Ganesh Sahathevan

by Ganesh Sahathevan This from a recently issued UNESCO media statement : From 16 to 23 September, UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, is in New York to take part in a number of high-level events within the framework of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly. One year after the historic adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Director-General will join Heads of State, Government leaders, UN High Level Representatives and civil society to share UNESCO’s full contribution in taking forward the new agenda and in promoting dialogue and lasting peace. The Director-General will also participate in a high-level entitled “A Tribute to heroes in the global campaign against violent extremism”, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hero Awards will be presented to a wide range of women and men who are role models in leading the fight against violent extremism across the world The “Lead by Example” Award will be pre...

Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah by Ganesh Sahathevan Malaysia's National Security Act 2016 came into force on 1 August 2016 ,without royal assent. While royal assent is deemed to have been granted ,it remains a fact that the Agong withheld assent. The Act allows the Prime Minister Najib to call out the troops to enforce his will against the civilian population.   Chief Of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin  acting on the orders of the Prime Minister would be person  in charge of operations if and when PM Najib calls out the troops. However, he is also subject  to the authority of the King, the Yang DiPertuan Agong,who is the  Commander In Chief or Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.  The loyalty of the Chief Of Armed Forces and indeed any soldier to the Agong, his Supreme Commander is seldom if ever in conflict with their loyalty to the government of the day given the norms and conventions of the system...

by Ganesh Sahathevan Aziz, Partner Joey McFarland and Jho Low launch Wolf of Wall Street  Claimants, or interested parties, in a  US civil forfeiture have  30 days to file notice against  challenging a  seizure. The Wolf of Wall Street asset seizure was filed Wednesday 20 July 2016,and by the close of business today, Friday 2 September 2016, 32 working days would have passed since the US Department Of Justice filed the Wolf Of Wall Street application. So far, as the public record below reveals , Riza Aziz's  Red Granite Pictures Inc has been the only interested party to have filed a notice of interest. Neither Riza, Jho Low nor any other person has filed notice. Red Granite filed notice on 1 August 2016, well within the shorter 15 days  applicable where there is personal service of the seizure, and hence it is not likely that Riza ,Jho and any other party involved is delaying notice of interest and challenge until some other deadline that may be availa...

by Ganesh Sahathevan  "I've said it openly. Obviously if you read the documents, it is the Prime Minister" ..... And paragraph 99 of the document Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Minister in the Prime Minister's Departmentrefers to, the USDOJ 1 MDB indictment, states Najib was at both ends of the transaction, being chairman of 1 MDB's three-tiered governance structure. Prince Turki,the Saudi prince in question, has other DOJ investigations to worry about, and not likely to corroborate the donation story. END 

by Ganesh Sahathevan  In the glory days of the  now ended brotherly relationship between the Malaysian Government and Abu Dhabi , Abu Dhabi's Mudabala was awarded the exploration Block SK 320,where it has since discovered a commercial quantity of gas. Mudabala is soon to be merged with Abu Dhabi's other investment arm, IPIC , and that discovery will form part of the merged assets. Of course, IPIC is also suing the Malaysian Government for some USD 7.5 billion in loses incurred from bailing out Malaysia's 1MDB. Meanwhile, in what appears to be another part of a series of financial deals with China, entered into in order to cover 1 MDB's losses  and cure the financial volatility that has come with it,Malaysia's PM Najib seems to  have surrendered control over yet another bit of Malaysia, James Shoal, w hich lies just south of the IPIC/Mudabala SK 320 amd Deepwater Block SK2B. As the Wall Street Journal noted in 2014 when the SK 320 discovery was made : There have bee...

by Ganesh Sahathevan There is likely to be more than one AMBank employee who is aware of this and related transactions ANZ's former CEO Mike Smith who led the bank's Asian expansion would know from the time he spent at HSBC in Kuala Lumpur that  Malaysians in general are always (and I mean always) on the look out for a deal to at least supplement meager incomes, if not get rich quick. Given that deal making propensity ,news of the the SEC's recently reported USD 22 million payout (RM 88 million) to a whistle blower  ,the largest this year and second only to its record payout of USD 30 million (RM 120 million)  will prove too much for AMBank staff to resist. Given the central role that AMBank and its ANZ led management played in the 1 MDB theft, which the US Justice Department described as the biggest case of kleptocracy ,fraud and theft it has ever seen, AMBank staff can be expected to have already done the math and determined that speaking to the SEC might well set them ...

by Ganesh Sahathevan The Department of Employment and at least one  JobActive contractor have been found to be in breach of the Department's own rules and regulations with regards the Work For The Dole Scheme.  Job Plans containing compulsory WFD requirements may be illegal, and job seekers may be entitled to compensation for any hours worked in compliance with the illegal Job Plans. In one instance a Jobplan was determined by Centrelink to be illegal because the job seeker was not entitled to the full New Start Allowance,and therefore not required to participate in a WFD  activity. Other instances of likely illegality include cases where  job seekers have been  placed in WFD  assignments regardless of whether the activity has any relevance to  finding  work,despite the fact that  the Department Of Employment  explicitly requires that WFD  assignments be directly relevant to the job seeking effort. While the Work For The Dole Scheme...