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Illegal Capital Flight Handicaps Asian Economies
Anwar Ibrahim vs Dato Nalla, Utusan Malaysia and Datuk Aziz Ishak
Malaysia's Elections: Down to the wire
Seeking justice or vendetta?

Illegal Capital Flight Handicaps Asian Economies

Posted: 21 Dec 2012 04:31 PM PST

But report by Global Financial Integrity may be misstating the case

Private capital outflow by the disadvantaged non-bumiputras has long been a feature of Malaysia but the GFI report suggests that the number is even greater than hitherto assumed. Its puts the average unrecorded outflows at US$28 billion a year for the past decade and US$64 billion in 2010 alone.

Philip Bowring, Asia Sentinel

The recent report by Global Financial Integrity, a US-based group aimed at improving governance, contains some mind-boggling data about the prevalence of illicit money transfers costing developing countries hundreds of billions of dollars.

The bottom line, the report says, is that over the past 10 years these countries have lost a total of US$5.8 trillion. Of this, Asia has accounted for nearly half, with China leading the field by a long way and Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and India all appearing in the top ten list of losers, who together account for 75 percent of the global total.

However, although the numbers are useful indicators of the extent of evasion of currency regulations and taxes, they can be criticized as greatly over-stating national as opposed to purely government revenue losses.

The figures comprise two principal components. Primarily they are the sum of discrepancies between export and import data of the countries concerned with the comparable data of their trading partners. Thus export values are understated in order to accumulate funds offshore and import values are overstated for the same reason, the differences between declared and actual value accumulating in offshore accounts. These account for some percentage of the total. Second are what the report terms "Hot Money Flows," essentially the difference between recorded transactions and balance of payments data.

The report details different ways of calculating these two ingredients but even the lowest one shows, for example, an illicit global outflow of at least US$738 billion in 2010 alone while the largest calculation puts it at US$1.19 trillion.

However, the report is essentially a compilation and analysis of data that doesn't attempt to show actual trade and other transactions or explain the motives. Thus China apparently lost US$420 billion in 2010 alone and a total of $2.7 trillion over the past decade – almost 50 percent of the global total.

Although superficially horrifying, it actually looks odd given that over this period China's foreign exchange reserves have risen at a pace that suggests massive financial capital inflows, not outflows, as its reserves grew far faster than its trade and investment account data would suggest. In other word China could have been a net winner, not the world's major loser from illicit transactions.

This circle can in fact probably be squared by reference to Hong Kong through which a still large (but diminishing) trade is conducted. It has long been well know that under-invoicing of trade through Hong Kong has been on a massive scale mainly aimed at taking advantage of the territory's lower tax rate. Similarly Hong Kong's apparent huge capital inflow reflects not actual investment but round-tripping by mainland enterprises, again primarily for tax reasons.

The net impact is a loss of revenue by Beijing but no loss to the nation as a whole. While it may be technically illegal the under or over-invoicing game is played by almost all multinationals – not least brand names like Google, Apple and Starbucks which divert most of their profits in developed as well as developing countries into tax havens where they have located patents.

That is a serious global problem but the GFI report muddies the issue by making it one of the developing countries always being the losers. In the case of China there is of course large illicit capital outflow, into real estate in the US, Australia etc, Swiss and Singapore bank accounts, often ill-gotten gains laundered through Macau gambling tables. But clearly there must have also been large informal inflows. These may now have dried up and been partly reversed but they were clearly on a huge scale when speculation on yuan revaluation was at its height.

That said, the data for Malaysia and the Philippines should be especially worrisome as these suggest that massive outflows are a cause of the very weak levels of private investment in the both countries. The Malaysian case is already quite well known. For a decade the current account surplus has been running at a massive 10 percent or more of GDP but foreign exchange reserves have only partially reflected this. Some large scale capital outflow is well-known – not least foreign investments by government and quasi-government entities such as Petronas and Malayan Banking.

Anwar Ibrahim vs Dato Nalla, Utusan Malaysia and Datuk Aziz Ishak

Posted: 21 Dec 2012 04:24 PM PST

As follows is the Affidavit filed by Datuk S. Nallakaruppan on 24th September 2012 in reply to the civil suit filed by Anwar Ibrahim.

Malaysia's Elections: Down to the wire

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:18 PM PST

With so much at stake, every vote counts…but only if every vote is counted.

Now, with the end of the year in sight and no further announcements, it seems that Mr Najib will take this down to the wire. Given that he can only go to the country after Chinese New Year next February, most people expect him to plump for the latest date he can in the electoral calendar, which would be about late March or early April.

The Economist

ALL year, it seems, Malaysia has been on a war footing. For elections, that is—and thankfully, rather than anything more martial. The country operates on a Westminster-style parliamentary system, so the prime ministers' five-year term does not officially end until early next summer. Nonetheless, Najib Razak and his people have been talking up the chances of going to the polls before then pretty well continuously over the past 18 months or so, which keeps everyone guessing.

