The 1MDB Verdict

Last month, I laughed at the verdict given to Yak Yew Chee. The private banker was jailed18 weeks on fraud charges relating to Malaysia's 1MDB financial scandal. He was also fined $24,000. His crime; being paid $7.5 million for helping with a transfer of $110 million.

Even writing this, I’m having an urge to laugh. A fine of $24,000 for being paid $7.5 million? 18 weeks jail for a fraud that was $110 million? That’s laughable right? Well, it seems I had laughed too early because the sentence to the second person convicted in the mess that is 1MDB is even funnier.

Yvonne Seah, a former director at the Singapore branch of Swiss bank BSI, helped forge documents and failed to report suspicious money transfers from accounts allegedly linked to Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho. She pleaded guilty. Her sentence was a fortnight in jail and a fine of $10,000.

Seriously, I don’t know why the Singapore courts bother. Billions were misappropriated from the Malaysian state fund and these guys helped to the tune of $110 million. The sentences were weeks and their fines were like less than 1% of the money they took.

Now that’s a laugh. Like I said earlier…why bother? 

How NOT To Spend Loot!

What would you do if you managed to steal US$5 million? Buy a house? Buy a car? Bury it somewhere for a rainy day? All possibility I would say. Spent US$1 million on a free-to-play mobile game? No way!

Well, someone did. In a story that’s stranger than fiction, a man in the US plead guilty to embezzling $4.8 million from his employer between 2008 and 2015, and then spending about a fifth of the ill-gotten loot on the mobile F2P title Game of War. I am amazed by this story and I will admit, when I first read it, I thought it was a hoax. I mean…spending one million dollars on a F2P game? That just ridiculous! However, the story does seem to be true. Every site I went to ran the story and almost all of them expressed amazement at it. One even went as far to say, the story is so bad it has to be true. 

Sadly, that's right. How could a guy smart enough to steal US$5 million be so stupid to spend 20% of it on a game he could have played for free? The story has to be true.  

'Strong' Deterrent

There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the verdict was meant to prove that Singapore will not tolerate people using the local banking system for money laundering. I am of course talking about the case of Singapore private banker, Yak Yew Chee, who was jailed on fraud charges relating to Malaysia's 1MDB financial scandal on Friday.

Allegations that huge sums were misappropriated from the Malaysian state fund through money-laundering have triggered a massive corruption scandal which Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak seems to have survived. However Yak Yew Chee, a former managing director at the Singapore branch of Swiss bank BSI, was not so lucky as he became the first figure to be convicted in the international saga. Mr. Yak pleaded guilty to four charges of forgery and failure to report suspicious transactions related to the investment fund and was sentenced to 18 weeks in jail by the court. He was also fined $24,000.

The crime involved transactions that include a transfer of $110 million that went through six banks and nine accounts before landing up at the Swiss bank account of Selune Ltd. Yak was paid a bonus of $7.5 million for his part of the deal.

Wait, what? He was paid over $7 million for a crime that was over $110 million, and his punishment was 18 weeks in jail with a fine of $24,000? I know this is white collar crime and the $7.5 million he got was given to the Singapore government but come on!

Like I said earlier, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the verdict was meant to prove that Singapore will not tolerate people using the local banking system for money laundering. However I’m afraid the fine and punishment involved is not going to deter anyone.  $24,000 for a crime that was over $110 million? That's really going to deter people. 

A Prank In Singapore

The killer clown craze is stupid. Originating in the US, the craze is basically guys dressed in “scary” clown costumes scaring unsuspecting people on the street. It’s so stupid the craze has spread to other parts of the world including Singapore.

I know this because there’s a YouTube video titled “Killer Clown Scare Prank In Singapore”. Uploaded by some guy named “Joel Wong”, the video has become well-known in Singapore because…the clown prankster now under police investigations for being a public nuisance.

