Malaysia’s experiment with IPPs started in 1993, a year after an allegedly government (Mahathir?) engineered blackout that lasted for up to 48 hours.
Actual figures are hard to come by but based on my estimates, the combined profits made by YTL Power International Bhd, Powertek Sdn Bhd (subsidiary of Tanjng PLC) and Genting Sanyen Sdn Bhd totalled more than RM50 billion, excluding the profits of Malakoff Berhad which is a subsidiary of MMC which counts EPF and other government linked pension funds as its major shareholders, therefore cannot be strictly considered a private company and it may or may not include the subsidized gas that Petronas were obliged to provide.
This is more than 3 times 1MDB paid for its power generation assets which included buying out the remaining portions of the lopsided Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) the Mahathir administration had forced TNB into signing, RM4 billion in goodwill (no company will sell you their profitable assets w/o goodwill payments) and part or full ownership in power generating assets in 10 other countries.
Whether 1MDB overpaid for those assets or not is a moot point but the intentions were clear. The government has to regain control of those IPP assets in order to do away with the lopsided PPAs and to ensure reliable long term electricity supply to meet the country’s industrial and commercial needs at a price which the Rakyat can afford to pay. The fact that 1MDB has received offers in excess of RM20 billion also indicate that 1MDB did not overpaid it was a myth perpetuated by the opposition intent on discrediting 1MDB for their own political purposes.
With this background in mind it is not difficult to see why Mahathir and his cronies are hell-bent to see 1MDB fail, it is their pockets 1MDB is hitting at. A reliable source of income, which they have come to regard as their birthright is now under threat and who knows if 1MDB succeeds would the model be extended to other lopsided agreements Mahathir had committed the government to in particular the toll road concessionaires, never mind how any future new projects are going to be negotiated.
As far as Mahathir and his cronies are concerned, 1MDB must fail, failing which PM Najib must go because 1MDB and PM Najib strikes at the core of the system of cronyism that Mahathir had painstakingly built in his 22 years rule.
This coincided perfectly with the opposition’s and in particularly Anwar’s interests to see PM removed and the BN government fall in order to avoid serving his jail term and to keep his hopes of becoming PM alive.
A plan was hatched with Clare Brown and Tong Kooi Ong/ Ho Kay Tat as the central figures and Tony Pua and Rafiji as the official spokespersons with funds provided by Mahathir, Penang and Selangor state governments and proceeds from speculation against RM in the forex markets. No stone was left unturned, including dealing with stolen documents, tempering those very documents and selectively targetting individuals and organizations who are deemed to be involved with 1MDB in one way or another.
After 2 years of non stop hoohas, not a single piece of documentary proof of actual wrongdoing has been produced beyond some flow charts that are never backed by actual facts. This will be in line with the findings of the Auditor General and 1MDB’s 3 internationally renowned external auditors plus the MACC, BNM, the AG and his Special Task Force, the Special Branch and the PAC, all of which have poked their noses into the 1MDB saga.
I do not believe that the PAC was on to anything. Nur Jazlan is politically ambitious but an idiot he is not. He would not have passed up the opportunity to be a potential national hero i.e. the man who finally broke 1MDB and PM Najib for aa lowly position of deputy minister in a governent which is going to fall anyway if investigations by his PAC reveal any criminal wrongdoing. In fact the whole postponement of the PAC there was hardly a whimper from the opposition inclding its 2 resident monkeys Tony and Rafizi. If they thought that the PAC has in its hands some proofs of wrongdoing, there will be no end to what we will hear from those 2 clowns. Anyway we shall wait for the PAC to coopt its new members and reconvene and continue with its probe and investigations.
Besides, Justo did approach Petrol Saudi before Clare Brown. If Petro Saudi has got anything to hide, they would have paid up. Even if they do not and 1MDB has something to hide, being business partners the latter would have been informed. US$2 million is not such a huge amount that PM Najib or someone in 1MDB who had stolen billions as alleged cannot afford to pay to buy Justo’s silence if indeed theft had occured and Justo can prove it.
The fact that these people keep harping on the RM42 billion that was supposedly missing when it was actually RM42 billion of debts supported by RM50 billion of assets showed that truth was not what they were looking for, they just wanted to create as much negative perceptions as possible and to drag it for as long as possible in the hope that 1MDB will fail in its efforts to raise funds, banks will start calling in loans and 1MDB will collapse under the weight of its cash flow problems and then it become a self fulfilling prophecy. Alternatively, they hope that the whole saga will wear PM down and he will offer to step down.
I would not be surprise one bit if the whole conspiracy involved not just the names mentioned by Justo and Lester Melanyi but also the entire Anwar and Mahathir clan, the top hierachy of DAP’s leadership the Penang and Selangor state governments and top civil servants who thought their careers are heading nowhere and of course Mahathir and Anwar’s army of cronies.
It is a conspiracy by a collection of human sampahs who refused to e cleansed by PM Najib’s more transparent and performance related regime. It is all about self interests. – Daniel Goh
