Tony Pua should ask YTL to give him their expired power plant for FREE!

As a person who is supposedly a graduate of a famous UK university and as a responsible Member of Parliament, this must rank as Tony Pua's post today is his most irresponsible posting to date.

Tony Pua wrote:

"Question is why did 1MDB overpay (for the IPP) when they could almost get some of the assets for free? 

They paid RM2.3bn for Genting Sanyen when it's worth only RM400m in Genting's books as there was less then 3 years left to the concession. Why didn't 1MDB just wait for the concession to expire and get it at scrap value?"

Before I begin to expose how Tony Pua is exploiting his supporter's lack of business sense, I have some good news for YB Tony!

YTL's concession for their two power plants in Malaysia expired just two months ago on 30th September 2015. While the plant in Paka was extended on a short-term basis for less than 3 years, YTL's 400MW plant in Pasir Gudang was not renewed.

Thus Tony Pua should immediately call YTL and ask them to give him the power plant for FREE!

You slowly wait... I am sure YTL will give you their power plant for FREE!.

Man-man wait ah...

Okay, back on topic.

Firstly, did you even know that the Genting plants that 1MDB bought were relatively well-maintained and that Genting had put in a bid for an extension in the 2012 round of Power Purchase Agreement tender from the Electricity Commissions?

Yes, Genting already put in a bid for renewal even before 1MDB bought it. Did you even check with 1MDB whether there was a Conditions Subsequent in the agreement between 1MDB and Genting that the final price to be paid was on condition that the plants were renewed?

You are in the PAC, you can easily ask.

Yes, the plants was then renewed for another 10 years ending in the year 2026 and 1MDB bid the lowest rates of all renewals - hence reducing the price of electricity to Tenaga and to Rakyat.

So much for Free and scrap metal.

Secondly, as a person supposedly able to understand business and read financial statements, surely Tony Pua understand that book value and actual sales price would differ?

For example, the book value of Apple Inc - even with their formidable assets - would be much less than their actual market valuation. You are not buying assets but you are buying an actual business of an operating entity.

Another example is if a Company buys anew car, depreciated it over 5 years until the book value is zero, then Tony gives away the car for free is it?

I am confident that Tony Pua understands this difference between book value and actual market valuation of a business - which would then mean that Tony Pua had meant to mislead his supporters lack of knowledge in such manner,

Genting's own Financial statements for the year ended 2011 when it still owned the plants showed that this particular Genting Sanyen asset was making RM231million per year.  Check under the results for "discontinued operations".

Genting Group FY 2012 Financial Report - discontinued operations means business sold to 1MDB

In 1MDB's own financial statement for the year ended Mar 2014, it showed that this very same asset had revenues of RM352m and making RM159m per year - lower probably due to higher financing cost).

Page 137 of 1MDB Audited Financial Statement 2014 shows the Genting plants contributed RM159m to 1MDB profits

(RM159m profit out of revenues  of RM352m? IPP seems to have very high margins - thanks to Tun Mahathir's overly generous IPP projects in the past)

Can YB Tony Pua tell me where I can buy an asset for RM400m but makes about RM160m-RM230m per year in profits?

Price-to-Earnings of only about 2X.

What a good deal.

The Genting power plants concessions now extend to 2026 and even when 1MDB bought the plants, the bid to extend were already submitted.

Due to its well-maintained equipment, its location being the closest to the main load center of KL (60KMs) and competitive pricing submitted, it was almost a sure bet to be renewed.

Also, 1MDB bought key parcels of land besides the existing plants and if ever an additional power purchase agreement was tendered out  by the Electricity Commission, and expansion or additional plant next to the current plant would have meant that 1MDB would be best placed to offer the best price, fastest time to market and best location  to win since all the power cabling and infrastructure is there already.

If you had offered RM400m or even RM500m to Genting to buy those plants then, they will laugh in your face and roll you all the way down the Genting hill.

--
This post took me about 10 mins to write only coz it is based on quite an old post of mine from June 2015.

These people like to recycle the same things over and over again even though they have been answered umpteen times. 

UBAH! I am thinking that their rocket logo should be changed to a recycle logo. 

Behind the Curtains: More details about the meetings between G25 with Mahathir-Muhyiddin

This is the transcript of the interview with G25 member, Tawfik Ismail where he exposes more details of the G25 group's multiple meetings with Tun Mahathir and former DPM Muhyiddin Yassin.

The article was first published in the daily edition of NST last Thursday on November 12, 2015

Behind the curtains: G25 member Tawfik Ismail reveals a number of details mentioned during meetings between the group, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. He tells Syed Umar Ariff how Dr Mahathir was on a power trip and had betrayed the trust of the Malays, and that Muhyiddin believed he could be the next prime minister.

Question: What was discussed during the first meeting between the G25 and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Albukhary Foundation?

Answer: The meeting took place between April and March, we wanted to talk to him about Islam and Constitution, but he kept talking about 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) instead. So, I told him we were there not to talk about 1MDB.

