Welcoming Najib and Sarawak State Election

KUCHING
Sunday, 21st February 2010

Najib Visit Means Sarawak State Election Just Around The Corner

Is this Not Abuse of Power MACC?

Najib Razak will begin a two-day visit to Sarawak tomorrow. This visit marks that Sarawak State election is just around the corner. So far many predicted that Sarawak state election will be held as early as March 2010 and not later than July 2010.

According to BERNAMA report, this time, he will be travelling to the Sarawak interior in order to lure Iban votes by launching mostly the electricity project and to fulfill whar he had promised 4 years ago.

His visit will start with a visit to the remote Iban longhouse, Rumah Juliana, in Kamidan Jaya in Ulu Awik, Saratok, and follow by Rumah Radin, another Iban longhouse, in Lachau Ulu in Sri Aman where he will launch the rural electrification project.And his last visit tomorrow will be to Simunjan where he will be briefed on a flood mitigation project in Kampung Nanas and Kalaka.

On Tuesday,23rd February 2010 he will visit Iban resettlements in Nanga Tada, Nanga Ngungun and Nanga Jagau in Kanowit in the central region of Sarawak where there are over 200 longhouses.The Iban community there was resettled during the communist insurgency in the 1960s and 1970s in Sibu, Kanowit and Kapit in the central region which was placed under the Rejang Area Security Command (Rascom) to protect the people from the communist terrorists.Najib visit to these longhouses aim to replace the old roof and electrical wiring of these old longhouses.

From Kanowit, Najib will fly to Sibu for lunch with the Chinese community before visiting the town’s central market.

Najib must remember that Sarawak is far behind Peninsular Malaysia in term of development. Provide them with electricity alone and replacing their longhouses roof will not made the Iban development in par with the other Malaysian in Peninsular Malaysia. The main problem facing by the dayak is their NCR land. Their lands have been sold by the state government to the big companies mainly from Peninsular. As long this problem is not rectify, PAKATAN RAKYAT (PR) will has better chance to wrest Sarawak from Taib Mahmud regime.

To all the dayak especially the Ibans out there, don't get cheated by BN, we are 30 years behind Peninsular Malaysia in term of development. Vote for PR if we want to have better development. Remember that BN government only serious about us after the GE12 or GE2008.

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Muslim Hate preacher Abu Hamza's fight against extradition has cost taxpayers £100,000

LONDON
Friday, 19th February 2010

Abu Hamza the hatred Preacher wanted in US

Hate preacher Abu Hamza's fight against extradition has cost taxpayers £100,000 - with more to come, The Sun revealead today.

The hook-handed cleric, 51, is running up the legal aid bill as he battles to beat the boot to the US, where he is wanted on terror charges.

Last night Tory MP Patrick Mercer said: "The public must be fed up with being robbed by this man."

The revelation follows last week's announcement that legal aid chiefs can finally seize Hamza's house in Greenford, West London, to raise £280,000 towards his £300,000 Old Bailey trial bill.

The jailed cleric is in the process of appealing against the extradition to the European Court of Human Rights.

9th Feb 2010 -SUN Newspaper Report

LEGAL aid chiefs have seized jailed hate preacher Abu Hamza's house in a massive victory for taxpayers, it was revealed yesterday.

It is hoped selling the property will raise at least £280,000 to pay back the estimated £300,000 bill for Hamza's defence on legal aid.

Hamza, 51, serving seven years for inciting murder and race hatred, had claimed poverty and said the house in Greenford, West London, belonged to his sister in Egypt.

But the Legal Services Commission launched a bid to win possession when a judge ordered Hamza to fork out for his defence costs. After lawyers proved he does own the property, the High Court granted a seizure order.

Carolyn Regan, chief executive of the LSC, said: "We can confirm the LSC has taken possession of Abu Hamza's property, as a contribution to recovering the legal aid costs spent on his defence.

"The LSC will not tolerate people trying to conceal their financial assets. Legal aid is a vital public resource and we are committed to ensuring it is spent on those who most need help with their legal problems."

