The untold story about Zetigate and the two Bank Negara Governors

By Raja Petra Kamarudin Last updated Nov 26, 2021

On 19th November 2021, MACC revealed a list of more than 300 Chinese individuals and entities, mainly from Penang, who received about RM800 million of 1MDB’s money, but no action had been taken against them to recover the money. In that revelation, MACC also confirmed that more than RM100 million involved Zeti’s husband and Jho Low’s father.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Before we go into the untold story about Zetigate and the two Bank Negara Governors, let me first educate you on how the system works.

About 20 years ago, the ‘Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001’, or AMLA, was passed by Malaysia’s Parliament. To be able to monitor ‘suspicious’ banking transactions, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) set up the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to coordinate and exchange information with foreign FIUs, and to relay this information to the relevant domestic law enforcement agencies such as PDRM, MACC, AGC, etc.

For the benefit of the layman, this is like a banking ‘Interpol’ related to suspected crimes involving money crossing the borders. So, if you transfer RM100,000 from Malaysia to the UK to pay for your three children’s university education, the bank will ask questions to make sure the money is from legal sources and for non-criminal activities. However, if it is RM100 million or RM1 billion, then you would probably not be queried, as many cases have proven.

Okay, that is how it works. Now let us go into the untold story about Zetigate and the two Bank Negara Governors.

In 2015, the Director of the FIU in BNM was Abd Rahman Abu Bakar while BNM’s Deputy Governor, Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus, was in charge of the FIU.

In 2015, also, the Singapore authorities — in this case the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore’s equivalent of BNM — contacted Rahman to inform him of a sum of money that was received by Tawfiq Ayman, the husband of BNM’s Governor, Zeti Akhtar Abdul Aziz.

The money was from Jho Low.

At that time Jho Low and 1MDB were already hot news and Singapore was on the alert for any transactions involving Jho Low and 1MDB, plus companies linked to this money heist. So, when RM65 million appeared in the bank account of Cutting Edge Industries Ltd, a Singapore registered company, and the money came from Jho Low, while the owner of the company is the BNM Governor’s husband, the alarm bells went off.

Rahman and Shamsiah, however, suppressed this information. They did not inform PDRM or MACC about this matter. And only Rahman and Shamsiah can have access to the files. The files were/are restricted and ‘for your eyes only’. Hence no one else other than Rahman and Shamsiah knew about this matter.

As their reward, Shamsiah was made the new Governor of BNM while Rahman was made the new Assistant Governor of BNM.

When Tommy Thomas took over as Pakatan Harapan’s Attorney-General, the Singapore AG met him to inform him about Zeti’s husband receiving money from Jho Low. Tommy was given all the evidence related to this crime. But Tommy did nothing.

But then there are some officers in MACC who know about this and are not happy that the information is being suppressed and that no action is being taken against Zeti, Shamsiah and Rahman. So, they contacted Malaysia Today and in May this year Malaysia Today exposed this crime.

But still nothing was done.

On 19th November 2021, MACC revealed a list of more than 300 Chinese individuals and entities, mainly from Penang, who received about RM800 million of 1MDB’s money, but no action had been taken against them to recover the money. In that revelation, MACC also confirmed that more than RM100 million involved Zeti’s husband and Jho Low’s father.

If you can remember, President Richard Nixon fell in 1974 not because he was involved in the break-in at the Watergate Complex but because he knew about the crime and tried to cover it up. So, covering up a crime is also a crime. And Shamsiah and Rahman are guilty of this crime. Zeti, however, is guilty of more than that.

Why have so many people, Malaysians and foreigners, been punished for crimes involving 1MDB but not Zeti, Shamsiah and Rahman? Is this what DAP means by ‘selective prosecution’?

DAP talks about Malaysia being a failed state because of the abuse of power, corruption, selective prosecution by PDRM, MACC and the AGC, interference in the judiciary, etc. But then DAP keeps quiet when the crime involves their own people and supporters.

The hypocrisy is so thick you can cut it with a knife. As Hollywood actor John Wayne would say, “The only good politician is a dead politician.” And in this Zetigate scandal never has a truer word been said.