We were there to talk about PAS’s attempt to include a hudud (related) bill in the parliament, Dr Mahathir talked about Islam for a while but then went back to 1MDB and about (Datuk Seri) Najib (Razak), whom he described as a “thief”, among others.

Dr Mahathir said he wanted to replace Najib with another candidate and wanted to make sure that it would happen.

Then he said the replacement would be advised by a “Council Of Elders”.

I said that was undemocratic, because we elected a prime minister, and we do not have a counsil of elders in the Constitution.

Then he talked again about the money purportedly lost in 1MDB.

However, I told him again that if we look back at the present value of what Dr Mahathir had lost during his time as prime minister, I am sure the amount of money would be more than was alleged to be lost in 1MDB. He kept quite after I said that.

Dr Mahathir tried to persuade us that he was right. The discussion was muddled by his obsession to get rid of Najib.

Question: Obviously the first meeting did not end in Dr Mahathir’s favour. What happened then during the second meeting at the Perdana Leadership Foundation?

Answer: We met him on the day of his press conference with Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and (Tan Sri) Sanusi (Junid). He only asked for four people from G25 to be present, and I was among them. Dr Mahathir described how difficult it was to get rid of Najib, as he has “all the powers as a prime minister at his disposal”.

Dr Mahathir then asked G25 whether we would like to talk with another Chinese group on problems affecting business and the economy. I replied that we should not take a racial view on the issue, because, otherwise, other races in the country would not be represented. The Indians would not have anyone to represent them, just like the Dayaks, Ibans and Eurasians.

Why should G25 as a Malay group,work only with a Chinese counterpart? We should instead bring West and East Malaysians together.

So, I suggested to him we should follow (Datuk Seri) Nazir Razak’s idea to set up a National Consultative Council. Dr Mahathir did not make any further comments on the matter. The meeting was cut short as he was unwell and coughing quite badly.

Question: What do you think of Dr Mahathir after meetings?

Answer: Personally, I think probably Dr Mahathir is someone who wants things to go his way. He is on a power trip.

Some of his legacy were not carried out by Pak Lah (Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) and Najib.

He had often mentioned the Crooked Bridge (to replace the Johor-Singapore Causeway). That is one of his pet topics.

Question: What about Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin? Did he seek similar support from G25?

Answer: Muhyiddin met eight of us again six days after the second meeting (with Dr Mahathir) at this residence.

He asked us whether we could form something like a third force (in the country’s politics, with one East Malaysian personality that he had in mind. He said he wanted to see how he could play a role in that structure. (This is quite surprising, Muhyiddin had constantly declared his loyalty to UMNO many times but he is now talking about a new political group to replace or compete with UMNO - with an East Malaysian personality whom I suspect is a certain recently-disgruntled UMNO leader from Sabah).

Question: Do you think Muhyiddin is working together with Dr Mahathir against Najib?

Answer: Well, I think it was pretty obvious as he present during Dr Mahathir’s press conference on (Datuk Seri) Khairuddin (Abu Hassan) and Matthias Chang.

We told Muhyiddin that he and Dr Mahathir had too many skeletons in the closet. He was rather taken aback by our response.

Earlier, Muhyiddin had said he should be taking over Najib’s place (as prime minister and UMNO president), following his position as UMNO deputy president.

I reminded Muhyiddin that there were so many things that he and Dr Mahathir did, that people have not forgotten. I told him the problem was that the players were not being straight with the public. If you played a role in this, where would it lead the country to?

I said Malays would be confused, people would not know who is telling the truth. It would be a fractious affair.

Question: You mentioned that Muhyiddin, too, had skeletons in the closet.

Answer: There are example of what people have been speculating about.

There is dissatisfaction among Johoreans as well, concerning land acquisition, right before Iskandar Malaysia took place when the government acquired lands in Gelang Patah for a developer. There were issues on how many plots of land were taken over. Those issues were linked to Muhyiddin.

Politically, when Muhyiddin was Johor Menteri Besar and the state UMNO chief, many grassroots members and leaders left he did not push the state’s interest to the central party. At the same time, during the 1987 UMNO crisis (which led the party to be declared unlawful by the court), many state leaders were thrown into the wilderness.

Question: Dr Mahathir today (yesterday) responded to your comments about him in recent days. He said you came to the meetings with “bad intentions”, and reports suggested you had betrayed his trust.

Answer: Well, when it comes to trust, I think Dr Mahathir had betrayed the trust of the Malays when UMNO was declared unlawful. He allowed for the party to be declared unlawful. It was an excuse to reconstitute UMNO, so he could exclude and include (certain personalities). I think that is a big betrayal of trust.

He damaged the judiciary (the Malaysian constitutional crisis) and that is a betrayal. Now, the judiciary cannot act as independently as it had, before the late (former Lord President) Tun Salleh Abas’s episode.

Question: On the surface, does it seem that Dr Mahathir is garnering the support he wanted?

