Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Look again : Apandi did in fact admit that Najib has a prima facie case to answer: AG forgets that giving of even RM 1 counts as corruption under the MACC Act


by Ganesh Sahathevan


These paragraphs from The Malaysian Insider report about AG Apandi's findings of the MACC case against PM Najib suggest an admission on the part of learned Apandi that PM Najib has in fact a case to answer for breaches of the MACC Act:


The prime minister returned the donation given by the Saudi royal family as it was not utilised, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali said today in the first public explanation on where the money had gone. Apandi said this was one of the reasons Datuk Seri Najib Razak had been cleared of any wrongdoing over the RM2.6 billion in his private bank accounts.


However, Apandi himself admits that not all of money was returned:

"Furthermore, in August 2013, a sum of US$620 million (RM2.03 billion) was returned by Yang Amat Berhormat PM to the Saudi royal family because the sum was not utilised." A sum of US$681 million (RM2.08 billion) had been deposited into the prime minister's personal accounts between March 22, 2013 and April 10, 2013, and Apandi said based on evidence from witnesses and supporting documents submitted by the anti-graft agency, the money was a personal donation to Najib from the Saudi royal family which "was given to him without any consideration"
Taken together Apandi admits that Najib did in fact keep some of that "donation".That it constitutes only a part of the total amount is not relevant.


For Apandi to then conclude, despite his own analysis of the facts that :
"I am satisfied that there is no evidence to show that the donation was a form of gratification given corruptly.;
is incorrect given the MACC Act's presumption of guilt.This is explained in the post below.


END


Onus on Najib to call Al-Sauds as witnesses in his defence: Apandi ignores case of Datuk Harun Idris & provisions of MACC Act in letting Najib off the hook

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Onus on Najib to call Al-Sauds as witnesses in his defence: Apandi ignores case of Datuk Harun Idris & provisions of MACC Act in letting Najib off the hook


by Ganesh Sahathevan


The Attorney General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali has declared that Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing with regards the transfer of close to USD 980 million into Najib's account. He does so while admitting the relevant facts.The consequences of that admission have been addressed by this writer in a previous post:

Najib vs Datuk Harun Idris: Affection of a Saudi donor does not make Najib less culpable;innocence must be proven in court


Further, and apart from the presumption of guilt raised by the provisions of the MACC Act, the fact remains that regardless of whether the gift or donation was provided in a personal capacity, Najib was at all relevant times a " a member of a public body" ie the Government of Malaysia , or " alternatively, that he was an agent of the Ruler", in this case the Agong.
The consequences that flow from his position were well established in the matter of Datuk Harun Idris,in a decision by Raja Azlan Shah J, as he then was (see previous article below).


Consequently, the matter has to go to court.It will then be up to Najib Razak to call the Al-Sauds as witnesses in his defence.


END





Saturday, August 8, 2015

Najib vs Datuk Harun Idris-40 years on which way will it swing.....New at RealPolitikAsia

by Ganesh Sahathevan
The prime minister and Umno president was reported as saying that he had taken the money on behalf of the party, and that it was not used for personal gain
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/…/najib-says-macc-cleare…
But then see:
Public Prosecutor v Datuk Haji Harun bin Haji Idris (No 2) [1977] 1 MLJ 15 High Court, Kuala Lumpur (Raja Azlan Shah J).
Summary :

The accused was charged with three charges of corruption. It was alleged that the accused as Mentri Besar, Selangor: (a) solicited the sum of RM250,000 for UMNO as an inducement to obtain the approval of the Executive Council in respect of an application for a piece of state land; (b) being a member of a public body accepted for UMNO the sum of RM25,000 as an inducement to obtain such approval; (c) accepted for UMNO the sum of RM225,000 as an inducement to obtain such approval. It was also alleged that the accused was a member of a public body, namely, the government of Selangor, or alternatively, that he was an agent of the Ruler of the State of Selangor.
Holding :
Held: (1) the accused as Menteri Besar was a member of a public body, that is, the government of Selangor; (2) on the facts of this case, the accused did solicit for UMNO a gratification of RM250,000; (3) the circumstances in which the gratification was solicited gave rise to the inference that it was solicited corruptly; (4) the accused solicited the gratification as an inducement to obtain the approval of the Executive Council in respect of the application for the land; (5) the facts showed that the accused accepted a gratification from the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank of RM25,000 through Haji Ahmad Razali at the airport on or about 16 August 1972 and that he on or about 27 March 1973 accepted from the Hongkong and Shanghai Corp a gratification of RM225,000 in his office in Kuala Lumpur; (6) the accused accepted the gratification of RM25,000 and RM225,000 as an inducement to do an official act in connection with the bank's application for alienation of the land; (7) on the evidence, the prosecution had proved its case in relation to all three principal charges, which if unrebutted, would warrant the conviction of the accused; (8) the accused did not rebut the evidence for the prosecution and on all the evidence considered as a whole, the charges against the accused have been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
Digest :
Public Prosecutor v Datuk Haji Harun bin Haji Idris (No 2) [1977] 1 MLJ 15 High Court, Kuala Lumpur (Raja Azlan Shah J).

