BLAGO GETS 14 YEARS
P Ramakrishnan,
When money meant for a specific project was channelled into a family firm that has nothing to do with the project, doesn’t it constitute embezzlement? Isn’t embezzlement akin to corruption?
Thinking Malaysians are perturbed by the unbecoming conduct of the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Khalid Abu Bakar. He was clearly trying to cover up for the Umno Wanita leader Shahrizat Jalil during the Umno General Assembly.
Shahrizat is under intense scrutiny over the scandalous beef-breeding project, which was undertaken by her husband through their company, National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), with a soft-loan of RM250m from the government.
Following the Auditor-General’s damning disclosure that this project is in a “mess”, many startling and disturbing ‘fishy’ details have been unearthed by the Opposition. All these allegations of impropriety involve funds meant for a national livestock project to provide a cheap supply of beef to Malaysians.
From the allegations, it would appear that there has been blatant abuse and mismanagement of public funds suggesting corruption. This overwhelming and glaring evidence cannot be simply overlooked or covered-up or pushed under the carpet.
Khalid’s contention that “investigations have so far not revealed any element of corruption in the RM250m NFC” debacle is far-fetched, absolutely without merit and cannot be believed.
It has been alleged in no uncertain terms with regard to the abuse of the funds:
- That Shahrizat’s family bought two super luxury condos in Bangsar for RM6.9m each;
- That RM3m discount was given to a family-owned company;
- That RM3.3m was used to buy a Mercedes CLS350 and residential land in Putrajaya;
- That half a million was channelled to a family firm in Singapore;
- That huge sums of money were paid to a tour agency for family “holidays”;
- That the loan was released even before the agreement was signed.
The above stark allegations clearly establish that the money was not used for the purpose the loan was granted. That being the case, evidently the money was mismanaged and misappropriated, suggesting wrong-doing.
Is it possible that this aspect of the abuse of the loan could have gone unnoticed and without being investigated? Didn’t alarm bells ring while the investigation was ongoing?
Didn’t it strike the investigators that something was gravely wrong for the loan to have been released before the agreement was even signed? Who authorised this huge loan of RM250m to be released without the agreement duly signed and stamped? Was this line of investigation undertaken?
When money meant for a specific project was channelled into a family firm that has nothing to do with the project, doesn’t it constitute embezzlement? Isn’t embezzlement akin to corruption?
Under whose name(s) are the luxury condos, the land in Putrajaya and the car registered?
Who went on the family holidays and who authorised the use of the loan, meant for a livestock project, for this private purpose?
The timing and the attempt to clear Shahrizat in this debacle is suspect and cannot be explained away as coincidence. Why did the Deputy IGP choose to reveal this during the Umno General Assembly when the investigation is ongoing? It was clearly meant to ‘save’ Shahrizat from prying questions. Some would even argue that it was meant to pull wool over the Umno delegates’ eyes.
When an official from the highest echelon of the police force is perceived to be a functionary of a political party then what credibility is there for the police?
The person in the street is thoroughly disappointed and disillusioned because the police are unable to discharge their duty and responsibility in an impartial and professional manner that would have brought respect and credit to the police force.
Rod Blagojevich, the ousted Illinois governor whose three-year battle against criminal charges became a national spectacle, was sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday, one of the stiffest penalties imposed for corruption in a state with a history of crooked politics.
Among his 18 convictions is the explosive charge that he tried to leverage his power to appoint someone to President Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat in exchange for campaign cash or land a high-paying job.
Judge James Zagel gave Blagojevich some credit for taking responsibility for his actions – which the former governor did in an address to the court earlier in the day – but said that didn't mitigate his crimes. Zagel also said Blagojevich did good things for people as governor, but was more concerned about using his powers for himself.
"When it is the governor who goes bad, the fabric of Illinois is torn and disfigured and not easily repaired," Zagel said.
As the judge announced the sentence, which includes a $20,000 fine, Blagojevich hunched forward and his face appeared frozen. Minutes later, his wife, Patti Blagojevich, stood up and fell into her husband's arms. He pulled back to brush tears off her cheek and then rubbed her shoulders.