The three-year battle was hailed as a triumph by the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Chief executive Matthew Elliott said: "It is great news that at long last taxpayers are starting to get some money back from Abu Hamza." Hamza, who was jailed after rants at North London's Finsbury Park Mosque, bought the house for cash while behind bars.

He is currently fighting extradition to the United States on terror charges.

Inquest Into the Death Of Teoh Beng Hock While Under the Custody of MACC

KUALA LUMPUR
Friday, 19th February 2010

Dr Pornthip's findings disputed By Sungai Buloh Hospital Pathology Unit head Dr Shahidan Md Noor

Dr Shahidan Md Noor

Sungai Buloh Hospital Pathology Unit head Dr Shahidan Md Noor, who performed the second post-mortem on Teoh Beng Hock last November, told the inquest into his death that the DAP aide died from a fall, disputing Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand's conclusion that he had been strangled or had his anus penetrated before he fell.

He also said he agrees with the findings of the first post-mortem.

Taking the stand today, Dr Shahidan disputed the testimony of Dr Pornthip, who was brought in last year by the Selangor state government to offer her expertise.

Dr Shahidan said that the bruises on Teoh's neck was a result of his fall and that there was no evidence of asphyxia and this was his conclusion at the second autopsy after Teoh's body was exhumed.

Soon after the government pathologist gave his evidence, lawyer Gobind Singh, acting for the Teoh family, rquested for a postponment of the inquest to study Dr Shahidan's findings.

Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas then granted the request and ordered the inquest to reconvene on March 1.

Earlier, copies of the report had been presented to the parties concerned and the findings of the Nov 22 post-mortem will be made known today.

The autopsy was witnessed by state-appointed pathologist, Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission-appointed Dr Peter Venezis.

Murder suspected

Pornthip, a director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science in Bangkok, which is part of the Thailand's Justice Ministry, had taken the stand late last year where she revealed that the political aide's death was 80% homicide.

Pornthip is also expected to present her findings while Venezis, the famed pathologist involved with investigations into Princess Diana's death, will be presenting his.

Both Pornthip and Venezis are likely to take the stand after Shahidan.

Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas ordered the second autopsy on Nov 9 following Pornthip's startling revelation.

Teoh died on July 16 after being interrogated by MACC officers at its Selangor headquarters in Plaza Masalam here.

While the official version is that the DAP political aide fell to his death, his family have, however, alleged foul play.

Reluctant at first

At the inquest that is being conducted now, Shahidan said he was reluctant to perform the second post-mortem as requested by Tricia Yeoh of the Selangor Menteri Besar's office and Gobind Singh Deo, lawyer for the Teoh family.

The pathologist said he asked the duo to write to the Health Ministry. On Nov 9, he got a call from deputy public prosecutor Mohd Abazafree Mohd Abbas ordering him to perform the post-mortem.

He said Pornthip and Venezis, along with the two pathologists who performed the first post-mortem, were present when the autopsy was carried out.

The post-mortem began at 12.45pm on Nov 22, and finished two hours later.

The post-mortem report, Shahidan said, revealed that there was bruising at the thyroid of the deceased.

There was also a permanent blood clot at the back of tongue near the neck, as well as bleeding on the right side of the brain and on the right side at the back of brain.

The pathologist was decribing his external examination of the body as he answered questions by government-appointed lawyer Tan Hock Chuan.

Shahidan told the inquest that scratch marks were also found on Teoh's left hand.

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Another Dayak Political Crisis in the Making in SPDP

KUCHING
Thursday, 18th February 2010

Rebellion in SPDP!

Since their open dispute with their party president, the five elected representatives from Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) seemed to have burnt their bridges with the party and the boss.

The local on-line portal, Malaysian Mirror can reveal today that the group of SPDP legislators, led by its former secretary-general and state Assistant Minister Sylvester Enteri, will be jumping ship. Their next stop – Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) led by state Land Development Minister Dr James Masing.

Others in the group are Tasik Biru state assemblyman and Assistant Minister for Environment Peter Nansian, Batu Danau state rep Paulus Gumbang, Bekenu state assemblywoman Rosey Yunus and Mas Gading MP Dr Tiki Lafe.