What? Are you kidding me? Don’t the police have better things to do? This is a prank, and the only crime I see is the fact it wasn’t a very funny one. Last I check, stupidity still isn’t a crime in Singapore. There's a police investigation for a such a harmless stupid prank? Now that's funny. 

Tax Amnesty

Why is Singapore trying to hinder Indonesia's tax amnesty plan? That’s the question a lot of Indonesians are asking after a Reuters report state that private banks in Singapore were passing the names of clients joining the amnesty to the Singapore Police unit dealing with financial crime. This got a lot of Indonesians in Singapore worried because…well, they’re guilty.

It has been an open secret for years that there is a lot of dirty money hidden in Singapore. Indonesians hold an estimated $200 billion in private banking assets in Singapore and it has been rumored that a good percentage of this money are here in Singapore because, let’s admit this, Singapore is a tax haven. The Indonesians are avoiding taxes in their home country.

The tax amnesty from the Indonesia's Finance Ministry is supposed to be an out for these people as Indonesian President Joko Widodo want the repatriated funds to help pay for Indonesia's large budget deficit and broaden the country's tax base. So why is Singapore trying to hinder that?

Simply put; the Singapore government doesn’t want the money to fly out of the country. The Singapore economy is already in trouble, can you imagine what would happen if even half of these $200 billion go back to Indonesia? 

That’s why Singapore trying to hinder the tax amnesty plan and honestly, Indonesia should have expected this. It’s $200 billion! If they think the Singapore government will just allow all the money to fly out of the country without getting their pound of flesh, they are in dreamland. 

Pokemon Go Player Finds A Body...In Singapore

Okay, that didn't take long. Pokemon Go was just released in Singapore on Saturday and on Sunday morning, a Pokemon GO player is already in the news. According to reports, Azmi Suarez discovered a body floating near the Woodlands Waterfront Jetty while out playing the mobile game on Sunday (7 August) morning. 

Much like the case in America where a female teenager found a dead body while hunting Pokemon, this was what player Azmi Suarez was doing when he found a female body. The Singapore Police has classified this case as "unnatural case" which in Singapore means the woman could have been murdered. With the game requiring players to go to far out places, I think it's safe to say it is going to be harder and harder for murderers to hide dead bodies in the future. 

All jokes aside, I do hope the Singapore Police find the murderer. 

Not Missing The Boat

Well , that didn’t take long. Just a day after the US Justice Department move to seize more than $1 billion in assets due to the scandal at 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Singapore has gotten into the act.

Singapore said that it had seized S$240 million in assets from individuals linked to alleged fraud at 1MDB. The Monetary Authority of Singapore said that bank accounts of about S$120 million in the accounts and properties belonged to Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho and his immediate family was seized and their ability to deal in properties were curtailed.

Needless to say, this is just a drop in the bucket when you consider that more than $3.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB but it does seem that Singapore is afraid to miss the boat and is now making their claim of the money. 

Too bad for the people of Malaysia I guess; whether it’s with the US government, the Singapore government, or in the bank accounts of corrupt Malaysian “businessmen”, they are not going to see the money anytime soon. 

The 1MDB Seizure

The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) saga just will not end. I think it goes without saying that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak just want everyone to forgot about the issue but it's just not happening. Worse is that he has now been officially linked to the billions of dollars that were siphoned off.

The US Justice Department has officially moved to seize more than $1 billion in assets including luxury real estate and a jet allegedly bought with money pilfered from the 1MDB state investment fund. The news came after a months-long international FBI probe and according to court filings made, the US alleged that billions of dollars were siphoned off by Najib's stepson, Riza Aziz, a family friend and other officials.

This is big because this is the first time anyone has tried to take back money from 1MDB. Switzerland and Singapore have frozen millions of dollars worth of assets on suspicion of 1MDB-related embezzlement and money-laundering, but no one has went for the money yet. Also, no major figures have been brought to justice. That too might change.

