In a vibrant DEMOCRACY, DIssenting VOices are important to the Check&BAlance contrasting voices in growing the nation-building so that Malaysia does NOT Become MALsia on the slippery slope to a FAILED STATE! Bleating sheep like AZalWhatLIna, SAlleh whatCroaking yes-men to the wooden cabinet must be countered, and here's some one wit' IDEAS that maketh DEsi's heART GLOW with MAlaysian pride!
Many salutes to Democracy and
Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief executive officer Wan Saiful Wan Jan.
Probe if Najib was 1MDB puppet master, says think-tank
A think-tank has urged the authorities to determine if Prime Minister
Najib Abdul played the role of a "shadow director" in 1MDB, exerting
his influence from behind the scenes.
"I urge the authorities to look into the concept of shadow directorship.
"The powers and influence of the prime minister in his capacity as chairperson of the board of advisors must be examined to ascertain if he has acted in any way as a shadow director.
"Otherwise the investigation will be incomplete," said Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief executive officer Wan Saiful Wan Jan.
He also criticised the practice of appointing a sitting prime minister as chairperson of a government-linked company (GLC), describing it as the "stupidest" and most "ridiculous" governance structure ever.
"From a governance perspective, appointing the prime minister as chairperson of the advisory board is the stupidest idea anyone can come up with," he added in a media statement.
Wan Saiful said this in support of the Public Account Committee's recommendation for the 1MDB advisory board to be abolished.
"All along, I have been saying that this is 1MDB's biggest weakness," he stressed.
He argued that a serving prime minister, who is arguably the most influential man in the country, would certainly pose the risk of undue influence upon those sitting on GLC boards and in management.
"This is a person whose advice even the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is compelled to follow. Will it really be possible for any of the directors to decline his advice?
"No wonder some people are beginning to suggest that the former (1MDB) CEO ignored his board of directors because he is following instructions from someone more powerful.
"When the governance structure is as ridiculous as that, we cannot stop people from making all sorts of allegations," he argued.
Noting that the PAC report is critical of 1MDB's governance, Wan Saiful also said he is glad that the 1MDB board of directors have offered their resignation.
"They should all go. The blame should not be put on one person but the whole board is responsible and must be made accountable," he added.
Wan Saiful also said since the report highlighted how poor the governance of 1MDB has been, there is concern with regard to all the other national and state GLCs.
"Will they pass the test, or will we discover a hundred more mini-1MDBs?
“If we now decry a debt of RM50 billion, how do we know whether there are not 100 GLCs at the state and federal levels each with debts of just 1 percent of that?" he asked.
Wan Saiful said that a comprehensive review of corporate entities owned by the federal and state governments must be done.
*****************************************************
FROM themalaymailonline.com an MP TONY PUA (Also a member in the PAC who said he oncly agreed with 80percent of the PAC's findings...)'s VOICE which echoes DEsi's views in my previous post's (Part 1) INTRO:~~~
Tony
Pua noted that 1MDB’s critics like Sarawak Report, the Wall Street
Journal and himself have over the past year been accused of
orchestrating a conspiracy against the country for publishing articles
highlighting issues affecting the state investment fund.. — Picture by
Choo Choy May
KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — Critics of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) would today be vindicated by the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) final report on the fund as the panel’s findings prove they were right all along to accuse the firm of mismanagement, panel member Tony Pua said today.
Pua, who is also DAP’s MP for Petaling Jaya Utara, said that the findings of the Auditor-General, which was summarised in the PAC report, and the relatively brief conclusion by the PAC confirms “gross mismanagement” and wanton neglect by 1MDB’s board of directors.
“Today is the day that all critics of the debt stricken 1MDB have been finally vindicated with the tabling of the Public Accounts Committee report on the company,” he said in a media statement released to reporters at the lobby of the Dewan Rakyat this morning.
Pua noted that 1MDB’s critics like Sarawak Report, the Wall Street Journal and himself have over the past year been accused of orchestrating a conspiracy against the country for publishing articles highlighting issues affecting the state investment fund.
The federal lawmaker added that he is even being investigated for “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” over the same matter and has also been accused of doctoring documents and publishing lies.
“The tabling of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report today, with the accompanying transcripts of all its proceedings since 19th May 2015 in Parliament has now fully vindicated us.
“Most importantly, 1MDB deliberately hampered the investigations by the Auditor-General and the PAC by giving half-truths, withholding of crucial information as well as defiantly refusing to supply simple bank statements of its overseas accounts to allow the audit of multi-billion ringgit money trails,” Pua said.