Answer: It seems that many things that we are paying for is because Dr Mahathir had allowed for an non-transparent way of operating. Take the toll hike for example. Whose fault is that? Who made the initial agreements between the government and the concessionaires? Why did the late Tan Sri Ani Arope resign from LLN (now Tenaga Nasional Bhd)? Because of the privatization of power plants. (Mahathir had admitted in 2007 that he and his cabinet were sometimes stupid and did not read the agreements properly before signing.)

"This is one of thing that we need to correct. What you have is a cabinet which is not very knowledgeable all the time because it is not made up of experts but politicians (and) some politicians like myself can sometimes be stupid," he said when told by reporters that all the five tolled expressways were constructed during his 22-year tenure as prime minister."

When Tun Musa Hitam had a tiff with Dr Mahathir over his position as deputy president, Musa had sent a private and confidential letter to Dr Mahathir, who then decided to reveal it during a supreme council meeting.

So, I think he shouldn’t be talking about trust. In terms of his ability to do good and keep the trust of the people, I think he has failed in many ways.

From strong allies to bitter enemies: the Four Strikes that caused PAS and DAP to split apart

As recently as the year 2014, PAS was a big supporter of the now-dead or comatose Pakatan Rakyat.

PAS had always lived up to their end of the bargain to "Pakat" with PKR and DAP and frequently mobilized their formidable million-strong machinery to support Pakatan events and rallies.

PAS may not be a genius when it comes to economic development policies but as a religious party, they are a party that do try to hold on to their principles.

So, how did this partnership suddenly fall apart so fast and why is PAS so bitter with DAP now?

There were FOUR major events:

Event 1: There was no Pakatan consensus decision on the Kajang Move. PAS did not agree and was not consulted.

As declared many times by PKR and DAP leaders, Pakatan operates on the basis of a consensus decision - meaning all 3 parties must agree before any major decision can be implemented.

It does not operate on the basis of majority decision or 2 out of 3. All three must agree.

PAS had objected strongly to this as the Kajang move but it was still implemented was without PAS's agreement - something that would have broken the consensus agreement of Pakatan.

In fact, it seems to have been an unilateral move by PKR itself - apparently as part of a strategy by the then PKR Strategic Director Rafizi Ramli.

Even DAP's Secretary General Lim Guan Eng was caught unaware. Unless Lim Guan Eng was lying at that time when the Kajang ADUN resigned to allow Anwar to contest then there is no way that the Kajang move was a consensus decision.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has denied knowing what is going on in Selangor following the resignation of Kajang assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh yesterday.
He said he was not informed of anything by PKR de facto leader and opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is now going to contest the Kajang by-election.
Lim said the resignation was also news to him.
"I was not told about the developments in Selangor about the resignation or the Menteri Besar’s post.
"It is best for Anwar to answer. It is not right for me to talk or give views. My feelings on this matter are not important," - Jan 28 2014.

Ever the opportunist, DAP later went along with PKR's and Rafizi's plan - but PAS had steadfastly refused to play along too since the principle of a consensus decision was broken.


This is STRIKE ONE.

Event 2) The slander and defamation of Former Selangor MB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

Having maintained a good working relationship with Tan Sri Khalid, PAS believes that TS Khalid was unfairly made a victim. And it was not adil or just for such a person to be defamed and slandered - which is clearly against their Islamic teachings.

During the campaign to force Khalid's resignation, PKR and DAP even came out with a 91 page dossier of allegations against Khalid accusing him of all sorts of corruption and general wrong-doings. These allegations were widely repeated in the ceramahs and talks of DAP and PKR leaders state-wide.

Khalid was of course incensed at this and sued PKR for defamation in August 2014. At that time, Khalid even instructed his aides to submitted PKR’s report on their boss’ alleged links to dubious deals to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), requesting the anti-graft body investigate the party’s claims - hence becoming the first ever (and still only) person in Malaysia to report himself for a corruption!

PAS' initial judgement that Khalid was fitnah-ed was proven correct as one year later, way after Khalid had been removed as MB, Khalid essentially won his defamation case against PKR when PKR's ex-Secretary-General read out an open apology in court.

The apology was unconditional and PKR admitted each and every allegation against Khalid was false and defamatory.

"dokumen tersebut telah menyatakan dan memberi gambaran bahawa Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (TSKI) adalah seorang yg korup, zalim, tidak boleh dipercayai, tidak bersikap telus, tidak jujur, tidak beretika, tidak beramanah, tidak berintegriti, telah terlibat dengan perlakuan rasuah dan salahlaku dan tidak layak menjadi MB Selangor.

Bagi pihak PKR dan saya secara peribadi, kami melahirkan rasa amat kesal dan dengan ikhlas dan suci hati serta TANPA SYARAT memohon maaf kpd TSKI.

