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Chinese white knight for 1MDB; no chair for Dr M; PKFZ back in spotlight

KINI ROUNDUP Here are the key headlines you may have missed yesterday, in brief.

Chinese white knight for 1MDB

Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani is not aware if China has been approached to assist 1MDB in settling its commitments to International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) amid a US$6.5 billion dispute between the Malaysian and Abu Dhabi state-owned funds.

Meanwhile, PKR Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli raised concerns over the possibility that another major government-linked company (GLC) would be sold to China as part of a quid pro quo arrangement.

These followed a UK-based Financial Times report that China will assist 1MDB in making a repayment to IPIC, quoting sources with knowledge of the matter who said Malaysia would swap assets for the financing deal.

No chair for Dr M

The invitation from the Conference of Rulers to ex-PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad to attend the installation of the next Agong on Dec 13 at the Istana Negara in Kuala Lumpur has been purportedly withdrawn.

A leaked letter allegedly from the Keeper of the Ruler’s Seal that went viral says no chair will be provided for him at the event

MCA returned fire in its war of words with Mahathir by blaming the former premier’s “racist” policies implemented during his two decade-long rule for the decline of the Indian community in the country.

On another matter, aide to the prime minister's wife Rizal Mansor has challenged Mahathir's lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla to sue him for defamation over his claims that the ex-premier belittled Prophet Muhammad at the DAP convention over the weekend.

PKFZ civil suit

Former Port Klang Authority (PKA) chairperson Lee Hwa Beng was happy to finally see the suit filed by PKA against its former general manager OC Phang over the controversial Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project being heard in court. This is after the government prosecution over the alleged graft case fell through.

The suit accused Phang of having committed 15 breaches of her fiduciary duties when helming the PKFZ project, which suffered a loss of RM12.5 billion.

In her defence, Phang told the High Court that the development agreement for the Port Klang Free Zone project was approved in 2003 and 2004 by the sitting prime ministers at the material time.

More Kinibites

Cartoonist Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee Anwar Ul-Haque, has filed a judicial review application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday to challenge a travel ban slapped on him.

Relatives of businessman Low Taek Jho aka Jho Low have filed a motion in a federal court in Los Angeles to defer its hearing on their legal challenge against the US seizure of assets said to be linked to embezzled 1MDB funds, so that they could file court actions in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands to transfer the said assets to a new trustee.

The Orang Asli of Gua Musang vowed to rebuild their anti-logging blockades at the Balah Forest Reserve this weekend, less than a fortnight after its destruction by the state Forestry Department on Nov 29 which saw more than 50 of them arrested.

Looking ahead

The civil suit by PKA against Phang continues today.

Former Malaysian Bar president Ambiga Sreenevasan and several officials from women rights group Empower to be questioned at Bukit Aman over allegations of foreign funding which authorities claimed were used for “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”.

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