PAC’s report on the state-owned investment firm was tabled to the Dewan Rakyat this morning and released on the panel’s website.
In the report, the panel said 1MDB’s board of directors failed in their responsibilities to the company and its shareholders by allowing its management to make decisions that were not in line with good accounting practices.
The panel also urged the authorities to investigate former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi over weaknesses in the management of the firm.
According to PAC chief Datuk Hasan Arifin last November, Shahrol Azral had testified on 1MDB’s links with the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) and Saudi-based oil exploration and services company PetroSaudi International (PSI).
“The Inspector-General of Police must take immediate action to investigate Datuk Shahrol and his associates.
“I will go further to call not only for Datuk Shahrol Halmi be sacked with immediate effect, but the entire Board of Directors who have failed to protect the interest of the Government and the taxpayers to be removed as well,” Pua added.
1MDB is currently under probe by the authorities in several countries, with Luxembourg the latest to investigate the state investment firm for alleged money laundering.
************************************************
DEsi also LIKES this account about the ROLE OF AUDITORS in 1MDB's Scandalous JOurney into that BLACK HOLE!
ia
1MDB
terminated the services of two audit firms after the auditors asked for
documents the state investment firm failed to provide, the PAC report
said. Buildings of the global ‘Big Four’ accounting firms (clockwise
from top left) KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche and
PricewaterhouseCoopers are pictured in this combination photograph. —
Reuters pic KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — 1Malaysia Development
Berhad (1MDB) sacked two audit firms in four years after the auditors
asked for documents the state investment firm failed to provide, the
Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report said.
The first two auditors — Ernst & Young and KPMG — no longer acted for 1MDB after clashes in opinions with the state investment firm’s board, particularly when 1MDB failed to provide documents to back some of its investments, according to the PAC’s report on 1MDB tabled in Parliament today
“This situation is the second time in four years where the auditor’s services were terminated after the final financial year due to differences in opinion over the valuation of an investment,” the PAC said when commenting on KPMG’s termination of service in 2013.
Ernst & Young (EY) was appointed by 1MDB’s predecessor, Terengganu Investment Authority, on March 25, 2009, but had its contract terminated on September 15, 2010, before 1MDB submitted its first financial statements for the financial year ending March 31, 2010, the report said.
The parliamentary panel cited EY’s Audit Planning Memo dated March 26, 2010, where the audit firm was shown to have requested for documents and made queries relating to 1MDB and PetroSaudi International Limited (PSI)’s joint venture firm, 1MDB PetroSaudi Ltd.
Among other things, EY had asked for 1MDB’s due diligence report and sought additional information to evaluate the reasonableness of key assumptions regarding PSI’s estimated asset value, as well as the joint venture firm’s financial statements to determine its shares, assets, liabilities and contingent liabilities.
EY had in a 1MDB board meeting on April 5, 2010, raised the need for such documents, PAC said, as it noted that the audit firm had not found any documents regarding the actual owner, value and risks on the assets pumped in by PSI.
But 1MDB “did not have sufficient documents” on the day of the meeting to prove the assets owned by the joint venture firm, PAC said.
“The position taken by Messrs EY had resulted in an uncomfortable situation for the 1MDB management and the shareholders and Board of Directors decided to terminate the services of Messrs EY,” the PAC said.
PAC added that 1MDB’s subsequent board meeting on October 4, 2010 – after EY’s termination – showed that the joint venture firm had yet to prepare its financial statements, with the then 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi convincing the board that the financial statements will be discussed at future meetings after it is received. But no such discussion papers were shown to have been presented in any 1MDB board meetings, the PAC said.
As for KPMG which was appointed on September 15, 2010, it had its contract terminated by 1MDB’s shareholders on December 31, 2013, and also before the submission of 1MDB’s 2013 financial statements.
Among other things, a November 29, 2013, minutes of a meeting between KPMG and 1MDB showed the latter’s CEO Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman attempting to convince the audit firm of 1MDB’s investment in Bridge Global SPC through Brazen Sky Ltd.
“However, Messrs KPMG was dissatisfied as there were no evidence in writing,” the PAC said after listing the documents that KPMG had sought from 1MDB on the investment.
Following the widening rift between 1MDB and KPMG, 1MDB’s board passed a resolution on December 31, 2013, that said both firms mutually agreed to remove KPMG as auditors, the report showed.
After its termination, KPMG wrote to 1MDB’s management on January 6, 2014, raising concern over the latter’s approach in only attempting to verbally convince them regarding its investments instead of providing the required documents.