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Duncan Lewis would not "buy the notion" of TNI involvement in Tim Tim massacres despite the evidence: Bapak Lewis should be investigated & punished, not promoted



by Ganesh Sahathevan

The following reports are presented as extracts with links to the original.
Where links are not available, the original has been copied and pasted.

These concern the Timor massacres ,which many say Australia encouraged by initially turning a blind eye.The evidence ,according to then Captain Andrew Plunkett, Australian Army Intelligence, and others, reported by Mark Davis on Dateline:

Captain Andrew Plunkett: The analysis was that the TNI would basically destroy East Timor and they’d use militia as proxies. It was quite clear the link between the militia and TNI and the militia being bit players, small pawns, and it was quite clear that they would kill a lot of people and destroy their infrastructure straight after the autonomy ballot, if it won independence. It was quite clear from the analysis and the reporting and the information that was coming out of East Timor. But unfortunately by the time it left the military, and went up the chain of command, in effect to foreign affairs, it wasn’t pushed down to the UN or the Australian UN observers on the ground.
But it wasn’t just agencies in Australia gathering this information. Intelligence staff on the ground such as Wayne Sievers were gathering their own.
He and others were collecting leaked Indonesian documents and feeding them into the UNAMET structure.

What were these documents and reports indicating?

Wayne Sievers: They were indicating that indeed it was the Indonesian military at the highest levels that were organising, arming, training and funding the militias at a time when they were supposed to be disarming them and protecting us. I started to get increasingly worried because there seemed to be a culture of denial in the UN and their reaction was to this kind of information, to these reports was, “Oh, it’s alarmist talking, it’s misinformation from the independent side. We have to accept the assurances that the Indonesian authorities have given us.” And I got really worried about that.


The evidence according to then Major General Duncan Lewis,current head of ASIO:

As reported by Kyodo News

Brig. Gen. Duncan Lewis, the commander of the 2,000-strong Australian contingent based along the border, was quoted as saying there could be rogue Indonesian military elements in West Timor.
"If there are elements who hold a different view to the central government then it's quite a concern and very dangerous if that situation exists," he was quoted as saying.


As reported by the Independent UK
" Brigadier Lewis said that the bodies of two armed men killed in a gun battle with UN soldiers on Wednesday carried FKS rifles which are used only by the Indonesian army. Indonesian military surplus can be bought throughout the country. "But what I find distressing is that some of their equipment was relatively new," he said.


It is clear from a comparison of  the t Kyodo and Independent reports that Duncan Lewis was obviously conflicted,unable to accept that the TNI,whose leadership he knows well, could have been in any way involved in the massacres despite the evidence before him.  This again suggests a man who had been compromised.
It is important to recall that Bapak Lewis, as our Duncan is known in Jakarta ,  was sent back to Jakarta as military attache in 1999, and was thus responsible for the intelligence the then Howard Government was receiving ,prior to the attacks. 
His involvement in the disinformation needs to be investigated, and no amount of false praise ("best in the world" is being thrown about like confetti ) will change what has been on the public record for more than a decade.
END



