond. Jho Low is the beneficial owner of Good Star.
Subsequently, Dato’ Dr Tawfiq Ayman and children transferred the moneys into their accounts in Singapore:
a) Dato’ Dr Tawfiq Ayman personal account with HSBC, Singapore;
b) Chevron Management with UBS, Singapore;
c) Glittring Snow International Limited, Singapore; and
d) Cutting Edge Industries Ltd with UBS, Singapore. Singapore Authority has seized USD11,300,000 from this account. The beneficial owners for this account are, Dato’ Dr Tawfiq Ayman, Alif Ayman Aziz bin Tawfiq Ayman and Abdul Aziz bin Tawfiq Ayman.
Based on information received from informers and transcripts of BlackBerry messages retrieved from a blackberry phone seized by MACC and leaked email correspondences, Tan Sri Zeti and the current Gabenor Datuk Nor Shamsiah have met Jho Low several times. Both have knowledge on the payments received by Dato’ Dr Tawfiq Ayman and children.
Datuk Nor Shamsiah and Abdul Rahman Abu Bakar have led several investigations on Ambank. However, Bank Negara failed to take appropriate actions against the bank and officers of Ambank who had facilitated the highly questionable transactions involving Tan Sri Zeti’s husband and children.
Gabenor Datuk Nor Shamsiah who is known for her arrogance among the local financial industry has also been uncooperative with other local and international authorities in handling this scandal.