Bagi pihak PKR dan secara peribadi, kami juga memberi akujanji kpd TSKI dan mahkamah yg mulia ini bhw kenyataan2 tersebut tidak seharusnya dikatakan dan kami akan memberhentikan dpd menyadatakan dan tidak akan mengulangi kandungan dan tuduhan2 dlm dokumen tersebut dan apa2 kenyataan yg berkaitan dgn dokumen tersebut."-

In an amazing display of shamelessness and general thick-facedness, both Rafizi Ramli and PKR tweeted that Khalid Ibrahim and PKR had apologized to each other and that Khalid has withdrawn the defamation suit!!




Khalid did not withdraw the suit but accepted PKR's unconditional apology in court as settlement.

And as for Khalid Ibrahim's so-called apology to PKR, here it is. Read it and laugh.



How PKR and Rafizi Ramli can mistake a "Maaf Zahir Batin" in the spirit of Hari Raya then for an apology when compared to their own unconditional apology is beyond me. A total disgraceful spin.

And they dare call it "both sides apologize to each other".

If you want to see the full apology judgement straight from Khalid's lawyers, Bon Advocates, you can click here.

To date, DAP has not apologized to Khalid Ibrahim or admitted they were wrong to join PKR in such slandering of Khalid. And the most amazing thing is that just before DAP joined PKR in the slandering game calling Khalid as corrupt, on Feb 7, 2014: Selangor DAP head and MP Tony Pua says MB Khalid is an extremely honest and hard-working and Tony has no question, no doubt in his mind and his heart that MB Khalid is extremely honest, hardworking, completely clean and corrupt free. Listen to Tony Pua say this in public just months before DAP and PKR decided to stab Khalid Ibrahim in the back and defame him as corrupt just because they wanted to remove him to allow Anwar or his wife to take his place as Selangor MB.



Anyway, PAS was vindicated to have stood for justice and refused to join PKR and DAP to "fitnah" Khalid.

This is STRIKE TWO.

Event 3) PAS believes PKR and DAP essentially stole two of PAS' Assembly-Persons.

Two of PAS' assembly-person broke ranks and sided with PKR and DAP in signing a statutory declaration supporting Wan Azizah as the Menteri Besar.

PAS president Hadi Awang was furious that his partners can do such stuff to him and his party. You can listen to his fury here:





I guess no party in the world would tolerate their so-called party "stealing" their elected representatives.

If you respect your partners, you would not have accepted the two statutory declarations from your partners and going against their party stand. It's definitely a big stab-in-the-back.

This is STRIKE THREE.

Event 4) PAS believes that PKR and DAP broke their promise and did nor respect a supposed consensus decision to allow PAS to pursue their Islamic Government and Hudud objectives

It needs to be noted PAS very existence is to uphold Islam in Malaysia and it would be unthinkable if PAS would give up their fight for Syariah and Hudud laws.

Which is why the Hudud issue had always been a thorn in the Pakatan relationship which led to frequent arguments between them in the early days of Pakatan Rakyat post 2008.

This led to a secret meeting in Sept 2011 between them where it was initially reported (and then the article was quickly deleted by Malaysian Chronicles but not before other blogs coped it):

After a marathon meeting where tables were banged and DAP chairman Karpal Singh was even out-shouted by his own party mates eager to come to grips with a problem that has shaken the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, agreement was finally reached and everyone got most of what they had hoped for.

Firstly, PAS Spiritual Adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat was given the nod to pursue his agenda for hudud law in Kelantan, where in 1993, long before the Pakatan was formed he had passed hudud into law at the state assembly.

This is a major concession from DAP and is in recognition of Nik Aziz’s contribution to the country and the opposition coalition. The same recognition was extended to Terengganu, where PAS president Hadi Awang had gazetted hudud into law in 2003 but was also unable to implement it.


In return, DAP won the acknowledgement it sought from PAS that the Pakatan’s Common Policy Framework (or joint manifesto) and their Buku Jingga (or joint socio-economic blueprint) would remain as they were, without provision for the inclusion of hudud.

The nod to allow Kelantan to pursue Hudud was never made public in subsequent Pakatan speeches as they preferred to just continuously parrot the line that "Hudud is not in Pakatan Common Policy Framework".

Eventually after GE13, PAS tried to pursue Hudud in Kelantan again and DAP resisted strongly and started to abuse PAS.

Then the fireworks started.

In April 2014 senior PAS wanita leader said "DAP pernah bersetuju PAS perjuang konsep Negara Islam."

Responding to this issue, a day later also in April 2014 PKR Vice-President Tian Chua told the media that DAP and PKR had indeed agreed to Hudud in Kelantan - which led to DAP's Lim Guan Eng calling "Tian Chua a irresponsible and unethical liar".

A few days later, PAS President Hadi Awang ALSO said DAP had agreed to Hudud by PAS. But LGE denied and asked Hadi Awang to show proof.


Eventually, a copy of a jointly-signed letter by Hadi Awang and Lim Guan Eng dated just before GE13 started surfacing.