Bounty on heads of Timor peacekeepers: paper
329 words
28 July 2000
14:17
KYODO
English
Copyright Kyodo News International Inc. 2000
SYDNEY, July 28 --
A price has been put on the heads of Australian and New Zealand peacekeepers serving in East Timor, an Australian daily reported Friday.
The Sydney Morning Herald quoted senior U.N. officials as saying the ears of a New Zealand soldier killed by suspected militia on Monday were cut off as a bounty trophy.
The officials were quoted as saying a bounty of between 1.5 million and 2 million rupiah ($165-$220) was likely paid to members of the Laksaur militia believed responsible for the death of Pvt. Leonard Manning, the first combat casualty of the U.N. peacekeeping operation in East Timor.
"It was a bounty; payment was involved," said one of the officers, who spoke to the daily on condition of anonymity.
The officials said they had received information from militia sources in West Timor that the reward was probably being offered by senior pro-integration figures as an incentive to keep their cause alive.
The U.N.-sponsored military operation began in East Timor last September after violence by militias loyal to Jakarta devastated the territory following an overwhelming vote for independence from Indonesia.
Manning was found dead after going missing during a gunbattle, near the West Timorese border, between a New Zealand patrol and what are believed to have been professionally trained militia from Indonesian territory.
A range of Indonesian military equipment -- including standard-issue military fatigues with a shirt bearing the special forces patch -- was found near the attack site, located close to the border town of Suai, the Herald reported.
Brig. Gen. Duncan Lewis, the commander of the 2,000-strong Australian contingent based along the border, was quoted as saying their could be rogue Indonesian military elements in West Timor.
"If there are elements who hold a different view to the central government then it's quite a concern and very dangerous if that situation exists," he was quoted as saying.
Document kyodo00020010807dw7s012t1

Indonesian special forces `killed UN peace-keeper in East Timor'.
By Richard Lloyd Parry and Joanna Jolly in Dili.
521 words
4 August 2000
IND
12
English
(c) 2000 Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, distributed or exploited in any way.
A UNITED NATIONS peace-keeper who died in East Timor last month was shot by former members of the Indonesian special forces under the noses of the Indonesian authorities, military sources in Dili say.
Private Leonard Manning,from New Zealand, was killedon 24 July after an attack on East Timor's border with Indonesia that showed all the hallmarks of a military ambush carried out by trained soldiers.
In a sweep of the area after the attack, UN forces found a backpack containing military rations and survival equipment, as well as a shirt bearing the insignia of Kopassus, the special forces, which established a murderous reputation in the 24 years after the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975.
They also found the body of Private Manning, whose throat had been cut and his ears severed, another Kopassus trademark. The uniforms worn by the attackers were plain green rather than the more common camouflage style, and they also wore balaclavas, rather than the motley assortment of headgear that are favoured by the civilian militiamen.
UN sources in Dili told The Independent they believe the attackers were members of Kopassus who have been officially discharged, and who have travelled to West Timor to undermine East Timorese independence.
In public, UN sources have diplomatically refrained from suggesting that the Indonesians are helping the militias, but in the past few days that restraint has come close to breaking point.
The head of the UN administration in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, has made repeated requests for the Indonesians to restrain the militias, but to little effect.
"I'm not saying that they've done nothing, but [their efforts] are not sufficient," he said. "Had they disarmed, demobilised and arrested those 200 to 300 extremists that continue to enjoy freedom of movement on the other side of the border, Private Manning would be alive today."
Brigadier Duncan Lewis, a commander with the UN force, said: "We have gunmen that have been coming across the border since February when our force started operations here in East Timor. They have been coming across the border wearing Indonesian uniforms, carrying a range of weapons and ammunition that has Indonesian origin and you would have to make your own conclusions from that." Brigadier Lewis said that the bodies of two armed men killed in a gun battle with UN soldiers on Wednesday carried FKS rifles which are used only by the Indonesian army. Indonesian military surplus can be bought throughout the country. "But what I find distressing is that some of their equipment was relatively new," he said.
East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum last August after a campaign in which there was blatant intimidation by supporters of Indonesia, backed by the military. In the two weeks of violence that followed the vote, Indonesian soldiers operated openly alongside militiamen.
In an unrelated incident, a Bangladeshi peace-keeper in East Timor was killed yesterday by a bomb, while searching for unexploded munitions on a beach near Dili.
Document ind0000020010811dw840019h

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Najib Razak seeks an exit but wants to keep RM 4B: Sequestering Low Family assets may be a compromise

by Ganesh Sahathevan


According to Sarawak Report Najib Razak is seeking a graceful exit from politics but a sticking point is some RM 4 billion which he feels is his keepsake.
We suggest a compromise might be arrived at by sequestering the assets of the Low family of Penang, whose eldest son Jho Low has claimed to be very many things ,and whose father Larry Low is patriach of the so-called Low family fortune.