Another crisis in the dayak majority party in the making. First and second SNAP crisis in the 80s' and 90s', and the PBDS crisis, Dr James Wong and Datuk Sng were blamed. But the latest crisis in SPDP, no chinese politician was involved. And if we look back at all of the crisis in dayak parties, all of the reasons were about disloyalty to the leader and party. Are we dayak have lack of respect and loyalty to our party and leaders. But  based on Iban folklore stories/legends, such behaviour were not existed in our dictionary. The dayak must change our mindset if we want our voice to be heard and respected by the others, we must stop acting like a child.Please listen to our heart!...Bukittunggal.com

The three SPDP supreme council members aligned to the "Unhappy 5" are George Garai, Peter Gani and Eda Egar.

Last month they walked out from the SPDP supreme council meeting when president William Mawan announced the appointment of Nelson Balang Rining, the state rep for Ba'Kelalan, as secretary-general replacing Enteri.

Fallout with Mawan

Enteri and the other leaders who were also founding fathers of the seven-year old SPDP were deeply disappointed with the president's decision. They charged that Mawan did not honour his promise of maintaining status quo in the party's elections last December.

Although Mawan tried to pacify the group by appointing Enteri as a party vice-president, the olive branch came too late. They had already decided to burn their bridges.

A leader of the group who declined to be identified told the Malaysian Mirror that members of the group met yesterday afternoon. And their final decision was to join PRS. They would be submitting their resignation letters from SPDP to the party any time now.

He believed that more elected representatives from SPDP are expected to cross over to PRS for the "larger interest of Dayak unity."

Lost confidence

He said that the group will be meeting PRS president James Masing soon to submit their applications to join his party.

Asked to confirm the news, Enteri asked this reporter: "How do you know?".

However, he was quick to add that they were very disappointed with the way the party (SPDP) affairs had been handled by the president.

He said that they had lost confidence in the leadership of the party.

Their joining PRS which is expected to enlarge the growing support for the party that has now nine state assemblymen and six MPs is expected to be announced within the next 48 hours to coincide with the visit of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak from Feb 22-23 to Sarawak.

Keeping them within the BN

Political observers see the latest political development in Dayak politics as completing a whole circle – breaking from SNAP in the early 80s into Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak, SPDP and now in PRS.

Contacted by the Malaysian Mirror from Kuala Lumpur, James Masing said he had not met the SPDP dissidents so far nor discussed with them about joining PRS.

"What I know is that they do have some problems within their own party but I don't know how serious it is," he said.

Asked whether he would be happy to accept them into his party, Masing told MM: "Let's put it this way. It's better to keep them within the Barisan Nasional fold than to lose them to the opposition".

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Karpal accuses Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor of being Sodomy II masterminds

KUALA LUMPUR
Thursday, 18th February 2010

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s lawyer accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor today of masterminding the sodomy charge being faced by the Opposition Leader.

“As I said, there’s a black hand in this trial, and that is the hand of the present Prime Minister..there are two hands and one is of his wife,” Karpal Singh told the court today.

Anwar echoed Karpal’s accusations by shouting from the dock the words “conspiracy, blatant lies.”

Karpal's accusations was the latest allegation flung by the defence against the PM and his wife, in what appears to be an attempt to link them to an alleged "political conspiracy."

Both Najib and Rosmah has been listed down as witnesses the defence wants to call during the trial.

Karpal (pic) was addressing the court soon after the sodomy trial resumed today after he failed in his bid to disqualify High Court judge Datuk Zabidin Mohd Diah from presiding over the case.

Karpal had wanted to disqualify the judge because of dissatisfaction with the way the court had dealt with Utusan Malaysia’s coverage of the trial.

The veteran lawyer has been unrelenting in his onslaught on the judge by citing what he claimed were examples of the judge’s lack of objectivity with regards to an Utusan Malaysia report on the trial published at the beginning of Saiful Bukhari’s questioning by the prosecution.

Zabidin, in summing up his decision, said he did not see any reason why he should recuse himself from the case.

“If I were to step down from this trial, I would be running away from my responsibility as a judge who has taken an oath of office,” said Zabidin.

Karpal gave notice to the court that Anwar’s defence team would be filing an application for appeal against the decision of the judge not to recuse himself from hearing the trial.