In that signed letter, it was clearly stated that "PAS berhak memperjuangkan aqidah dan konsep Negara Islam secara sendiri. " Now, unless Lim Guan Eng was ignorant that Negara Islam also included Syariah Laws and Hudud laws, then it is clear that DAP had allowed PAS to pursue Hudud too since he signed on it!

That letter was also posted in Hadi Awang's official FaceBook page and can be viewed here.

And if you believed that the letter could be faked or Hadi Awang was lying, you can watch the video here and see who is in the video when they read out the jointly-signed letter just before GE13 to the assembled PAS attendees.



Therefore, in their opinion PAS is furious that DAP had broken their word and signed agreement. And not only that, PAS is angry that DAP leaders had attacked PAS leaders and Hadi Awang so severely and rudely - calling Hadi Awang all sorts of name.

This breaking of a written agreement and past consensus and blatant public denials by DAP who even had the cheek to turn around to attack PAS as lying is probably the last straw for PAS.

And.. This is STRIKE FOUR.

Given all the above, the relationship between PAS and DAP seems irreparable.

Who is lying, who is telling the truth, which parry held on to its principles and which party cannot be trusted is pretty clear - despite what DAP claiming that the fault for the broken relationship is on PAS.

Facts about 1MDB - Part 1

Verifiable hard facts that you should know about 1MDB - part 1.

PetroSaudi International is founded and owned by Prince Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud - the 7th son of the then King of Saudi Arabia.

Here is proof of ownership as confirmed by Sarawak Report itself.

Owned by the Prince., Initial paid-up was USD500,000 - which is actually more than 1MDB's fully paid-up capital of RM1 million.

Excerpt from Sarawak Report's article dismissing Prince Turki of being just "one of dozens of children:  

He is not a so-called "minor" prince among dozens - as alleged by Sarawak Report. By all accounts, he was a favoured son of the King and was made Deputy Governor and eventually, the Governor of the Riyadh province - the second largest province in terms of both area  and population. Its capital is the city of Riyadh, which is also the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Not only did the King make Prince Turki the Governor of the capital city but he was also made a Cabinet minister of the Saudi Arabia government.

Future Governor of the Province and Capital City of Riyadh and favoured son of the absolute King of the oil-rich Saudi Arabia wants to steal USD1 billion from another country? Please....

No "minor son" or unimportant person would be made Governor of the region with their country's capital city.

The Joint-venture between 1MDB and PetroSaudi was initiated within a short time after a July 2009 meeting between Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, Prince Turki and Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Prince Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud (born 21 October 1971) is a member of the House of Saud and the seventh son of late King Abdullah, the ruler of Saudi Arabia then. He served as deputy governor of Riyadh Province from 2013 to 2014 and as governor of Riyadh Province from 14 May 2014 to 29 January 2015.

PM Najib was introduced to Prince Turki by the late King Abdullah and told by the late King to work with his son's company when Najib went on a four-day official visit to King Abdullah in July 2009 - one month BEFORE these pictures of Najib with Prince Turki on the boat ride were taken.

In this meeting, King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud had expressed the possibility of Saudi Arabia participating actively in Malaysia in the Islamic banking sector, expanding participation in the Islamic services and product manufacturing sectors and also raising its equity in the country.

Filepix shows Najib meeting King Abdullah in July 2009 - one month before Prince Turki and Najib took pictures on the yatch 

Shortly after meeting with PM Najib on the boat, Prince Turki then wrote officially on his Royal letterhead to PM Najib to proceed further with the joint-collaboration between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, in the form of PetroSaudi and 1MDB.

Prince Turki letter to Najib after the meeting

Prince Turki's letter enclosed PetroSaudi's CEO letter addressed to PM Najib too - which specifically mentioned the meeting between Prince Turki, King Abdullah and Najib.

PetroSaudi has the full backing of the Saudi Arabia government, as can be seen in this 2010 letter from their embassy which states that this Joint-venture will improve the relationship between both countries.

Petrosaudi's own bank, Banque Saudi Fransi also testify to the ownership of PetroSaudi and their financial strength.

Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) (Arabic: البنك السعودي الفرنسي) is a Saudi Joint Stock Company established by Saudi Arabia Royal Decree No. M/23 dated June 4, 1977.

Saudi Govt owned bank confirming Prince Turki and Tarek are owners of PetroSaudi and confirming their financial strength.

And just 5 months after this boat trip and photos, on January 17th 2010, PM Najib made another 4-days official trip to Saudi Arabia where he was conferred Saudi Arabia's highest honor, the King Abdulaziz Order of Merit (1st Class) by King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

“I consider this a manifestation of the close relations enjoyed between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, and it symbolises a huge potential for us to cooperate in various fields, not only in the common interest of the two countries but also for the benefit of the larger Muslim community,” said Najib then

Just 4 months after setting up the 1MDB JV with HRH's son, Prince Turki's PetroSaudi - on Jan 17, 2010  Najib was conferred Saudi's highest honor,  the King Abdulaziz Order of Merit (1st Class) by King Abdullah Al-Saud.

