Sarawak Report has learnt from sources close to the Goldman Sachs negotiations during the former PH government that the US bank had agreed as a starting point to commit to total transparency as the basis for any settlement over the 1MDB cases against it.
PH were looking for a far more generous payment for Malaysia, money that would have gone into the Assets Recovery Trust Account under the Ministry of Finance to be used to pay off the crushing debts still owed by 1MDB, which are a burden on the nation. No settlement had yet been reached.
However, shortly after their backdoor coup the PN government reached a speedy, cut-price settlement and apparently authorised a changing of the rules to include a non-disclosure agreement to prevent the details getting out, according to the PAS ‘Law Minister’ Takiyuddin Hassan speaking over the weekend.
The government has now used this as an excuse to slap an Official Secrecy order on the matter meaning that no one can be sure where Goldman’s $2.5 billion in hard cash has actually gone.
It makes you think, doesn’t it?
The first thing we are led to wonder is will 1MDB’s accounts suddenly once more also become an Official Secret, which was what previous government under Najib ordered to cover up their thefts?
After all, the vast majority of those in the present PN government were either directly supporting the convicted former prime minister in his thieving from the fund or secretly colluding whilst pretending to be in the opposition camp (i.e. PAS).
If the secret Goldman Sachs settlement money fails to be registered in 1MDB’s accounts as having been used to pay off debt then PN’s top dogs can hardly afford for the nation to know about it – particularly if the luxury vehicle loving clerics from PAS start sporting yet another range of brand new official cars.
PN have a bare majority yet act like a bully boy dictatorship
This is a time when the most perilously placed government in Malaysian history, who owe their position (and alleged majority of one) not to an election but to a coup conspiracy, is seeking to raise extra billions in the name of Covid 19.
Meanwhile, the country is being told it may not know WHERE the Goldman Sachs cash has disappeared!
A budget riddled with mysterious and unspecified billion ringgit payments to vague causes has undermined trust. Such a raid on the public purse is plainly not about helping the population survive the pandemic it is about shoring up power and lining pockets.
After all, that is the only thing the majority of the politicians in PN have ever cared about and the motive for all this secrecy is clear to all.