On his way out of the courthouse, Blagojevich cited author Rudyard Kipling and said it was a time to be strong, to fight through adversity and be strong for his children. He said he and wife were heading home to speak to their daughters, and then left without answering any questions.
The twice-elected Democrat received by far the harshest sentence among the four Illinois governors sent to prison in the last four decades. He is the second in a row to go to prison; his Republican predecessor, George Ryan, currently is serving 6 1/2 years. The other two got three years or less.
Blagojevich, in a last plea for mercy, tried something he never had before: an apology. After years of insisting he was innocent, he told the judge he'd made "terrible mistakes" and acknowledged that he broke the law.
"I caused it all, I'm not blaming anybody," Blagojevich said. "I was the governor and I should have known better and I am just so incredibly sorry."
But Zagel gave him little leeway.
"Whatever good things you did for people as governor, and you did some, I am more concerned with the occasions when you wanted to use your powers ... to do things that were only good for yourself," Zagel said.
The judge said he did not believe Blagojevich's contention, as his lawyers wrote in briefings, that his comments about the corruption schemes were simply "musings." Zagel said the jury concluded and he agreed that Blagojevich was engaged in actual schemes, and the undeniable leader of those schemes.
"The governor was not marched along this criminal path by his staff," Zagel said. "He marched them."
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 15 to 20 years, which Blagojevich's attorneys said was too harsh. The defense also presented heartfelt appeals from Blagojevich's family, including letters from his wife and one of his two daughters that pleaded for mercy.
But the judge made it clear early in the hearing that he believed that Blagojevich had lied on the witness stand when he tried to explain his scheming for the Senate seat, and he did not believe defense suggestions that the former governor was duped by his advisers.
The 54-year-old was ordered to begin serving his sentence on Feb. 16. In white-collar cases, convicted felons are usually given at least a few weeks to report to prison while federal authorities select a suitable facility. Blagojevich is expected to appeal his conviction, but it is unlikely to affect when he reports to prison.
Most of the prisons where Blagojevich could end up are outside Illinois. One is in Terre Haute, Ind., where Ryan is serving his own sentence. In prison, Blagojevich will largely be cut off from the outside world. Visits by family are strictly limited, Blagojevich will have to share a cell with other inmates and he must work an eight-hour-a-day menial job – possibly scrubbing toilets or mopping floors – at just 12 cents an hour.
According to federal rules, felons must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence a judge imposes – meaning Blagojevich wouldn't be eligible for early release until he serves nearly 12 years.
Going into the sentencing, many legal experts said the governor – who became a national punch line while doing reality TV appearances such as "Celebrity Apprentice" while his legal case unfolded – was likely to get around 10 years. A former Blagojevich fundraiser, Tony Rezko, recently was sentenced to 10 1/2 years, minus time served.
Prosecutors have said Blagojevich misused the power of his office "from the very moment he became governor." He was initially elected in 2002 on a platform of cleaning up Illinois politics in the midst of federal investigations that led to the prosecution and conviction of Ryan.
Defense attorneys have said Blagojevich has already paid a price in public ridicule and financial ruin, and had proposed a term of just a few years.
Blagojevich's sentencing came just days before his 55th birthday on Saturday, and nearly three years to the day of his arrest at dawn on Dec. 9, 2008, when the startled governor asked one federal agent, "Is this a joke?" In a state where corruption has been commonplace, images of Blagojevich being led away in handcuffs still came as a shock.
It took two trials for prosecutors to snare Blagojevich. His first ended deadlocked with jurors agreeing on just one of 24 counts – that Blagojevich lied to the FBI. Jurors at his retrial convicted him on 17 of 20 counts, including that he demanded a donation from a hospital executive in return for increased state support for children's health care, and seeking to extort donations from a racing executive in exchange for quick approval of legislation.
FBI wiretap evidence proved decisive. In the most notorious recording, Blagojevich is heard crowing that his chance to name someone to Obama's seat was "f---ing golden" and he wouldn't let it go "for f---ing nothing."
Blagojevich clearly dreaded the idea of prison time. Asked in an interview before his retrial about whether he dwelled on that prospect, he answered: "No. I don't let myself go there."