PM Najib did the right things as he was asked by King Abdullah to do business with his Prince's company as part of Saudi Arabia-Malaysia collaboration which is supported by the Royal Saudi embassy and 1MDB got back all their money and made a decent profit - above their cost of funds.

It would be quite ridiculous that PetroSaudi owner the future governor of Riyadh, Prince Turki, the seventh blood son of the then King Abdullah - the custodian of the two holy mosques and the absolute ruler of Saudi Arabia - would want to pakat with Jho Low to cheat Malaysia of USD1 billion.

After all, Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil producer and exporter with a GDP more than twice the size of Malaysia.and FOREX reserves of USD280 billion.

Saudi Arabia and their Royal family are not hard-up for money at all.

Sometimes I am amazed how Sarawak Report and the opposition can get so many people to believe the absolutely ridiculous story that the son of the absolute king of wealthy Saudi Arabia would collude with a foreign fat Malaysian Chinese man to cheat Malaysia of USD1.83 billion.

And true enough - 1MDB got back every single ringgit they invested and made as much as USD500 million (RM1.8b) from this joint venture in three short years - a fact that has been audited by TWO separate international audit firms KPMG and Deloitte over 4 years and shall be confirmed once again by our Auditor-General in their special audit - with full documentation and proof too.

Was 1MDB's funds in PetroSaudi ever at risk? Think carefully. Do you think the Absolute Monarch of oil-rich Saudi Arabia would like world-wide headlines to scream:

"Blood son of Saudi Arabia King Abdullah cheats Malaysia government out of USD1 billion" ?

I don't think so.

RECAP: In 2009-2011, 1MDB invested a total of USD1.83b into the PetroSaudi. Initially, it was a 60-40 shares investment but after the Turkmenistan-Azerbajian oil field venture collapsed months later, 1MDB's share equity investment was converted into redeemable, convertible and guaranteed Murabaha loan notes that carried 10.4% interest. In 2012, these Islamic debt papers were redeemed and 1MDB ended up with a 49% stake in PetroSaudi Oil Services Ltd (PSOSL). The value of the 49% stake was US$2.2bil (RM6.8bil). 1MDB eventually sold the 49% stake to Bridge Partners Interna­tional Investment Ltd in August the same year, and received promissory notes amounting to US$2.32bil (RM7.18bil) from Bridge Partners. In the same month, 1MDB through its subsidiary Brazen Sky Ltd invested the promissory notes into Bridge Global Absolute Return Fund SPC and Bridge Partners Investment Management Company (Cayman) Ltd. Dividends from the earlier Murabaha notes and Bridge fund units amounting to USD300m cash were also received by 1MDB and spent on interest payments and other uses. Recently, it was revealed by Wall Street Journal and then confirmed by 1MDB that these USD2.32bil Cayman units were fully guaranteed by the Abu Dhabi Govt sovereign fund.

Much of these USD2.32b were redeemed and spent elsewhere by 1MDB and the remaining USD933m landed up as the infamous BSI "units not cash" in Singapore - but still guaranteed by Abu Dhabi. These units have since been earmarked for the USD4.5b asset-debt swap with Abu Dhabi and USD1 billion was already paid upfront by them to 1MDB. Sarawak Report, Tony Pua fan-boys, Tun M supporters and the many critics of 1MDB and PetroSaudi frequently point out that 49% of PetroSaudi Oil Services Limited is not worth USD2.3b and questioned why a "dodgy shelf company" can be worth so much. In fact, during questioning in the PAC, one of the top auditing company in the world, Deloitte stands by their audit and valuation.

“Deloitte told us that they have seen the bank statements pertaining to the RM13.4bil of assets in BSI Bank. They can verify the value of the assets in question as they did a test on whether the assets were at fair value at that point in time for FY14,” PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan said at a press conference after the inquiry. 

“As of March 31, 2014, Deloitte said they had gotten independent valuation of these assets of RM13.4bil and the valuations tallied. Deloitte had not done any work for FY15, as they only did it up to March 31, 2014,” PAC member Tony Pua, who was also present, said.

The critics have said that PetroSaudi Oil Services Ltd has no assets and hence the Bridge Capital funds are also worthless and do not exist. In May 2010, an oil platform in Venezuela sank. And the Venezuela Govt then announced that it has leased a USD2.5 billion Songa Saturno offshore platform from the company called PetroSaudi Oil Services Limited Bloomberg reported this and said Petrosaudi’s Songa Saturno platform, which will be used to develop offshore natural-gas resources, joins the Petrosaudi Discover rig in replacing the Aban Pearl platform that sank near Trinidad and Tobago in May of that year.

It is amazing that Bloomberg and the Venezuela govt had the foresight in the year 2010 to become UMNO-BN cronys to help lie to the world to cover up the fact that PetroSaudi Oil Services Ltd is worthless. Not only has the company got offshore platform and drillships, it is clear they have long-term contracts - and hence the value of the company could certainly be in the billions - certainly not shelf company or zero. They probably made up the news and the expensive rigs and contracts do not actually exist and any images of them were probably photo shop edit.

