A pair of brothers and their cousin arrested today on suspicion of corruption. The younger bro had been the head of Tabung Haj, a government fund managing the pilgrimage to Mecca. Some weeks before properties associated with the men had been raided, bags of cash and a couple dozen deluxe watches confiscated. OK. Usual story. (High-end jeweled time-pieces are caste markings in these parts of the globe.) The question here was how do you cream off dough from such a position? Collecting dollars from keen pilgrims looking to jump the queue in order to fulfill one of the duties of a Muslim (for those who can afford it)? Not large-scale anyway. Easy to see how one could collect from rich bizmen who wanted to take families, associates &etc. Maybe girlfriends. But large scale dollaro, how? The Kader boss was asked after lunch before the item slipped from memory. It was difficult to retain all the bits and pieces here, where reports arrived daily of various skullduggery over the last 10 or more years of the political fix, not excluding a number of contract killings. Ah, well, pretty simple it turned out. You see, that Haj outfit did the lot for the entire country, the whole of Malaysia: arranged airfares, hotels, tenting over in the Holy Land, guides, garments. A great deal of opportunity dealing with companies that wanted to tender for such business, both locally and over in Saudi. Juicy rich pickings, it would be difficult uncovering it all, the clean-hands investigators chasing facing an uphill task. Presumably some of the suppliers had ratted in this instance, turning evidence; perhaps jealous competitors who had been cut-out pointed fingers and started currying favour with the new kids on the Parliamentary block. It was a sizeable drag-net now. Some would be gleeful seeing these Tabung baddies brought to court in orange jumpsuits (the younger brother and head was on the UMNO Supreme Council)—though one of the portals reported supporters appearing, shouting defiantly Allahuakbar &etc. For the disbelieving minority Malays it was important to present such cases so that the populace could have a good eyeful. Same day too here Rosmah Mansour, the former PM’s reviled wife, had been called up by the MACC for interview—late reports suggesting four hours and more involved. (Thirteen in total eventually. The lady had requested all the questioning get done and over with to save her further trips.) The penchant for expensive skincare, vitamins and energy boosters running to over RM1m that was traced back to government funds looks as if it may sink this fashionista. Not many will spill tears when Rosmah is made to face the music. Imelda and others may have gotten away scot free; Auntie Ros however looks in deep pooh. And further in the quest to demonstrate to the doubters how their self-proclaimed defenders of race and religion have been behaving, the WSJ investigation that culminated in Billion Dollar Whale is due to be released in Bahasa by November.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Scamming Devotion
A pair of brothers and their cousin arrested today on suspicion of corruption. The younger bro had been the head of Tabung Haj, a government fund managing the pilgrimage to Mecca. Some weeks before properties associated with the men had been raided, bags of cash and a couple dozen deluxe watches confiscated. OK. Usual story. (High-end jeweled time-pieces are caste markings in these parts of the globe.) The question here was how do you cream off dough from such a position? Collecting dollars from keen pilgrims looking to jump the queue in order to fulfill one of the duties of a Muslim (for those who can afford it)? Not large-scale anyway. Easy to see how one could collect from rich bizmen who wanted to take families, associates &etc. Maybe girlfriends. But large scale dollaro, how? The Kader boss was asked after lunch before the item slipped from memory. It was difficult to retain all the bits and pieces here, where reports arrived daily of various skullduggery over the last 10 or more years of the political fix, not excluding a number of contract killings. Ah, well, pretty simple it turned out. You see, that Haj outfit did the lot for the entire country, the whole of Malaysia: arranged airfares, hotels, tenting over in the Holy Land, guides, garments. A great deal of opportunity dealing with companies that wanted to tender for such business, both locally and over in Saudi. Juicy rich pickings, it would be difficult uncovering it all, the clean-hands investigators chasing facing an uphill task. Presumably some of the suppliers had ratted in this instance, turning evidence; perhaps jealous competitors who had been cut-out pointed fingers and started currying favour with the new kids on the Parliamentary block. It was a sizeable drag-net now. Some would be gleeful seeing these Tabung baddies brought to court in orange jumpsuits (the younger brother and head was on the UMNO Supreme Council)—though one of the portals reported supporters appearing, shouting defiantly Allahuakbar &etc. For the disbelieving minority Malays it was important to present such cases so that the populace could have a good eyeful. Same day too here Rosmah Mansour, the former PM’s reviled wife, had been called up by the MACC for interview—late reports suggesting four hours and more involved. (Thirteen in total eventually. The lady had requested all the questioning get done and over with to save her further trips.) The penchant for expensive skincare, vitamins and energy boosters running to over RM1m that was traced back to government funds looks as if it may sink this fashionista. Not many will spill tears when Rosmah is made to face the music. Imelda and others may have gotten away scot free; Auntie Ros however looks in deep pooh. And further in the quest to demonstrate to the doubters how their self-proclaimed defenders of race and religion have been behaving, the WSJ investigation that culminated in Billion Dollar Whale is due to be released in Bahasa by November.
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