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Key Highlights
More evidence of Saudi donor hoax
Probe on Zeti's husband on hold
Johor BN's redelineation plan
More evidence of Saudi donor hoax
More evidence has emerged that further disproves Najib Abdul Razak's claim that the US$681 million he received in 2013 was from an Arab donor.
Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner testified in the US that fugitive financier Jho Low had informed him that the third round of bonds raised for 1MDB - worth US$3 billion - was meant to fund Najib's 2013 election campaign.
He said two of Najib's former private secretaries were involved in issuing the bond.
However, Leissner said he did not know whether Najib received any of the funds personally.
Investigators have long established that US$681 million - the fabled RM2.4 billion - had been diverted from 1MDB's third bond raising exercise into Najib's accounts.
The funds were reportedly used for BN's election campaign and Najib later returned US$620 million of the funds.
Najib claims it went back to his "Arab donors", but investigators say it was instead returned to accounts controlled by Low.
Low is alleged to have used parts of the misappropriated funds to buy a pink diamond worth US$27.3 million for Najib's wife Rosmah Mansor.
Najib has denied any wrongdoing.
HIGHLIGHTS
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Probe on Zeti's husband on hold
Meanwhile, police investigations into Tawfiq Ayman, the husband of former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, over allegedly receiving 1MDB-linked funds is currently on hold.
De facto Deputy Law Minister Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said the police cannot complete their probe because they need to carry out some work in Singapore.
However, she said this can only take place once borders between the two countries are re-opened.
As for the MACC, the graftbuster said it was not investigating Tawfiq as the police were put on that assignment.
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Johor BN's redelineation plan
Johor BN has come out with a seemingly progressive election manifesto, in which it aspires to - among others - to redelineate larger seats if it gets a two-thirds majority.
Voter imbalance - usually between urban and rural seats - is rampant in Malaysia.
In 2018, several rural state seats in Johor had less than 20,000 voters, whereas some urban seats had more than 60,000 - meaning urban voters tended to be underrepresented.
After Undi18 and automatic voter registration kicked in, seats like Tiram, Kota Iskandar and Puteri Wangsa have seen their voters balloon from between 60,000 and 70,000 to 105,000 and 116,000.
However, redelineation exercises are open to abuse.
Another aspiration by Johor BN is to continue giving equal funding to all state assemblypersons, regardless of allegiance.
HIGHLIGHTS
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What else is happening?
At least two people have died from the latest wave of floods on the peninsular’s East Coast.
The government refused to let a Russian-flagged oil tanker dock in Kuala Linggi to avoid violating any sanctions.
A court in Spain ordered Malaysia to pay at least US$14.92 billion (RM62.59 billion) to the descendants of the last Sulu sultan, over missed payments for the "lease" on Sabah that the government stopped transferring in 2013.
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