To summarize: The Joint venture was with an important Prince who was governor of Saudi's capital city and son of the absolute monarch of oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

The entire amount of 1MDB's investment of USD1.83b was returned with USD300m in dividends plus USD2.32 billion of fund units that are fully guaranteed by the Abu Dhabi Government - and the valuation of these units are confirmed multiple times by one of the largest auditor company in the world, Deloitte. .

These units have been redeemed and the money used with Abu Dhabi Govt paying USD1 billion cash for the remaining units held in BSI Singapore.

So, where is it in the chain shows that money is lost or stolen?.
Can any 1MDB critic care to explain this? Tony or Tun M, perhaps?

Everything is under control and was fine until you came along

This is my response to Tun Mahathir's blog post today. His points are in Bold.

1. Wednesday’s (November 4, 2015) paper reports that we are not facing a financial crisis and we are not going to go into financial crisis. 

2. Eight prominent people including the PM tell us everything is fine. 

3. Now if everything is fine why is there a need to arrest people for sabotaging the banking and financial system of the country? If they sabotage surely the banking and finance of Malaysia would not be fine. They would be dysfunctional.

The persons you must be referring to is probably your loyalist selfie-fan, Khairuddin Abu Hassan (who was the publisher of the famed 50 dalil mengapa Anwar tak boleh jadi PM, which was used to kick out Anwar) and your ex-political secretary Mr Matthias "I challenge you to hunger strike until death" Chang.

Now, these two individuals went around the world filing reports with foreign governments every other week or so. Before they were arrested by Police, they had visited and filed reports in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland, UK and France. They had already filed a report with the USA embassy here and was on the way to the USA before they were stopped.

If the truth was really what they seek, I think filing with Hong Kong and Switzerland is enough already. No need to file in the entire world. Every time they visit another country and do this, they create negative news for the country which then hurts our country's reputation and our real economy. I am sure you are aware of this.

Now, Khairuddin had admitted on his own FaceBook posts that the had given documents to these foreign governments.

My question to you is this:

1) If these documents are real, are these official secrets confidential government documents. And if it is indeed classified genuine documents, where did they get these documents from?

And do you think there is nothing wrong in passing confidential secret government documents to foreign activities?

2) If these documents are fake, do you there is nothing wrong in passing fake documents to foreign activities to defame Malaysia and our Prime Minister?

Whether you choose answer 1 or 2, do you think this is sabotage to our government?

What is your answer?

Also, your logic that the banking system have not been sabotaged means there is no reason to arrest people attempting to sabotage is quite perplexing.

Should we then release those recently arrested ISIS activists who planned to bomb Kuala Lumpur just because Kuala Lumpur have not actually been bombed yet/

4. But is it true that everything is hunky-dory; everything is fine. It can’t be! The banks and the financial system may be fine, but there are other indicators to show that the economy is not fine. 

5. The Ringgit is down by 1 Ringgit to 4.3 to 1 USD. That’s a big drop in value and is bound to affect import business or loans in USD.

I don't get why you are mocking the govt that the Ringgit has fallen against the USD and is now at USD1 to RM4.30 when many other countries currency did equally as poorly or more poorly compared to Malaysia - for example, Russia, Brazil, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Norway etc.

This is mostly a function of low commodity prices and the market is still viewing Malaysia as a commodity-dependent economy.

As powerful as the Prime Minister of Malaysia is, I doubt he would be able to control world oil prices or restore China's growth momentum.

If truly the currency matters so much to you, Tun M. All Najib has to do is to do a Mahathir and peg the Ringgit at RM3.80. 

If you can do this, why can't Najib?

Habis cerita. End of story. That is the easiest thing to do.

However, it is good to see that the govt has resisted this easy way out (unlike some people) and preserve free capital flows which better reflects prevailing market conditions.

Pegging the Ringgit is the wrong way to go and will cause more harm than good.

And why are you so concerned about the import business? I though you hated it when import cars are cheap and compete with Proton?

Expensive imports just means that there is opportunity for Malaysia to rely more on local goods instead of imported goods and reduce outflows to other countries.

As for loans in USD, Malaysia have learned from your mistakes. Now, 97% of our government loans is now in Ringgit Malaysia and we no longer dare expose ourselves to foreign loans - unlike during your time.

6. The stock market is down with big loss in market capitalisation. Again this would not be good for the economy.

Today, the stock market is at 1685.7 points. It is still more than double the 800 points it was at when Najib became PM in 2009.

The stock market did not plunge 70% in a short time to 200 or so points in the year 1998, Even then, the Prime Minister at that time also did not resign.

7. The economic growth is lagging behind those of Indonesia and the Philippines. This is not normal. We use to leave them far behind us.

Surely Tun Mahathir understands that each country's growth depends on which stage of development that they are in.