Much of the "billionaire" Low family story is in the public domain  and the record suggests that the Lows have nothing near the billions Jho Low claims they are worth. In fact, the public record suggests that family patriarch Larry Low (Jho's father) has always ever been only a fixer,or "consultant" ,and that Jho Low is simply following in daddy's footsteps. Indeed,the record shows that Jho reports to daddy,and it is Larry who is orchestrating the 1 MDB debacle.

Consequently it ought to be a simple matter to arrest Larry Low and sequester the family assets ,wherever they may be ,and in whatever form it might take. We are told the Low family is interested in fine art, so sequester any works of art ,if they can be found.With at least one piece worth RM 200 million,  selling these can help recover some of the money lost.

The transactions that Larry and Jho have put together have resulted in the loss of billions to the country, and even said to have depressed the currency. The newly promulgated National Security Act's economic sabotage provisions clearly contemplate that sort of activity , and here is a good opportunity to put those new laws to proper use.
END















Najib Negotiates His Exit BUT He Wants Safe Passage AND All The Money!  EXCLUSIVE DISCLOSURE

Najib Negotiates His Exit BUT He Wants Safe Passage 

AND All The Money! EXCLUSIVE DISCLOSURE



All the perfumes of Arabia, but can Najib get off the hook?


All the perfumes of Arabia,

but can Najib get off the hook?





The new Attorney General Mohamed Apandi may by now be wishing he had not taken the job.
His predecessor was unconstitutionally booted out by the Prime Minister in July for bringing forward charges based on the purloining of millions from the pension fund KWAP into Najib’s own private accounts.
Now the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has completed its investigation into the matter and placed a dossier on Apandi’s desk, which according to several sources, contains no less than 37 separate charges against Najib, based on the same evidence.
Moreover, Apandi is aware that this evidence has now been widely distributed and is known to all the top brass in UMNO, making a protracted cover-up extremely hard to achieve.

Kevin Morais

In November this AG had issued a bald lie following the brutal kidnap and shocking murder of Kevin Morais, who had been the public prosecutor tasked with drawing up the original charges for the MACC.  Apandi stated that Morais had had no role in the investigation.
Murdered Kevin Morais
Murdered Kevin Morais
However, it is now widely established that Kevin was indeed the key prosecutor on the case and he is believed to have been the source of the leak of the original charge sheets drawn up against Najib to this news portal.
Before he was abducted (and on the advice of Sarawak Report to the then anonymous whistleblower) Morais also sent the contents of his laptop file on the investigation to a number of trusted confidants – these are now waiting to see if Malaysia’s own forces of law and order are going to do their job or if they will need to release the information separately.
It makes for a difficult situation for Apandi and Special Branch are known to have been trawling the friends and relatives of Kevin Morais in an unsuccessful bid to secure the return of these sets of documents.
Since these authorities seized the relevant laptop from Kevin’s flat shortly after he was abducted, they are also fully aware of just how much information was passed out by the whistleblower before he was silenced.  He himself had explained his motives in a series of emails to Sarawak Report at the time.  His sentiments included these words on behalf of those in the civil service trying to bring out the truth:
““The police continue to be rather aggressive in trying to uncover the sources of the leaks. And not actually trying to nab the lunatic on top of the pyramid, running this country to the ground just so his arse is saved… and I’m not sure if we’ll be able to stop this lunacy.”
The information now thus at large from the investigation is said to include copies of the bank statements showing how RM42 million, which was passed into one of Najib Razak’s personal accounts from 1MDB, under the auspices of “Corporate and Social Reponsibility” payments, was actually spent by the Prime Minister.
It was back in July that Sarawak Report together with the Wall Street Journal published details from the 1MDB investigation that showed the exact trail of the money: an original RM4 billion had been borrowed from the KWAP public pension fund by a subsidiary of 1MDB named SRC International Sdn Bhd; then between December 2014 and February 2015 a total of RM42 million was siphoned out of SRC through two intermediary companies controlled by 1MDB executive Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil (Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd) and Datuk Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman (Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd).  The latter has already been arrested and interviewed by investigators, whilst Nik Kamil has fled to Jakarta.
Transfer 1
Transfer 1
Transfer 2
Transfer 2
Najib has said that none of this public money was spent on personal things.  However, those who have seen the relevant bank statements have told Sarawak Report that there were several expensive shopping items recorded, many bought on foreign trips.
The whistleblower himself had detailed to Sarawak Report during email correspondence in August:
Actually, the spending .. was rather mundane. Credit card bills, shopping, suppliers to the last elections that had not gotten paid because BNM had frozen the accounts of other proxy companies, that sort of stuff.” 
It is the shocking source of this money that is most damaging in this case – public pension fund money, which was spent by the Prime Minister on his family’s notorious ostentatiousness and extravagance abroad.  Can it get worse than that?
Unfortunately, the answer is that yes it can and it is the further evidence against Najib which is making the situation even more impossible for the Prime Minister and his allies to contain, not least because whilst the SRC scandal is localised, the other graft allegations involve massive dollar currency transactions and implicate foreign banks, which the FBI and other international regulators are now publicly investigating.
Mr and Mrs brought religion onto their side in December. Rosmah is also a notorious practitioner of black magic.  Nevertheless they have spent New Year negotiating.
Mr and Mrs Najib Razak turned to religion over December. 
Rosmah is also a notorious practitioner of black magic as
 a way of advancing her ends. Nevertheless the couple
 spent New Year negotiating.

