DOJ 1 MDB investigation based on records of phone conversations,email transmissions : What else do the DOJ, NCA know of Malaysian Cabinet ministers' financial dealings?

by Ganesh Sahathevan


It has been reported that Malaysia's PM Najib " questions source of complaints received by US Department of Justice".

The source seems obvious, for example this paragraph from the US DOJ indictment:

67. On September 30, 2009, at approximately 2:39 p.m., the Deutsche Bank Employee, a Deutsche Bank supervisor (“Deutsche Bank Supervisor”), and 1MDB OFFICER 1 had a telephone conversation regarding the requested $700 million wire transfer. During this conversation, 1MDB OFFICER 1 falsely represented that the beneficiary of the $700 million wire was PetroSaudi. In truth, the beneficiary of the wire was Good Star. Their exchange, conducted in English, was as follows: 

1MDB OFFICER 1 Hey, No [mah], I, whatever mistake they’ve made you cannot go back [ask] them. They [already] give you approval from [Bank Negara] all the way to the top. 

Deutsche Bank Supervisor Um-hum . . . 

1MDB OFFICER 1 Uh. You want to, hang on, this one ___. The ___ is asking me to go and send it now. 

Deutsche Bank Supervisor Okay, okay, okay. Let, let, let me just convince my compliance person. This is, I’m, I’m fine with you about the compliance side, uh, it’s. It’s a little bit sticky with this. But let me just try –

1MDB OFFICER 1 Good. 

Deutsche Bank Supervisor --and convince her 

1MDB OFFICER 1 Yeah, and __ I don’t know how to answer you know, that’s why I’m under tremendous pressure – 

68. On September 30, 2009, at approximately 2:51 p.m., the Deutsche Bank Supervisor had a telephone conversation with a Bank Negara official (“Bank Negara Official”). Their conversation included the following exchange: 

Deutsche Bank Supervisor I understand that. I understand that. Okay. So you know in terms of account it’s basically a business decision for the [client] [now]. 

Bank Negara Official Yeah, yeah, yeah, because we, we, I mean we do not know of the, all that when there applied to us, they got 1.5 billion will be put by the Saudi MDB, one billion by us, uh by Malaysia –  

Bank Negara Official --and that, and the crediting of the account and so on , is this their business decision, la, so long as it does not deviate from the original intention and that is not for Bank Negara to say but more of the government [la] because this is MOF’s . . . baby [la].

Then, this  example of email intercepts:

110. In a document entitled “LOW FAMILY HISTORY AND BACKGROUND, ORIGINS OF JYNWEL CAPITAL,” that was emailed by LOW’s brother to a New York business person on or about August 13, 2013, the Low family represented that “Mr. Jho Low founded the Abu Dhabi-Kuwait-Malaysia Investment Corporation in 2007 and together with third-party investment partners structured numerous multi-million dollar buyouts with interests in construction, real estate development (Putrajaya Perdana Berhad), water infrastructure (Loh & Loh Corporation Berhad), road concessions and oil & gas (UBG Berhad).”

125. Electronic communications among Goldman employees during the lead-up to the May 21, 2012, bond closing date reflect that employees at Goldman offered differing information about the nature of LOW’s relationship to 1MDB and/or his role in the bond deal and the procurement of the IPIC guarantee: a. In an email dated March 27, 2012, a managing director at GoldmanAsia referred to LOW as “the 1MDB Operator or intermediary in Malaysia.” 

395. During at least part of the time during which the above-referenced transfers were made, LOW maintained a Red Granite email account with the domain name @redgranitepictures.com. This email account was deleted in or around April 2012. 2. Tens of Millions in 1MDB Funds Funneled Through the Aabar-BVI Account Were Used to Fund Red Granite Pictures and “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Najib,and the rest of the Malaysian cabinet, and other public servants involved in the 1 MDB matter need to be more concerned about what else the FBI and the DOJ have discovered. Perhaps they might want to consult that former high ranking GCHQ man, Brian Lord.......

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