Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Dato Mohd Ariff Sabri: The Sorry State of the Nation

'The tightening noose.

A few words about the noose that is tightening around PM Najib’s neck. The noose of course is the 1MDB issue. It is now at the stage where money actually flowed from business surrounding or originating with 1MDB, through various stages to finally go into Najibs’ personal accounts.

Today we learn that 6 accounts were frozen and 3 of those belonged to Najib. The IGP, MACC, AG and BNM signed documents to have the banks accounts frozen. Najib can’t suspend all of them.

At the end of the day, these servants to the government cannot fend off the demand by the people. They must eventually surrender to the wishes of the people. As I have said in my earlier article, when a government betrays its trust, it has to prove itself innocent. How? by carrying out acts of redemption. The court of public opinion is not the same as the legal court.'

'The thieving minds do not understand.

The people with thieving minds still cannot get it. A wrong, corrected after the fact, does not render it annulled. For example, if you buy a property on behalf of MARA for RM100 million, when the actual cost is RM60 million, you have embezzled and stolen money. You are a thief. You have committed theft.

Now, if the price of the property appreciates by 45% to become RM145 million, you have made a profit of RM45 million which also covers the RM40 million you stole. The correction by way of a 45% appreciation covers up your theft as a result of fortuitous market conditions, but does not cancel out the theft. The act of thievery remains.

For to accept the narrative given by the minister in charge of MARA would mean that, every agent acting on behalf of the government can steal money in this way and hope the property market will cover up the theft and he or she is forgiven.

So, it’s not open to Shafie Apdal to now say, never mind if my officers took away RM40 million, that theft is now recovered because the property has appreciated by 45%. This is the kind of weak reasoning you get from a person defending an indefensible wrong.

Similarly when Isa Samad bought properties in the UK on behalf of FGV at an inflated price. The inflated portion represented the sum embezzled. When the price of the property later appreciated as a result of again, fortuitous market development, the embezzlement still remains a wrong.People will just tiu you.

In the case of government’s money (because it all started as 1MDB) being laundered through a few stages to finally end up in Najib’s account, a crime has already been committed. It’s not cancelled out, later when the accused in this case, the PM says the money wasn’t used for private purposes. That is irrelevant. It does not matter because a wrong has been committed ab initio.'

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