However US Attorney General Loretta Lynch did pull some punches. The US never refer to Najib by name, instead going for "Malaysian Official 1," Described as a "high-ranking official" in the Malaysian government with control over 1MDB, "Malaysian Official 1" was the "ultimate beneficiary" of bank local Malaysia bank account which held tens of millions of allegedly misappropriated funds.

We all know who she as referring to but considering the man is Prime Minister of Malaysia, I think it's understandable why he wasn't explicitly named. Still, the US has made their move. Now the big question is whether other countries will follow. 

Gun Control In America

I have a question, but before I asked it I have to give you some background. 

On Sunday, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, a Muslim American of Afghan descent, went into a gay nightclub in Florida and began shooting. Before he was killed by police, Omar had killed 50 people and injured another 55. 

From reports I read, there are doubts whether Omar was inspired by Islamist extremism, was homophobic, or whether a combination of both caused him to do what he did. His ex-wife had said he was bipolar and had a history of steroid use, so he might just have been mentally ill. No matter the reason, one thing is without doubt. 

Omar Mateen would not have been able to kill and injured so many people if he did not have access to an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. 

I have to ask why are such guns allowed in American society. An AR-15 is an assault rifle and as of 2012, there are an estimated 2.5-3.7 million rifles from the AR-15 family in civilian use in the United States. That is just ridiculous. Some armies in the world probably wouldn't have anywhere near 3.7 million rifles in their armouries.

Simple common sense tells you that if Omar did not have access to guns, he would not have been able to cause as much damage as he did. So back to my question, 

"Why is there still a debate about stricter gun control in America?" 

Suddenly There's Problems

For the first time in over 30 years, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has kicked a bank out of the country. Singapore's central bank announced that Swiss bank BSI has been served a notice of intention to withdraw its status as a merchant bank in Singapore.

Swiss bank BSI has been linked to a global money-laundering scandal at Malaysia's state fund 1MDB that has embroiled Prime Minister Najib Razak and two Singaporean executives of the bank are already facing charges in Singapore due to the scandal. MAS also announced that it had also asked state prosecutors to investigate six other senior executives at the bank including its former chief executive for possible criminal offences.

The moves came after Swiss authorities named several banks involved in their own probe in the 1MDB saga. So months after checking 40 banks in Singapore and finding no issues about their conduct, only problems involving certain “individuals”, MAS suddenly found problems with the bank. Problems so big they had to kick the bank involved out of Singapore to "get rid of the problem".

I guess it’s better late than never.  Ha!

Nuts!

I have a lot of sympathy for people with allegories. So when I heard that an Indian restaurant owner in the U.K has been convicted of the manslaughter of a customer who died after having a reaction to a curry containing nuts, I didn't thought much of it. In fact, I only felt sorry about the dead man.

Reading the case however changed my mind. 

Paul Wilson, 38, was found slumped in the toilet at his home in Helperby in January 2014 having died from a severe anaphylactic shock. It seems Mr. Wilson knew about his allergy and asked for no nuts when he ordered a chicken tikka masala takeaway from the Indian Garden, Easingwold, North Yorkshire. The restaurant owner, Mohammed Zaman, made the mistake of...putting a groundnut mix powder in the curry which Mr. Wilson ate.

Are you kidding me? The restaurant owner was found guilty of manslaughter because of a power he used? I mean I understand that the laws in the U.K is different from the laws from Singapore but that is...no pun intended, nuts! The guy asked for "no nuts" and the restaurant owner didn't put nuts. How in the world is that manslaughter?

I'm sorry he's dead but Mr. Wilson had no business eating out anywhere if he's that allergic. I mean he died from a powder used in a curry. If Mr. Zaman's restaurant had put in nuts in the curry, I can understand the conviction. They did not. I'm sorry for Mr. Wilson's family but you can't blame the restaurant for his death. 