His supporters say, why rush? With a generally favourable economic outlook, tame state media and all the advantages of incumbency, there is no reason why Mr Najib can't enjoy the rest of his term of office without worrying about the 13th general election. After all, he has a bit of history on his side, to put it mildly—the ruling political alliance, Barisan Nasional (BN), has never lost a general election since independence in 1957.

His critics, however, detect signs of nervousness about the outcome—mainly, the endless indecision about when to go to the polls. Indeed, all the evidence suggests that this will be the closest race in Malaysia's history, even more so than the last general election in 2008. On that occasion, the BN lost its two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time, thus losing its powers to make changes to the constitution. Just as bad, five of the 12 contested state legislatures were won by the opposition, compared with only one in the previous election. Mr Najib knows that to placate his hardline critics within the BN he has to not only win, but win big. They want the BN to claw back most of what the party lost last time. It's a tall order.

With so much at stake, every vote counts…but only if every vote is counted. Democracy activists and other election-watchers are concerned that many of the criteria for a free and fair election have not been met by the government and the government-appointed Election Commission.

Over the past few years the campaign for open and fair elections has been led by Bersih (meaning "clean" in Malay), a loose coalition of civil-rights and human-rights NGOs and others.

The head of Bersih, Ambiga Sreenevasan, sounded gloomy last week about the prospects for this election. "It will be the dirtiest election we have seen for a long time", she warned. She points to the more overt signs of this, such as "increasing political violence" (at political rallies, for example) and more subtle signs such as "constant reports of discrepancies on the electoral roll in west Malaysia."

Seeking justice or vendetta?

Posted: 19 Dec 2012 01:17 PM PST

The truth, as bitter as it is, remains that carpet trader Deepak is livid at how 'ungrateful' both Najib and Rosmah have been to him.

The "I want to clear my conscience drama" came about after Deepak lost millions in government contracts. He had a 20-year contract to build 16 1Malaysia Mara hostels abroad worth RM2 billion but the deal was suspended.

Jeswan Kaur, FMT

A wealthy carpet trader has after four years decided to "clear his conscience" and hopes the real perpetrator/s behind the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu will not go unpunished.

Deepak Jaikishan, whose carpets once adorned the residence of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, is now crying foul, implicating the premier in the Mongolian interpreter's death.

In 2008, Deepak was said to have paid private investigator P Balasubramaniam (Bala) RM5 million for the latter to retract his first statutory declaration which directly linked Najib to Altantuya's death.

But on Nov 12, 2009, Bala via YouTube disclaimed the second SD, saying he was paid by Deepak to withdraw the first SD. Deepak, meanwhile, said he did so at the behest of a "female friend" who later turned out to be Rosmah Mansor.

Deepak claimed subsequent to his involvement in 2008, he has been pressured by the "powers that be" to be silent. And between 2010 and 2011, his home and his offices had been raided by various agencies sent by the government to intimidate and silence him.

Deepak is now considering legal action against the government, including Najib.

The "Deepak-Rosmah/Najib" drama unfolded after whistleblower Raja Petra Kamarudin revived the matter in April 2011.

Now Deepak decided to reveal all. But then was it really a case of wanting to "clear his conscience and seek justice for Altantuya" or is it all about vendetta for the billions lost in government contracts?

For Deepak's sake, one hopes it is all about giving conscience a priority. Nevertheless, this businessman is angry for having been taken for granted by both Najib and Rosmah, the latter whom Deepak regarded as his "elder sister".

What's Deepak up to, really?

It is unfortunate that Deepak got himself entangled with the "crooks", but then did he not know from day one just whom he was dealing with? Was Deepak that naïve that he had no idea of the machinations of Rosmah and Najib?

Where was Deepak's conscience when he "rewarded" Bala with RM5 million to tell a lie and save both Najib's skin and his political career?

The truth, as bitter as it is, remains that Deepak is livid at how "ungrateful" both Najib and Rosmah have been to him, especially after he agreed to help the couple escape blame for Altantuya's gruesome murder in the jungle of Puncak Alam, Shah Alam, in October 2006.

Two members of an elite police unit were later convicted and sentenced to death for the crime. What was Deepak thinking when Rosmah asked him to look for Bala the very day when the PI's SD was made public?

Is it wrong to deduce that Deepak willingly jumped in to help when everyone else Rosmah contacted turned her down because he was hoping for a "quid pro quo"?

He played accomplice to crooks and suffered in the process. What would be unacceptable is for Deepak to use "conscience" as an excuse to seek revenge against Rosmah and Najib.

The fact is that Deepak's ties with Rosmah turned sour following a land dispute involving him and Umno senator Raja Roopiah Abdullah. Deepak claimed that his company, Asta Canggih Sdn Bhd, was the nominee company or third party vehicle in the acquisition of 223 acres of land after he struck an agreement with Raja Roopiah.

Under the agreement, he was supposed to get all but 23 acres of the land, which would be returned to Raja Roopiah. Deepak claimed that Najib had bypassed the Cabinet in deciding to pull back the land from him.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Sabtu, 22 Disember 2012

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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