As of December 31, 2013, Deloitte was appointed as 1MDB’s auditors on the recommendation of 1MDB’s Risk Management and Audit Committee and remains so, as of last October 31.
Deloitte has audited the 2013 and 2014 accounts of 1MDB, while the latter’s 2015 financial statements have yet to be audited.
1MDB had obtained an extension until this September 30 to file its audited financial statements to the Companies Commission of Malaysia, with the firm claiming that the audit could not be carried out as many of the financial documents remained in the hands of the authorities following a raid last July 8.
DESIDERATA: awaits wit' BATED BREATH DELOITTE's AUDIT REPORT on 1MDB for year 2015. Don't keep on delaying lah, even BUddha's patience can run out, (to the extent he might JUMP OVER THE Deloitte-cum-1MDB WALL!>>> Wall's Icecream anywan?..) what aMOre human, humblepie-eating, non-vegetarain DEsi's?
**************************************************
PANTAI MP Nurul Izzah wants the 1MDB directors to be PROSECUTED!
from the sun daily:~~~~
"I urge the authorities to look into the concept of shadow directorship.
"The powers and influence of the prime minister in his capacity as chairperson of the board of advisors must be examined to ascertain if he has acted in any way as a shadow director.
"Otherwise the investigation will be incomplete," said Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief executive officer Wan Saiful Wan Jan.
He also criticised the practice of appointing a sitting prime minister as chairperson of a government-linked company (GLC), describing it as the "stupidest" and most "ridiculous" governance structure ever.
"From a governance perspective, appointing the prime minister as chairperson of the advisory board is the stupidest idea anyone can come up with," he added in a media statement.
Wan Saiful said this in support of the Public Account Committee's recommendation for the 1MDB advisory board to be abolished.
"All along, I have been saying that this is 1MDB's biggest weakness," he stressed.
He argued that a serving prime minister, who is arguably the most influential man in the country, would certainly pose the risk of undue influence upon those sitting on GLC boards and in management.
"This is a person whose advice even the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is compelled to follow. Will it really be possible for any of the directors to decline his advice?
"No wonder some people are beginning to suggest that the former (1MDB) CEO ignored his board of directors because he is following instructions from someone more powerful.
"When the governance structure is as ridiculous as that, we cannot stop people from making all sorts of allegations," he argued.
Noting that the PAC report is critical of 1MDB's governance, Wan Saiful also said he is glad that the 1MDB board of directors have offered their resignation.
"They should all go. The blame should not be put on one person but the whole board is responsible and must be made accountable," he added.
Wan Saiful also said since the report highlighted how poor the governance of 1MDB has been, there is concern with regard to all the other national and state GLCs.
"Will they pass the test, or will we discover a hundred more mini-1MDBs?
“If we now decry a debt of RM50 billion, how do we know whether there are not 100 GLCs at the state and federal levels each with debts of just 1 percent of that?" he asked.
Wan Saiful said that a comprehensive review of corporate entities owned by the federal and state governments must be done.
*****************************************************
FROM themalaymailonline.com an MP TONY PUA (Also a member in the PAC who said he oncly agreed with 80percent of the PAC's findings...)'s VOICE which echoes DEsi's views in my previous post's (Part 1) INTRO:~~~
Thursday April 7, 2016
11:36 AM GMT+8
11:36 AM GMT+8
UPDATED:
April 07, 2016
01:11 PM GMT+8
April 07, 2016
01:11 PM GMT+8
ICYMI
The Edit: Nicolas Cage fights rocker Vince Neil to protect fan
The Edit: Earth could become hotter than thought
Authorities raid Panama Papers lawyers’ office in El Salvador
ProjekMMO: Orang Asli terima penggerak, mubaligh JakimAdvertisement
Tony
Pua noted that 1MDB’s critics like Sarawak Report, the Wall Street
Journal and himself have over the past year been accused of
orchestrating a conspiracy against the country for publishing articles
highlighting issues affecting the state investment fund.. — Picture by
Choo Choy MayKUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — Critics of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) would today be vindicated by the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) final report on the fund as the panel’s findings prove they were right all along to accuse the firm of mismanagement, panel member Tony Pua said today.
Pua, who is also DAP’s MP for Petaling Jaya Utara, said that the findings of the Auditor-General, which was summarised in the PAC report, and the relatively brief conclusion by the PAC confirms “gross mismanagement” and wanton neglect by 1MDB’s board of directors.
“Today is the day that all critics of the debt stricken 1MDB have been finally vindicated with the tabling of the Public Accounts Committee report on the company,” he said in a media statement released to reporters at the lobby of the Dewan Rakyat this morning.
