MP SPEAKS After an initial quick look at the so called breakdown of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) debts, I must register these observations:
1) The so-called breakdown does not give enough details as the chart is too generalised. A more detailed breakdown is needed; and
2) The RM6 billion "inherited debt" is the most eye-catching item. I shall concentrate my comments on this matter. This was the question I had been asking in Parliament for the past two years.
1MDB started off as the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), which only operated for nine short months (also under Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and its then chief executive officer Shahrol Halmi, with Penang billionaire Low Jho Lho as 'adviser'), before it was aborted and taken over by 1MDB.
Jho Lho ( photo ) was also the "matchmaker" since the infancy stage of TIA. During the nine months, the then Terengganu menteri besar, Ahmad Said, claimed there was an attempt to collateralise Terengganu's oil and gas future incomes.
However, a loan of RM5 billion was obtained, and at least more than RM250 million in commissions were known to have been paid out to some mysterious individuals.
The big questions I have been asking in Parliament are: to whom and for what were the commisions paid out for? And, what were the liabilities Terengganu had to bear during the short nine months when the RM5 billion fund was made available to TIA?
Now, the RM6 billion 'inherited debt' suddenly looks very interesting, as it is pretty close to the RM5 billion facility TIA had.
Please enlighten us
Could TIA have spent the RM5 billion in the short nine months, and together with interests as well as commissions paid, caused this to amount to the RM6 billion, the sum that was "inherited" by 1MDB?
Please enlighten us, so that we can understand what happened to the RM5 billion fund TIA had, despite it having no known assets, nor projects, in the nine months.
There are many similarities between TIA and 1MDB.
Firstly, the modus operandi to siphon money out from both TIA and 1MDB are starkly similar.
TIA wanted to collateralise Terengganu's future oil and gas incomes, making future generations to pay for the debts while 1MDB, through the US$4.5 billion (RM16.66 billion) loan from Abu Dhabi, is effectively deferring payments to future taxpayers.
Both involve the government splurging today with future generations having to pay dearly for the excesses of our present leaders.
Secondly, the other interesting common denominators are the three main players of TIA who are also crucial figures in 1MDB - Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib, former 1MDB chief executive Shahrol and the main mover-cum-matchmaker extraordinaire Jho Lho.
Strangely, none of them is making any announcement on 1MDB's breakdown.
Instead, statements are coming from the new 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda ( photo ), who was specially 'imported' from the Middle East, where PetroSaudi International and the Abu Dhabi investment company also come from.
In short, Arul's breakdown raises the classic case of raising more questions than answers. Keep on talking, you people, for the rakyat want to know where did their billions of ringgit go to.
Try explaining, for one, what exactly is this "inherited debt"?
RAJA KAMARUL BAHRIN SHAH RAJA AHMAD is the MP for Kuala Terengganu.