In the same interview, Blagojevich also explained that the family dog Skittles was bought after his arrest in to help his school-age daughters, Amy and Annie, cope with the stress of his legal troubles. He said he joked with them that, "If the worst happens (and I go to prison), you can get another dog and call him `Daddy.'"
Umno minister Shahrizat Jalil must have known that her family-managed National Feedlot Corporation was on the wrong track but somehow, she managed to keep it under wraps until it was inevitably exposed by rival party PKR. That soon after, PKR's claims of misconduct was confirmed by the Auditor-General's report that NFC was indeed a "mess" was a double whammy.
Questions are now buzzing around UMNO circuit over the issue. Didn't her UMNO bosses and seniors know about NFC or did they keep they hands off because this was her project and she should be given the space to handle it? Perhaps, initially, this was so but when it became apparent that PKR was on a roll, having managed to source concrete details of the abuse of power, why didn't Najib put his foot down?
Oversight or deliberate
Was this an oversight by the UMNO supreme council? Or was it purposely downplayed so that it could be further stirred up until there was no other way out for Shahrizat but the door! Given UMNO's penchant of bending the institutions to its favor, why didn't the elite 'influence' the Auditor-General?
Whichever the real reasons for the mishandling by the UMNO elite - whether the confusion was deliberately caused or if they were genuinely taken by surprise by the PKR's access to such detailed information - UMNO members seem to prefer to believe Shahrizat had been targeted.
Not that they don't think she deserved the worst punishment for the gross greed allegedly displayed by her family, but in the typical fashion of UMNO intrigue, the various stories spun by the different factions have thrilled many a coffee group at the PWTC during the UMNO assembly last week.
Public confidence in UMNO, Najib at its lowest
According to the UMNO sources, Najib was very disappointed with the never-ending scandals befalling UMNO leaders one after another, not to mention his own misdeeds, which include allegations of having used public funds to fly to Kazakhstan and Perth on personal matters.Indeed, with the general election just around the corner, the situation has never been so bad for UMNO-BN. Public confidence in him and UMNO are possibly at its lowest ebb.
Najib also has to face the dilemma of what to do with Shahrizat since he appointed her to her present post of Women's minister because he believed she could perform. Party insiders say to help dampen the impact on UMNO and at the same time to distance himself from it - albeit it turned out to be unsuccessful - Najib tried to make as little comment as possible on the scandal. Instead, he ordered those he saw as responsible for the problem to solve it.
Whatever the behind-the-scenes brouhaha, the fact remains - someone is taking advantage of this fiasco apart from PKR. Some is riding on the PKR juggernaut against Shahrizat and benefiting from it. Who can it be now?
Actually, there are quite a number of players who would love for Shahrizat to step down.
Who would benefit from this debacle?
Now 68, Rafidah had spent 32 years in government service, of which 20 were in a ministerial role. She felt that she had done a very good job both for the country and UMNO and there was no need for anybody else to challenge her. Indeed she did enhance Malaysia’s trade abroad to a certain extent and also boosted Malaysia's trading image.
But like all UMNO politicians, she was motivated not only by power but also by money - big, huge amounts of money. By virtue of her Trade portfolio, she later became entangled with the system of granting Approved Permits for imported vehicles. Which importers she favored and why favored them were the factors that later brought her down, wiping away whatever good she did and leaving only a memory of greed and graft.
One scandal that Malaysians are bound to remember is the award of share allocations amounting to several million ringgit to her son-in-law in 1993. She did try to distance herself from the decision because she knew there would be conflict of interest but it did not stop the tongues from wagging that she had exerted undue influence behind the scenes to benefit her son-in-law. To make matters worse for UMNO, Rafidah retaliated by exposing other officials and naming their relatives who had similarly benefited.
The Badawi factor
Badawi finally dropped Rafidah from the Cabinet in 2008 despite her retaining her Kuala Kangsar seat, which she has held since 1986. At that time, Shahrizat was already her deputy in the Wanita wing and waiting to be appointed as a Special Advisor with the status of a minister.