Pua noted that 1MDB’s critics like Sarawak Report, the Wall Street Journal and himself have over the past year been accused of orchestrating a conspiracy against the country for publishing articles highlighting issues affecting the state investment fund.
The federal lawmaker added that he is even being investigated for “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” over the same matter and has also been accused of doctoring documents and publishing lies.
“The tabling of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report today, with the accompanying transcripts of all its proceedings since 19th May 2015 in Parliament has now fully vindicated us.
“Most importantly, 1MDB deliberately hampered the investigations by the Auditor-General and the PAC by giving half-truths, withholding of crucial information as well as defiantly refusing to supply simple bank statements of its overseas accounts to allow the audit of multi-billion ringgit money trails,” Pua said.
PAC’s report on the state-owned investment firm was tabled to the Dewan Rakyat this morning and released on the panel’s website.
In the report, the panel said 1MDB’s board of directors failed in their responsibilities to the company and its shareholders by allowing its management to make decisions that were not in line with good accounting practices.
The panel also urged the authorities to investigate former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi over weaknesses in the management of the firm.
According to PAC chief Datuk Hasan Arifin last November, Shahrol Azral had testified on 1MDB’s links with the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) and Saudi-based oil exploration and services company PetroSaudi International (PSI).
“The Inspector-General of Police must take immediate action to investigate Datuk Shahrol and his associates.
“I will go further to call not only for Datuk Shahrol Halmi be sacked with immediate effect, but the entire Board of Directors who have failed to protect the interest of the Government and the taxpayers to be removed as well,” Pua added.
1MDB is currently under probe by the authorities in several countries, with Luxembourg the latest to investigate the state investment firm for alleged money laundering.
************************************************
DEsi also LIKES this account about the ROLE OF AUDITORS in 1MDB's Scandalous JOurney into that BLACK HOLE!
ia
Thursday April 7, 2016
04:15 PM GMT+8
04:15 PM GMT+8
ICYMI
Advertisement
1MDB
terminated the services of two audit firms after the auditors asked for
documents the state investment firm failed to provide, the PAC report
said. Buildings of the global ‘Big Four’ accounting firms (clockwise
from top left) KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche and
PricewaterhouseCoopers are pictured in this combination photograph. —
Reuters pic KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — 1Malaysia Development
Berhad (1MDB) sacked two audit firms in four years after the auditors
asked for documents the state investment firm failed to provide, the
Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report said.The first two auditors — Ernst & Young and KPMG — no longer acted for 1MDB after clashes in opinions with the state investment firm’s board, particularly when 1MDB failed to provide documents to back some of its investments, according to the PAC’s report on 1MDB tabled in Parliament today
“This situation is the second time in four years where the auditor’s services were terminated after the final financial year due to differences in opinion over the valuation of an investment,” the PAC said when commenting on KPMG’s termination of service in 2013.
Ernst & Young (EY) was appointed by 1MDB’s predecessor, Terengganu Investment Authority, on March 25, 2009, but had its contract terminated on September 15, 2010, before 1MDB submitted its first financial statements for the financial year ending March 31, 2010, the report said.
The parliamentary panel cited EY’s Audit Planning Memo dated March 26, 2010, where the audit firm was shown to have requested for documents and made queries relating to 1MDB and PetroSaudi International Limited (PSI)’s joint venture firm, 1MDB PetroSaudi Ltd.
Among other things, EY had asked for 1MDB’s due diligence report and sought additional information to evaluate the reasonableness of key assumptions regarding PSI’s estimated asset value, as well as the joint venture firm’s financial statements to determine its shares, assets, liabilities and contingent liabilities.
EY had in a 1MDB board meeting on April 5, 2010, raised the need for such documents, PAC said, as it noted that the audit firm had not found any documents regarding the actual owner, value and risks on the assets pumped in by PSI.
But 1MDB “did not have sufficient documents” on the day of the meeting to prove the assets owned by the joint venture firm, PAC said.
“The position taken by Messrs EY had resulted in an uncomfortable situation for the 1MDB management and the shareholders and Board of Directors decided to terminate the services of Messrs EY,” the PAC said.
PAC added that 1MDB’s subsequent board meeting on October 4, 2010 – after EY’s termination – showed that the joint venture firm had yet to prepare its financial statements, with the then 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi convincing the board that the financial statements will be discussed at future meetings after it is received. But no such discussion papers were shown to have been presented in any 1MDB board meetings, the PAC said.