Indonesia and Philippines has been struggling for the past decades and are now only reaping the benefits from some stability.

Because they came from a much lower base than Malaysia, their current growth is slightly higher too.

Malaysia's current economic growth at 4.5-5% is not too shabby too.

During your time, Malaysia also used to lag Singapore's growth. But since Singapore's economy has matured, we are leaving them behind in terms of growth rate too.

Singapore's last quarter had GDP growth of 0.1% only.

8. Everyone complains of increase in cost of living – toll rates up, rice prices up, GST, cost of production and services, transport, wages for servants, unemployment of graduates etc. etc are all high, reducing purchasing power of everyone. 

9. There is a loss of confidence in the Government precipitated by the 1MDB scandal, the inability to service debts, disappearance of money, cash in the private a/c of PM, its subsequent disappearance, inability to explain 100 million USD, 2016 budget of monetary gifts, shrinking national resources, questionable use of EPF and KWAP funds, poor FDI etc. 

10. So all cannot be well. Who is responsible? Cannot be some nonentity!! Must be the people who manage the economy, manage the country, the people with power and influence whose words and deeds can affect the economy. 

11. In many countries, leaders resign when they fail; when their policies fail, when their cures fail. They also resign when some catastrophe assails their country e.g Australia and Romania. Of course they resign when they do badly in elections. 

In many countries, leaders who have resigned, stay resigned and does not try to topple each of his successors just because the successors refused to listen to him and creating all sorts of political instability.

12. But not in Malaysia. Find other reasons. Find scapegoats. Blame the climate or whatever.

Flashback 1998. The Prime Minsiter at that time did not hold himself accountable and did not resign.

The economy is collapsing.  The GDP fell a staggering 7.4%.

The construction sector contracted 23.5%, manufacturing shrunk 9% and the agriculture sector 5.9% that year.

Inflation doubled to 5.3% from 2.7% the previous year.

Your currency slumped almost 50% from RM2.50 to RM4.84 against the USD..

Bank interest rates went up to as high as 18%. Repossesion of cars was at a record high. No one was buying cars - even the repossesed cars and the car dealers themselves were closing down. 

The stock market fell 75% to below 270 points, Dozens of listed companies -including your crony companies Renong, UEM, Taiping Consolidated - and tens of thousands of ordinary business were on the verge of banktuptcy or already closed shop.

And you had to create Danaharta to bail them out.

In fact, you had to use Petronas money to bail out your son's company - a massive conflict of interest that you did not even bother to defend.

The banks can no longer loan money or extend further credit - starving companies of funds and forcing them to close down. 

In fact, the banks themselves were in trouble and became insolvent. 

And you had to create Danamodal to bail them out.

Forex reserves were just RM20b and could only finance 2.7 times our improts - a level that is below international standard.

Govt was almost bankrupt with Debt to GDP surging past 100%. Ministers and top civil servants had to take a 10% paycut.

You publicly asked Singapore for help in loaning money only to be told "Sorry".

You just sacked your Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister and also arrested your UMNO Youth head along with dozens of others under ISA.

UMNO was split - with many calling you a liability to the party and will cause BN to lose the next General Elections.

Hundreds and thousands joined multiple street rallies demanding your resignation.

The USA deputy president publicly praised the protesters and called them the "brave people of Malaysia" who have demanded democracy. 

Queen Elizabeth II, arrived and presided over the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. In the stands, protesters held up a huge sign to you reading, ''Thanks for the great moments.''

At one point, demonstrators ran after the Queen's motorcade as it passed them on the streets and she waved from the window.

Wan Azizah said ''I feel very sad because Dr. Mahathir is a great leader, but now he has become a political desperado who is willing to suppress his own people just to keep power.''

That was the year 1998.

Did you resign then?

No, you didn't.

You stayed on as a responsible PM and party president to fix what you can to the best of your ability.

You did not run then and neither should you deny another PM from him carrying out his responsibility now too.

The 1998 problemsas just a few countries. Now, our economy is much stronger and the problems are worldwide in nature. The currencies of Russia, Norway, Denmark, Turkey, New Zealand, Australia and a host of others have fallen about the same or worse then Malaysia's Ringgit.

Let PM Najib handle this challenge without distractions and disturbances.

If you can't help or not willing to, don't make it worse.

13. Poor Malaysia. No honour. No accountability. No pride. Just self-preservation.

Perwaja loss of more than RM10 billion, BMF scandals,  dodgy toll concessions, RM30 billion Forex trading losses, etc..

None of these had special Auditor General audits. Neither were there Special Task Force teams to investigate them. Nor were there PAC inquiries into them.

Remember PKFZ?

Someone said in court "I don't remember"

That's accountability

And no one sued ex-Wall Street Journal journalist Barry Wain who wrote the 2009 book that you squandered RM100 billion at least.

Talk about pride.

It's too late to sue Barry Wain now as he has sadly passed away two years ago.