“It is not RM2.6 billion it is RM4 billion”!

Indeed, for the Najib loyalist Apandi the problems merely begin with that MACC dossier, which has been sizzling on his desk since before Christmas, awaiting action.
On top of those 37 charges relating to SRC International there remains the issue of the far larger sum of money paid from a number of mysterious off-shore entities into a separate AmBank account belonging to the Prime Minister.
Sarawak Report and the Wall Street Journal have also published the details of two of those payments, made from a BVI entity named Tanore Finance Corporation just before the general election.
The monster RM2.6 billion payment
The monster RM2.6 billion payment
Sarawak Report has further detailed how the money came into Najib’s AmBank account, via the Abu Dhabi Aabar fund’s Falcon Bank, just days after Goldman Sachs had negotiated a massive US$3 billion bond issue in order to fund a supposed strategic partnership between 1MDB and Aabar.
Records show that much of the money from the series of bond deals between these two funds has gone missing and the Chairman of Aabar was sacked shortly after the 1MDB scandal broke last year.
What is now widely known in UMNO’s upper circles, thanks to further investigations by Malaysian task forces, is that this RM2.6 billion transaction in March 2013 was just a portion of the money which went into Najib’s same AmBank account during the period after 2011.
Najib's story about an anonymous Sheikh has not washed with UMNO - especially since the money has never come to the party itself!
Najib’s story about an anonymous Sheikh has not washed with UMNO – especially since the money has never come to the party itself!
As Sarawak Report has already pointed out, there were at least two further sets of payments again worth billions of ringgit.
Most of this money, which Najib now claims was supposed to help UMNO win in elections, was never spent.  The majority was sent back to into Najib Razak’s private account in Singapore straight after the election was over and the KL account was closed.
These facts, now widely known within UMNO’s top circles, make a mockery of the lame and unsubstantiated excuse eventually provided by Najib that this was money donated by an anonymous Middle Eastern royal, who was supposedly in the habit of handing vast sums to friendly foreign politicians to assist in their elections.
Not only would such a secret private political donation by a foreign potentate have been illegal, but the money plainly ended up in Najib’s private foreign bank accounts, where much of it remains frozen in Singapore.
The UMNO warlords have now acquired all the details, Sarawak Report has been reliably informed – and they are naturally furious on all counts.  This is a genie that cannot be returned into the bottle.  One UMNO insider has told Sarawak Report that all the party bigwigs now know:
“He didn’t just take the famous RM2.6 billion, it was RM4 billion and more”!

The game is up, but has Najib grasped the new realities?

It is because of this intractable mess that, behind a facade of UMNO unity and relentless PR about the ‘crisis being over’, stealthy talks were carried out at the highest levels in a series of locations over the New Year holiday break.
“Appearances are being maintained”, one insider told SR, “there have been the usual lavish events and appearances and of course Rosmah is still determined not to let go, but there have been negotiations in Tokyo and Dubai.  Najib knows the game is up, but he does not appreciate the reality of his situation.  He is a dead duck and yet he is trying to negotiate a safe exit along with a guarantee of all the stolen money!  The others will not agree.”
There are other factors prolonging Najib’s stay in office.  UMNO’s top brass may have agreed that he must go, but they are fighting over who succeeds.  Zahid has made clear that he aims to take over from his Deputy Prime Minister’s position.  However, others have pointed out that this forceful politician was promoted by Najib himself in response to the corruption crisis, replacing the Deputy Leader of UMNO, Muhyiddin Yassin, now banished from the inner circle of government and therefore far less contaminated by events.
The UMNO constitution also demands that it is the party that should choose its leaders, which puts Muhyiddin Yassin in line for the succession, not Zahid.  Thus the arguments are not about whether Najib should go, but over who should succeed him and on what terms Najib should leave.

