Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Is 1MDB denying the authenticity of the Board Minutes exposed by Sarawak Report?

1MDB wrote on 18th October 2015 to once again accused me of “recycled wrong statements” when I had claimed that the 1MDB Directors were livid that the 1MDB top executives did not comply to the directives of the Board. The statement read
YB Tony Pua continues his disservice to all Malaysians by relying on findings of a discredited foreign blog to make his allegations, when 1MDB has submitted authentic company documents, including its Board of Directors (BoD) minutes, to lawful authorities such as PDRM and the Auditor- General.

1MDB further denied that the Board was unhappy and that “clarifications were provided to their satisfaction”, further adding that the agreements with Petrosaudi International Limited “have never been cancelled”.

This is the reason why 1MDB is very clever with words.  I never alleged that the Petrosaudi agreements were cancelled.  I had said that the Directors were livid and furious with the top executives for failing to comply with the directives of the Board, and the subsequent follow up actions the Board demanded were never carried out as well.

The Sarawak Report had published the minutes of the 3rd October 2009 Board Meeting five days ago which irrefutably stated that “the BOD was not consulted on the change of plans to remit US$700 million to PSI.  The BOD’s understanding was for the full US$1 billion to be wired to the joint bank account under the name of the JVCo…”

In contrast, the Board of Directors were so livid that they demanded for the US$700 million to be returned “so that the funds could be remitted through the originally agreed channel”.

The Directors also openly reprimanded the top management for their intransigence.  They minuted that
The substantial investment of US$1 billion should have merited a more thorough thought and due diligence process.   The BOD viewed that the formalisation of the entire joint venture exercise was completed in a very short time which raises the question as to whether adequate control measures, checks and balances were put in place to protect the Company’s interests.  The BOD also raised their surprise over the speed in which the valuation report was prepared as the BOD was previously informed that such valuation report would only be ready by March 2010.

They specifically instructed Datuk Shahrol Halmi and his top management “not to deviate from the BOD’s instructions”.  They further “advised En Shahrol to seek clarification from the BOD if the CEO and management have doubts on any particular matter”.

I had indeed “recycled” my old allegations, but this time backed by the additional evidence of 1MDB’s own Board of Directors’ minutes.  However, 1MDB had “recycled” their denial without providing a shred of evidence to the contrary.

Is 1MDB President Arul Kanda now alleging that the Board minutes published by Sarawak Report was “doctored” or “forged” or “tampered”?  If so, then he can shut me up immediately by publishing the full undoctored minutes of the Board Meeting, in fact, all Board Meetings to protest 1MDB’s innocence in the matter.

If not, the minutes of the 3rd October 2009 meeting proved beyond reasonable doubt that the US$700 million of the proposed US$1 billion have been misappropriated by Datuk Shahrol Halmi.  It beggars belief that despite the clear case for criminal breach of trust, Datuk Shahrol remains today a Director of 1MDB.

Perhaps he is there to protect the interest of the “most powerful person in the country” which the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is currently investigating as disclosed by the outgoing deputy chief commissioner Datuk Seri Zakaria Jaffar.

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