As for KPMG which was appointed on September 15, 2010, it had its contract terminated by 1MDB’s shareholders on December 31, 2013, and also before the submission of 1MDB’s 2013 financial statements.
Among other things, a November 29, 2013, minutes of a meeting between KPMG and 1MDB showed the latter’s CEO Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman attempting to convince the audit firm of 1MDB’s investment in Bridge Global SPC through Brazen Sky Ltd.
“However, Messrs KPMG was dissatisfied as there were no evidence in writing,” the PAC said after listing the documents that KPMG had sought from 1MDB on the investment.
Following the widening rift between 1MDB and KPMG, 1MDB’s board passed a resolution on December 31, 2013, that said both firms mutually agreed to remove KPMG as auditors, the report showed.
After its termination, KPMG wrote to 1MDB’s management on January 6, 2014, raising concern over the latter’s approach in only attempting to verbally convince them regarding its investments instead of providing the required documents.
As of December 31, 2013, Deloitte was appointed as 1MDB’s auditors on the recommendation of 1MDB’s Risk Management and Audit Committee and remains so, as of last October 31.
Deloitte has audited the 2013 and 2014 accounts of 1MDB, while the latter’s 2015 financial statements have yet to be audited.
1MDB had obtained an extension until this September 30 to file its audited financial statements to the Companies Commission of Malaysia, with the firm claiming that the audit could not be carried out as many of the financial documents remained in the hands of the authorities following a raid last July 8.
DESIDERATA: awaits wit' BATED BREATH DELOITTE's AUDIT REPORT on 1MDB for year 2015. Don't keep on delaying lah, even BUddha's patience can run out, (to the extent he might JUMP OVER THE Deloitte-cum-1MDB WALL!>>> Wall's Icecream anywan?..) what aMOre human, humblepie-eating, non-vegetarain DEsi's?
**************************************************
PANTAI MP Nurul Izzah wants the 1MDB directors to be PROSECUTED!
from the sun daily:~~~~
Nurul Izzah: Stepping down does not absolve 1MDB board of responsibility
Posted on 8 April 2016 - 07:01pm
Last updated on 9 April 2016 - 10:11am
Last updated on 9 April 2016 - 10:11am
PETALING JAYA: The decision of the 1Malaysia
Development Berhad (1MDB) board of directors to step down does not
absolve them of their responsibilites, said Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah
Anwar.
In a blog post, she said Malaysians, who through the government, will inherit as much as RM20.3 billion in debt must demand accountability.
"Among the top of the list of accountability are the board of directors – including former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.
"They must sternly be reminded that resigning does not relieve them of accountability for decisions they have made to the detriment of Malaysia's coffers," she said.
The Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) final report on 1MDB which revealed apparent negligence on the part of the board is to be blamed for the management's decisions that led to the fund amassing a debt pile of RM42 billion in just five years.
"Critics and whistleblowers, including Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and PKR's Secretary General (Rafizi Ramli) are vindicated through the 160 pages of the Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) final report on what UMNO leaders termed once as the golden goose fund – 1MDB," Nurul Izzah added.
This should compel the current Attorney General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali to protect whistle blowers.
"It is precisely due to the insistence and courage of whistleblowers that the 1MDB rot is now public. Our whistleblowers should rightly be praised for exposing 1MDB's shenanigans."
Meanwhile PKR's President and Kajang assemblywoman Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak must provide a detailed explanation on the report as the country's image and credibility is at stake.
Lembah
Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar have slammed the 1MDB board stating that
stepping down does not absolve the board of responsibility. — SunpixIn a blog post, she said Malaysians, who through the government, will inherit as much as RM20.3 billion in debt must demand accountability.
"Among the top of the list of accountability are the board of directors – including former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.
"They must sternly be reminded that resigning does not relieve them of accountability for decisions they have made to the detriment of Malaysia's coffers," she said.
The Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) final report on 1MDB which revealed apparent negligence on the part of the board is to be blamed for the management's decisions that led to the fund amassing a debt pile of RM42 billion in just five years.
"Critics and whistleblowers, including Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and PKR's Secretary General (Rafizi Ramli) are vindicated through the 160 pages of the Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) final report on what UMNO leaders termed once as the golden goose fund – 1MDB," Nurul Izzah added.
This should compel the current Attorney General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali to protect whistle blowers.
"It is precisely due to the insistence and courage of whistleblowers that the 1MDB rot is now public. Our whistleblowers should rightly be praised for exposing 1MDB's shenanigans."
Meanwhile PKR's President and Kajang assemblywoman Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak must provide a detailed explanation on the report as the country's image and credibility is at stake.
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