Casualty

That did not take long. Just days after the leak from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca and we already got our first major casualty. Iceland's Prime Minister, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, has resigned and Iceland will now have to go to the polls.

Thousands of people has been protesting outside the parliament building in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik on Monday since Mr Gunnlaugsson's name was brought up in the 11.5 million leaked financial and legal records from Mossack Fonseca and an online petition calling for his resignation got 26,000 people's signature. That's 8% of the country's population. Opposition parties in Iceland were tabling a confidence motion. Mr Gunnlaugsson saw the writing on the wall and jumped before he was pushed.

Thing is...he did not do anything illegal. The leaks showed that Mr. Gunnlaugsson owned an offshore company with his wife in 2007. He did not declare an interest in the company when entering parliament in 2009 but sold his 50% of the company to his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, for $1 (£0.70) eight months later. Mr Gunnlaugsson maintains no rules were broken, that his wife did not benefit financially, and most people thinks he is telling the truth.

Unfortunately, that's part of the problem. Mr Gunnlaugsson might not have done anything illegal, but it's what legal that gets people. Mr Gunnlaugsson was clearly concealing his family assets, and while there wasn't any wrongdoing legally, this is something normal people cannot do. Only the rich and powerful are able to hide their assets the way he did and that piss people off because they feel that's not a level playing field. They are right.

People know that the rich and the powerful has ways to hide their assets and avoid taxes. The leak from Mossack Fonseca just prove what we had always known. There's one set of rules for the rich, and another for the rest of the world. That's the injustice shown and proven by the leaks of Mossack Fonseca. That's the problem that got Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson.

The Panama Papers

In what could be the biggest leak in the history of banking, 11 million documents held by a Panama-based company, Mossack Fonseca, have been leaked to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The newspaper, overwhelmed by the number of documents they received, then shared the information with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

Now world leaders, sport stars, movie stars and dozens of billionaires are in damage control, scrambling to defend their secret accounts and money. It will not be easy because the ICIJ has about 40 years of emails, financial records and passport details on record. Now the newspaper in the West are proudly saying that aides and relatives of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have accounts in Mossack Fonseca but in all fairness, people in the West aren’t that innocent.

Among those named in the papers are big names like movie star Jackie Chan, football star Lionel Messi, over 2 dozens billionaires, relatives of British Prime Minister David Cameron and even the current Prime Minister of Iceland, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson. Outside them, there are also the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the king of Saudi Arabia, the children of the president of Azerbaijan, Ponzi schemers, drug kingpins, and tax evaders.

So whether you are from the East, West, North or South, there is no difference. When it comes to dirty money, I guess people are the same everywhere. 

Ministerial Statement Is Not Helpful

As the Minister for Law and Home Affairs, I think it’s fair to say most Singaporeans expected K. Shanmugam to defend the actions of the police yesterday. However, if it was Mr. Shanmugam's intention to cool things down, then I’m afraid his Ministerial Statement in Parliament is having the opposite effect.

This is what we know. 

An 11-year old girl accused 14-year old Benjamin Lim of molest. The girl’s family made a police report. 5 police officers went to Benjamin’s school to pick him up. They interviewed him without his parents or a lawyer present for 3 and a half hours and then the boy was released. He was found dead hours later at the foot of his HDB block. Everyone, including the police, believes he jumped to his death.

Mr Shanmugam said that a Coroner's Inquiry will try to establish the cause of Benjamin's death and that the rules of Sub Judice generally preclude any discussions which may influence proceedings. I find this part of the statement very strange.

These are the facts. They are not in dispute. Whether you are defending the actions of the police or not, no one is doubting this chain of events. This was what happened. Saying there was no basis linking the death of Benjamin Lim to the way the police acted does not hold water because it is clear the boy jumped to his death due to him being picked up by the police.

Now the boy might be guilty. It's possible he jumped because of a guilty conscience, but to say his death is not linked to the actions of the police is just not correct. They clearly are. 