Could Rafidah be seeking retribution against Shahrizat in the NFC case? Probably not since Shahrizat won the Wanita presidency fairly 'fair and square'.
But one thing is certain, Rafidah was not happy with Badawi dropping her from the Cabinet. She saw it as a "sacking" and was very offended. To her, losing the Wanita presidency was one thing, but she was still entitled to the respect due to a senior leader who every election year brought home a parliamentary seat for the party without fail. How could Badawi "sack" her from the Cabinet?
It must be noted that everyone in UMNO knows it was Badawi who gave the green light for the NFC project to be handed over to Shahrizat’s husband in 2006. If Rafidah is targeting anyone with NFC, it would be Badawi rather than Shahrizat!
What about Raja Nong Chik?
The 58-year-old was born in Perak, but considers himself as a 'local boy' in Kuala Lumpur. He is a member of the Lembah Pantai Umno division and claims the constituency is his 'natural territory'. He has also boasted that he has done a lot to improve Bangsar. But Lembah Pantai - before it fell to PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar in the 2008 election - belonged to Shahrizat.
In fact, it was Shahrizat's stronghold since 1995 and when she lost it in 2008, there were gasps of shock. Yet, Nong Chik is alleged to have been obstinate about contesting Lembah Pantai in GE-13, arguing that it was now a 'free' seat since Shahrizat had already lost it. Although, he has been asked by UMNO elders to look at Titiwangsa, won by the late PAS MP Lo Lo Ghazali in 2008, he is insistent that Lembah Pantai is where it 'all began for him'.
So regardless of the fact that it would be extremely tough to beat Nurul, Nong Chik had already set himself on a collision course with Shahrizat as the Umno candidate for this constituency. Maybe Nong Chik and Shahrizat know something that Nurul doesn't, but they sure seem confident of being able to beat her despite her immense popularity with the electorate there.
Could Raja Nong Chik have found an opportunity in the NFC debacle to bring down Shahrizat? It sure would seem tempting since it cannot be traced directly back to him because the debacle was already confirmed by the Auditor-General as being in a "mess".
There is indeed growing speculation that Raja Nong Chik was the one behind the continuous revelations against Shahrizat and according to UMNO insiders, Najib has called on all the parties involved to come down hard on Nong Chik to prevent the situation from getting out of control. However, this could be a sly decoy from the Najib camp since Nong Chik is close to Najib. It may well be that Najib wants Shahrizat out too.
It is interesting to note that Shahrizat's family have accused a disgruntled former staff of feeding PKR the NFC tips. It is even more interesting to note that just a couple of days ago Raja Nong Chik called on the UMNO top leadership to decide on Shahrizat's fate.
Was he hurrying to get her out of the picture, leaving him the sole UMNO claimant to the Lembah Pantai seat?
Other possibilities
Talk is already growing Rosnah may not even get to keep her Puteri UMNO post. Her performance so far has been less than satisfactory. And this was implied by none other than Muhyiddin Yassin just days before the main Umno meeting began
If Shahrizat was forced to step down, then Pakatan may have to face Raja Nong Chik and he is the 'local boy' there, whose FT portfolio gives him jurisdiction over the whole of Wilayah Persekutuan, not only Lembah Pantai. UMNO would also have the benefit of the postal voters there as there are many government officials staying in the area.
UMNO watchers say it would be a neck-to-neck challenge for Pakatan against UMNO there if Nong Chik contests, but the reasons cited were also why Nurul wasn't given the chance of a snowball in hell to win in 2008. But she did.
Only one road to travel
However, Najib plays it and no matter whether there are any UMNO leaders jumping on the PKR's NFC bandwagon, there is basically only one decision the PM can make, which is to ask Shahrizat to give up her Cabinet and UMNO posts.
Any dilemma is of his own making. Like Alexander the Great, all eyes will be watching to see if he has the courage to cut the Gordian knot or if he will continue to waffle and defend corruption.
The longer Najib delays, the longer the 'Shahrizat cows and condos' scandal will remain in the people's memory. After all, as PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli has promised, they have enough information on the Shahrizats and the NFC to last 2 years!
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