Nowhere to go!

The other major sticking point delaying Najib’s departure is the thorny issue of his criminal actions.  The Prime Minister knows the game is up, say insiders. With the economy in free fall and the country enmeshed in top-down corruption, he sees little glory either to be gained from hanging out for a further election win.
“He wants out, but he can’t get out”  speaks another source. “He has run the economy into the ground and has charges levelled against him, but he still thinks he should get a royal goodbye”.
Plenty of others would like to see Najib and Rosmah both jailed.  After all, the money in Rosmah’s own frozen accounts in KL is also in the order of hundreds of unexplained millions, with plenty of stories in the wings relating to crony contracts and the exploitation of public funds.
Yet the ‘First Couple’ are not only hanging out for full immunity and safe passage abroad in the course of the on-going negotiations with their colleagues, they also want to keep the dosh!
RPK penning accusations against Rosmah's targets.
RPK penning accusations against Rosmah’s targets.
UMNO warlords who have failed to see eye to eye with Rosmah on this matter are said to have found themselves treated to scurrilous accusations from her client blogger, the UK-based ‘RPK’, a form of retaliation which has not been appreciated.
The present deadlock has been further strengthened by the fact that Najib appears to have encountered a worrying shortage of willing foreign bolt holes.  Turkey has rejected his asylum request and various Middle Eastern countries have simply failed to reply to his entreaties.
The much vaunted Kazakhstan is apparently not actually Rosmah’s kind of place.  Besides, the couple’s new in-laws, while not lacking in pretension, are regarded as persona non grata with the powers that be.
What all this means is that beneath the apparent calm awaiting Najib’s presentation of his gloomy, revised 2016 budget (a stark recognition of the dire state the economy has reached under his watch) there is an explosive situation waiting to erupt.  When it does, the changes are likely to come quickly.
Yet, whilst all this festers, insiders have told SR, Najib is falling prey to every political and financial demand. The wounded PM can’t say no to anybody as he attempts to shore up his support:
“Everyone is going for bribes and contracts and then when that is not enough they come back for more bribes” detailed one disgusted onlooker.  “They are feeding on the carcass of Malaysia’s blighted economy, while Najib tries to stay in office that little bit longer”
It is a given of politics that once a Prime Minister starts to open even the discreetest of negotiations about his exit there can really be no going back. But, how this fraught situation will be ultimately resolved and what will happen to Najib when the dam bursts is still a guessing game for the insiders, who have been speaking to Sarawak Report.

Edward Snowden & spying on Malaysia's leadership:Implications for Najib Razak and Malaysian national interest

by Ganesh Sahathevan



In 2014 Der Spiegel and the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Adbullah Badawi,Najib Razak's predecessor, was the highest priority target for surveillance by Australian and US intelligence agencies. The Snowden documents referred to a period of time between October 2003, and April 2009 when Najib succeeded Badawi.
Najib was Badawi's deputy during that period of time and it is likely that he  would have inadvertently if not purposefully  come under surveillance as a consequence. It can also be reasonably assumed that the practise would have continued after April 2009 , and perhaps into the present time. Surveilling a prime minister can be  very useful, and dismantling  existing infrastructure would not make sense.

The question then, what did  the Americans and Australians learn about Najib Razak,and how is that affecting Malaysian national interest? Has Australia's decision to hold convicted murderer Sirul Azhar Umar in detention as an illegal alien  indefinitely been influenced by something Australian intelligence agencies learnt? If yes, has Australia's leadership decided on how it might use what was learnt? Dismissing any of the above as mere speculation will not be easy, given the amount of relevant information attributable to the parties involved , that is already in the public domain. 
END



Edward Snowden documents show Malaysia is an Australia, US intelligence target

Philip Dorling

March 30, 2014

Malaysia’s political leadership is a priority intelligence target for the United States and Australia, according to top secret documents published by Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine.

