THERE is a Malay proverb that goes like this – seperti katak dibawah tempurung or like a frog beneath a coconut shell – that describes people who live a blissfully ignorant life.

One cannot imagine Putrajaya’s propaganda unit director Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz as being blissfully ignorant or unaware of the reasons for the United States Department of Justice’s (DoJ) civil and criminal cases regarding 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Yet, Faisal criticised United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions’ views the 1MDB case was “kleptocracy at its worst”, insisting it has nothing to do with Malaysia’s strategic fund formed by Prime Minister Najib Razak for several projects.

Its energy assets have been sold off while its land bank is now under the Ministry of Finance (MoF), which coincidentally is helmed by Najib. But that isn’t the issue at hand.

Faisal believed Sessions is merely parroting his predecessor’s views, saying today: “A civil case is only based on complaints and assumptions and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has not yet proven anything beyond a reasonable doubt.”

He also questioned who the “victims” Sessions’ referred to were. 

“I asked an American lawyer, Thomas Goldstein, about the justification for the DoJ suit, and he said it was strange as 1MDB itself is not a complainant and did not say that it had lost any money.

“Goldstein said DoJ was now in a deadlock because 1MDB insists the allegedly missing money is not their money, while the case is being built on the belief this money was taken from 1MDB,” said Faisal, who is also an Umno member.

The party man might want to believe his own delusions but the reality is different.

DoJ’s complaint and FBI’s investigations relate to those who directed and got 1MDB to send money, drawn from the proceeds of bonds, to ventures and purchases beyond its mandate.

Sessions said “allegedly corrupt officials” in 1MDB had reportedly spent US$200 million (RM815 million) on real estate in Southern California and New York, US$130 million on artwork, invested US$100 million in an American music label and US$265 million on a yacht.

“1MDB officials allegedly laundered more than US$4.5 billion in funds through a complex web of opaque transactions and fraudulent shell companies with bank accounts in countries ranging from Switzerland and Singapore to Luxembourg and the United States,” Sessions said.

One wonders whether Faisal has actually read Sessions’ statements or is just putting out his own delusions for all and sundry.

For example, he said the US should instead investigate the Abu Dhabi state wealth fund, International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), as it had claimed it had lost money.

IPIC had taken 1MDB to the London Court of International Arbitration, saying it had failed to repay a US$1.2 billion (RM4.8 billion) loan to IPIC. 

1MDB had claimed it paid the sum to IPIC unit Aabar (BVI), but the Abu Dhabi firm said BVI company was not theirs. 

End result, 1MDB agreed to pay IPIC US$1.2 billion in two tranches – the first in July and the second on December 31.

So who is telling the truth here? Why is 1MDB paying another US$1.2 billion when it insisted it had repaid the sum to a BVI company? Where is the original US$1.2 billion? Isn’t Faisal curious to know?

Isn’t he curious to know why Singapore and Switzerland are investigating people related to 1MDB? He can spin his theories and opinions but every case is linked to 1MDB.

Perhaps Faisal needs to understand what kleptocracy means before opening his mouth and denying the reality of the DoJ investigations.

The Cambridge Dictionary puts kleptocracy simply as this – a society whose leaders make themselves rich and powerful by stealing from the rest of the people.

One doesn’t need to go far to find out where that is, really. One just needs to step out from under the coconut shell. – December 6, 2017.