However I think the biggest mistake Mr. Shanmugam made yesterday was in another part of his statement, Mr. Shanmugam said that when the police went to the school, they were unaware of Benjamin's identity. He also said that in most cases like Benjamin's, the person involved will be let off with a warning.

When I read this, I (like most Singaporeans) have to ask why it required 5 police officers to pick up 1 lone 14-year boy? I applauded the speed of the police but by the minister's own words, this is a minor case. Even if the police did not know who he was at that time, surely the police has better things to do than to send 5 officers to pick up 1 young teenager. 

In many ways, that's the crux of the problem for Mr Shanmugam. The statement from the minister does not really help the case of the police. Legal or not, some of the actions of the police were very strange and I don’t think the Parliamentary Statement yesterday was helpful at all to them. I’m not the only one. Almost no one I spoke to who knew about the case thinks so either. 

Coroner's Inquiry or not, I think Mr. Shanmugam need to step up and give a proper statement to the Singapore public. His Ministerial Statement in Parliament is doing more harm and good, and he need to step up to defuse the situation he just helped inflamed yesterday. Cooling things down is in everyone's interest. 

The Funny 1MDB Case

Welcome to the party, Hong Kong!

That's my immediate thought when I read that the Hong Kong police are the latest to publicly say that they are investigating transactions linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. This comes soon after similar statements from Switzerland and Singapore.  

According to the spokesman of the Hong Kong police, their investigations are on a report lodged on August 30 last year on deposits of more than US$250 million (RM1.03 billion), allegedly owned by businessman Low Taek Jho. This follows the Swiss attorney-general's office revelations last month that they are investigating some US$4 billion (RM16.8 billion) that were misappropriated from Malaysian state companies and the Singapore's Monetary Authority (MAS) publicly admitting that they were cooperating with authorities in Malaysia, Switzerland and the United States on the investigations into 1MDB.

So now you have Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States investigating into 1MDB...but not Malaysia because according to the Malaysian attorney-general (A-G) Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, there's no case! Now that's funny. Try as they might, it's seems that foreign governments are not going to allow Malaysian Prime Minister Najib to sweep the case to the back burner.

What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander

What's the difference between a donation and corruption? In Malaysia, there's none. At least according to a Malaysian lawyer who is defending a client on charges of corruption.

Mohd Yahya Mat Sahri, a special officer to former Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, faced charges for accepting a RM50,000 political donation. Acting for Yahya is lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon who say the case should be thrown out because "political donations" are not against the law in Malaysia.

Yahya has already been sentenced to two years jail and two strokes of the rota for the case but on appeal, Mr. Manjeet say the case should be thrown out. To no one's surprise, Mr. Manjeet cited Malaysian Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali's refusal to frame charges against the Malaysian Prime Minister for accepting RM2.6 billion in political donation from the Saudi royal family. 

Manjeet then produced the Dewan Rakyat hansard on December 2 last year where Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi told the house that there was no law to stop anyone from accepting donations for political purposes. To Mr. Manjeet, if both the AG and the Deputy Prime Minister say that political donations are legal, then his client has no case to answer. 

Sadly, he is right. If the Malaysian Prime Minister gets a free pass for RM2.6 BILLION, what the hell is RM50,000? It's not even 1%! In all fairness, Mohd Yahya Mat Sahri need to be set free. After all, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Returning A Skull

Nicholas Cage is a great actor. He is also one hell of a weirdo. However one thing I must say is that he earned my admiration when he made the right decision to return his rare dinosaur skull back to the Mongolian government.

According to reports, Cage won an auction for a Tyrannosaurus bataar skull in 2007. He paid US$276,000 to a gallery for the rare dinosaur skull but last year was informed by the US Department of Homeland Security that the item was stolen from Mongolia. The Mongolian government requested that the actor returned the skull and Cage agreed.