Former Malaysian Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi, who served as Malaysian prime minister from October 2003 to April 2009, is listed in an extract from the US National Security Agency’s "Target Knowledge Base", a database designed to build up “complete profiles” of high priority intelligence targets.

Abdullah Badawi’s name appears in a list of eleven heads of government, including Germany’s Angela Merkel, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko, and former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The top secret briefing, created in 2009, indicates that the full list of targeted heads of foreign governments contained 122 names. The final name on the list is Yulia Tymoshenko, who was Ukrainian prime minister at the time.

According to Der Spiegel a National Security Agency search program codenamed "Nymrod" enables intelligence analysis to search the database to "find information relating to targets that would otherwise be tough to track down". Nymrod sifts through signals intelligence reports based on intercepted communications as well as transcripts of faxes, phone calls, and data collected from computer networks. Each of the names in the database is considered a "SIGINT target" with automated data processing making it possible to manage more than 3 million entries.

Part of the trove of highly classified documents leaked by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the secret briefing published by Der Spiegel also shows that intelligence on foreign leaders is shared between all "5-eyes" intelligence partners – the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Former members of the Australian Parliament's joint intelligence committee have confirmed to Fairfax Media that the Malaysian government, political leadership and defence force have been long been targeted by Australia's electronic spy agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, and by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service.

Australia bugged Malaysia Cabinet ministers

Fairfax Media has been told that in the early 1990s Australian intelligence successfully eavesdropped on Malaysian Cabinet talks, recording highly uncomplimentary remarks by then Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohammed about Indonesian President Suharto. A decade later parliamentary joint intelligence committee members were briefed on the Australian Signals Directorate’s access to Malaysian defence force communications, including interception of video conference channels used by Malaysia's defence chiefs.

Confirmation that Abdullah Badawi was targeted for intelligence collection is the latest in a series of unprecedented disclosures of US and Australian intelligence operations against South East Asian countries.

In August last year Fairfax Media revealed that the Australian Signals Directorate is in a partnership with British, American and Singaporean intelligence agencies to tap undersea fibre optic telecommunications cables through South East Asia. Fairfax Media also reported on the use of US and Australian embassies in East and South East Asia, including those in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, as secret bases for signals intelligence collection program codenamed "Stateroom".

In November the Guardian and the ABC reported that the Australian Signals Directorate had intercepted the mobile phone of Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and many of his closest political associates.

In response, Indonesia broke off formal military cooperation with Australia and demanded a new "code of conduct" be reached with Australia before cooperation resumes.

Other revelations have included cooperation between the US National Security Agency and its Australian counterpart in targeting a 2007 United Nations climate change conference in Bali.

According to other National Security Agency documents published by the New York Times, the Australian Signals Directorate has accessed bulk call data from Indosat, Indonesia’s domestic satellite telecommunications provider, and obtained nearly 1.8 million encrypted master keys, which are used to protect private communications, from Indonesia’s Telkomsel mobile telephone network in Indonesia, and developed a way to decrypt almost all of them.

Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the new code of conduct being negotiated between Australia and Indonesia will include a clause dealing with intelligence activities.

"I made it quite clear that Australia would not use its resources - our intelligence resources - to the detriment of our friends and neighbours and that includes Indonesia," she told the ABC Lateline program.

Ms Bishop said Australia has submitted a draft of the code of conduct, which she described as a "joint understanding", however she expected progress to be slow in the lead-up to Indonesia’s legislative elections next week and presidential elections in July.  

Sunday, January 10, 2016

No wonder Navy got caught out by the Russian Navy:Encouraged by Mona Shindy Barrett & co were busy memorizing the Quran

by Ganesh Sahathevan

First ,my post from 13  November 2014:

Despite advance knowledge (of a Russian flotilla headed to Queensland) Australia has not been able to do very much, not even repeat the "shirt-fronting" threat. Under the circumstances, this might be a better response:




Now, read this to understand that our Chief of Navy was busy with other more pressing matters:



Memory competition has an Australian flavour.

This article has photo galleryPublished on  Royal Australian Navy (author)
Royal Australian Navy Chief Petty Officer Zulkarnain Naim, at the final ceremony presentations of the Prince Sultan International Military Al Quran Memorisation Competition, Riyadh Air Base. (photo: Unknown)
Royal Australian Navy Chief Petty Officer Zulkarnain Naim, at the final ceremony presentations of the Prince Sultan International Military Al Quran Memorisation Competition, Riyadh Air Base.

