Country will pay the price for backroom court deals - Credit Suisse
The discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) of former federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor on his RM1 million corruption case, has triggered alarm bells at Credit Suisse Malaysia.
The financial services company's managing director and head of equities Stephen Hagger noted that this was the third "clear cut" public interest case that was dropped.
“It is impossible to prove that a phone call has been made, but it is no secret that any fragile coalition government will have to keep doing backroom deals to stay in power...
The discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) of former federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor on his RM1 million corruption case, has triggered alarm bells at Credit Suisse Malaysia.
The financial services company's managing director and head of equities Stephen Hagger noted that this was the third "clear cut" public interest case that was dropped.
“It is impossible to prove that a phone call has been made, but it is no secret that any fragile coalition government will have to keep doing backroom deals to stay in power.
“Sadly, the country will pay the price for this, with the recent Fitch Ratings Inc’s downgrade being one such example,” Hagger was quoted as saying by The Malaysian Reserve yesterday.
The remarks were reportedly made in an internal company email.
On Monday, the Kuala Lumpur High Court granted the prosecution’s application for DNAA in Tengku Adnan’s RM1 million corruption case, after being informed of new developments in the case that needed further investigation.
The MACC is investigating the new developments and noted that Tengku Adnan still had another RM2 million corruption trial ongoing.
The Malay Mail, which also reported Hagger's remarks, cited him as saying that the case was "clear cut" as the property developer who allegedly bribed the former minister pleaded guilty.
Tengku Adnan was alleged to have corruptedly received RM1 million from businessperson Tan Eng Boon.
Tan pleaded guilty to abetting the Putrajaya MP to allegedly commit the offence and was fined RM1.5 million.
Meanwhile, the other two cases Hagger highlighted were the DNAA for Riza Aziz and the discharge for former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman.
Riza, who is former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's step-son, was granted a DNAA with regard to his money laundering charges involving US$248 million (RM1 billion) of state-owned 1MDB funds.
Meanwhile, Musa was acquitted of 46 charges of corruption and money laundering linked to timber concessions in the state after the prosecution withdrew all charges.
Hagger said both cases had "seemingly iron-clad evidence".
Fitch Ratings last week downgraded Malaysia's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating from "A-" to "BBB+".
It cited the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Malaysia’s already high fiscal burden, as well as ongoing political uncertainty following the Sheraton Move as among the factors for the downgrade.
Following the downgrade, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the government was disappointed by the decision and listed a slew of economic stimulus measures.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.