Now, I have no idea why anyone would paid a quarter of a million dollars for a dinosaur skull but for him to just agree to return the item without fighting the matter in court is something worth admiring. According to all reports, Cage was totally unaware the skull had been stolen and bought the item in good faith as the gallery he bought it from had all the right (faked) documents. So he actually had a case, but he choose not to fight it and return the skull to the rightful owner.

He may be strange but he did the right thing here. Good for you Nicholas Cage!

Only In America

Despite a friend of mine always sending me Facebook posts on abuse of animals by Singaporeans, I’m not a big fan of pets and animals. The most I ever had were a couple of fishes and turtles as pets.

However sometimes news come out that just strike me.

One such piece of news comes from America where a man stabbed his dog to death with a samurai sword.  Douglas Joseph Hagler from North Carolina stabbed his dog, 13-month-old Siberian husky Koda, 11 times with his samurai sword and killed it.

For that, he was sentenced to 100 days in jail.

Really? Stabbing a dog, his own dog, to death with a sword and you just get 100 days in jail with 5 years probation. Only in America I guess. 

The Verdict Is In

After an investigation that lasted over 5 years and a 140-day trial, one of the longest in Singapore, City Harvest Church co-founder and senior pastor Kong Hee and five other church leaders were found guilty on Wednesday of all charges of criminal breach of trust and falsifying accounts against them.

Criminal breach of trust is punishable with a life sentence or up to 20 years in prison, and a fine. For falsifying accounts, the punishment is a maximum of 10 years in jail, a fine, or both. However it is unlikely the punishment will be so harsh for the 6 because...well, they didn't take any money from the church. The main question is how the leaders used the money donated to the church. 

Money was used to further the singing career of Kong Hee's wife, Sun Ho, and the money was moved throughout the world to hid that fact. Now some will argue that the church leaders should be allowed to use donations as they wish as the money were donated to the church. Other will argue that using the money to further the career of Sun Ho actually help increase the profile of City Harvest Church. 

I can understand the views of these arguments but in my mind, there was never any doubt the 6 will be found guilty. I mean if the Venerable Shi Ming Yi can be convicted of four charges of conspiracy, misuse of funds and forgery for trying to help his aide return money his aide stole from his temple, these guys had no chance. Good luck to them on the appeal but don't hold your breath.

The verdict is in and it is unlikely to change on appeal unless some new evidence pops out. After 5 years, that is just unlikely. The guilty verdict is here to stay.     

The Phey Yew Kok Saga

Last week, Phey Yew Kok popped up in the news again after turning himself in at the Singapore Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. Officers from the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) then escorted him back to Singapore. 

I knew some things would come out of the woodwork after the death of Lee Kuan Yew, but I must say I did not think the first would be Phey Yew Kok. The former NTUC president and Member of Parliament (MP) Phey Yew Kok has been out of Singapore since 1980 when he ran after facing charges of Criminal Breach of Trust. Facing four counts of criminal breach of trust involving $83,000 and two charges “under the Trades Unions Act for investing $18,000 of trade union money in a private supermarket without the approval of the minister”, Mr. Phey then mysteriously disappeared.

Many questions still remains about his disappearance. Back then he was a rising star in the PAP and ruled the trade union with an iron-first, so why did he do what he was accused of? If he managed to get out of Singapore, why come back now just a month after Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s death? Did he made any deal with Mr. Lee Kuan Yew (his passport was never taken away from him) that’s went away with the man’s death? And was there any deal now before his surrender to the embassy in Bangkok?

I must admit, I barely remember Phey Yew Kok before last week. The Singapore government has been very good at making the whole saga disappear from the public domain and if not for the constant questions of deceased former opposition MP, Mr. J B Jeyaretnam, the case might have been forgotten altogether. However that is either here or there. 

The case is still remembered by many Singaporeans and they have many questions about the whole sordid episode. Now that the man has resurfaced, perhaps those questions can now finally be answered.