The Royal Australian Navy is primed to represent Australia at the next Prince Sultan International Military Quran Memorisation Competition.
Last month, 27 nations were represented at this year's prestigious event which was hosted by the Ministry of Defence of Saudi Arabia. The competition finds the most proficient Defence Force member from around the world who could best recite the holy Quran from memory. 
The Quran has 114 chapters and is written in eloquent Arabic poetry. Many find it a challenge to read and recite from the holy book in general, particularly if they have not had formal Arabic training. The task of memorising the entire scripture is incredibly harder again, but a goal many Muslims set for themselves from a young age. In front of a panel of scholars, individual competitors had to recite randomly chosen chapters with minimal errors. 
Chief Petty Officer Zulkarnain Naim, assistant to the Chief of Navy’s Strategic Advisor on Islamic Cultural Affairs, was selected to observe the competition and developed an appreciation for the talent of competitors that took the stand. As the first ever Australian Defence Force representative to attend the event, Chief Petty Officer Naim laid the groundwork for ADF members to compete in 2016 and beyond by noting the skills on show and gaining an understanding of what preparation would be needed for future competitors.
More than 100 Muslims serve in the Australian Defence Force and with 27 Muslim sailors currently serving in the Australian Navy, selection for this prestigious event in 2016 will be difficult. 
Chief of Navy’s Strategic Advisor on Islamic Cultural Affairs, Captain Mona Shindy, encouraged personnel to get practicing. 
“This Saudi Armed Forces co-ordinated and fully funded opportunity is expected to be on offer every two years to Muslim serving members. 
"With early planning and preparation it is possible that in the not too distant future, a Muslim member of the Australian forces might just win this goodwill Quran memorisation competition on the international stage while simultaneously gaining much personal reward from this highly appealing representational and spiritual opportunity,” she said. 
Competition was fierce, and after four days, a Yemeni Infantry Soldier was judged the winner, much to the delight of the audience. The event was also a success for the Australian Defence Force in gaining recognition and belonging as part of a Defence international community whose culture and traditions are quite foreign to many Australians. 
Along with the opportunity to be apart of the Quran Memorisation Competition, delegates from each country had the opportunity to participate in various events organised and coordinated by the Saudi Defence Force. These included cultural tours and discussion sessions.  Topics covered by the participants related to issues concerning their service personnel and lessons learnt in establishing infrastructure, policies and organisational structures to assist with the integration of Muslims in Defence Forces internationally. 
Historical tours of the two holy cities, Madinah and Mecca and the opportunity to complete a minor pilgrimage known as the ‘Umrah’ were significant and rewarding highlights for all competitors and delegates.
See also:

We'll be sunk if we don't choose the best submarine: Ross Babbage's advice from 2012 rings ever more true given humiliation by the Russian fleet


Saturday, January 9, 2016

Available for sale: Duncan Lewis AO,DSC, hardly used head of ASIO,former NSA;reputed to be best head of the best intel agency in the world

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Before any reader  gets hot and bothered and starts hyper-ventilating at the very thought of any  senior Australian public servant being corrupt or corruptible ("it happens in Asia, not here") ,this story is about how our chief spy Duncan Lewis has effectively put himself on the market,and advertised himself to ever present buyers of information and influence.

The first step in his self-advertisement was to make himself known. While it is often no longer the case here and overseas that the identities of the heads of intelligence services are kept secret, one must still go looking, and know enough to look in the right places to find their names. Simply googling "chief spook" often does not work. Most foreign and even regional agencies prefer to call their spy agencies "research divisions" or "analysis departments". Here on the other hand Duncan Lewis has embarked on a media campaign, giving interviews  and  using his office to launch PR campaigns in defence of himself and his actions.

Consequently, even the most junior analyst at any number of private and government "research divisions" or "analysis departments" would by now have a complete file of the current head of ASIO's name, photo,  CV, political, cultural and religious leanings, family, and contact details.
It is only natural that inducements be offered for his services, even if he chooses to remain head of ASIO or hold any other public post. Of course, no one is expecting that he , a former soldier , a retired major general no less,would breach his oath of secrecy should he go to work for anyone else..................

In any case, this writer would be happy to broker a deal.To quote one M.Turnbull, his boss who has on a number of occasions described Duncan Lewis and ASIO as "best in the world", it is only business.
END