He also urged that the trial go on and the defence team be allowed to cross-examine Saiful, and that there be no more delays.

“Accusations of delay tactics by the defence must be cleared from people’s minds,” said Karpal to the court.

At this point, Solicitor-General 2 Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden replied by stating that neither the prosecution nor the judge had ever accused the defence of utilising delay tactics in the trial.

Karpal then retorted by saying that some media organisations had been doing so.

“We are prepared to carry on. There have been demonstrations, too many things going, like the protest at the Australian Embassy.

“We don’t want a repetition of it and Pemuda Umno cannot be allowed to run wild.”

Yusof, on the other hand, stressed that the trial must continue as the defence and the prosecution owed it to the Malaysian public, not the Australians, to do so.

The judge decided, however, to adjourn the trial until March 25 pending the appeal to the Court of Appeal.

The 62-year-old Anwar is accused of sodomising Saiful at the Desa Damansara Condominium here on June 26, 2008. Anwar has denied the charge, the second time in 12 years he has faced similar charges.

The former deputy prime minister has vehemently denied the accusations hurled by Saiful, describing them as “evil, frivolous lies by those in power” when the charge was read out to him. He is charged under section 377B of the Penal Code and can be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years’ jail and whipping upon conviction. The trial is taking place 18 months after Anwar was charged in August 2008.

Anwar was charged with sodomy and corruption in 1998 after he was sacked from the Cabinet and was later convicted and jailed for both offences. He was freed in September 2004 and later resurrected his political career by winning back his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in a by-election in 2008, which had been held in the interim by his wife.

He had earlier led the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, to a historic sweep of five states and 82 parliamentary seats in Election 2008.

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Sarawak State Election Is Just Around The Corner

KUCHING
Wednesday, 17th February 2010

YB Dominique..Is PKR Ready to Fight Currupted BN?

The last time that Sarawak had its state elections was in May 2006 therefore its next election should be held not later than June 2011.

In the 2006 state election, the Sarawak BN, comprising Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, Sarawak United People's Party, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party and Parti Rakyat Sarawak, won 62 of 71 seats up for grabs.But BN Sarawak big win in the election was influenced by the result of the 12th GE in 2004 where the Barisan Nasional coalition was able to achieve one of its greatest victories in more than five decades.The BN won 198 of 219 seats in the national parliament and 505 of 552 seats at the federal level. UMNO obtained 109 mandates, the MCA 31, and the MIC 9. In total, the BN won 64.4 percent of the votes, 7.2 percentage points more than in 1999.UMNO candidates came first in 109 of 117 constituencies (93.2 percent). In 1999, they obtained merely 48.6 percent of the seats they had contested. UMNO candidates also gained 303 of 383 seats at the federal level. PAS, on the other hand, lost the election in the state of Terengganu and has since had only seven seats in the national parliament (six after by-elections). The PKR had only one member of parliament (MP). The DAP was the only opposition party that reached its goal, with twelve delegates in the national parliament.

One of the main reasons for the BN success in 2004 was the popularity of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who had taken office in October 2003. He maintained a leadership style different from that of his autocratic predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad. Badawi is an orthodox Muslim and comes from an influential Malay family of ulama (Islamic scholars). Soon after assuming office, he introduced a number of reforms. After 2004, however, it became obvious that he had failed to live up to his promises of fighting corruption and poverty and of improving the tense relations among religious and ethnic groups. More importantly, expensive prestige projects were mostly not abolished.

But this coming election, Sarawak's BN has a very good reason to worry about. First, the opposition is  getting stronger especially after The twelfth national elections in 2008 ended with astounding results. Despite the decades-long dominance of the governing coalition, the opposition was this time able to win a tremendous number of votes after its devastating performance in the last elections in 2004. Opposition politicians spoke of a “revolution” and a “new dawn.”

Secondly, the opposition allign especially Parti Keadilan Rakyat is getting stronger and well recieved by the dayaks. They feel that the existing dayak majority parties in BN coalition, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) fail to fight for their most important assets, the Native Customary Land (NCL) and moreover, Datuk Seri Anwar is said to have promised Sarawak and Sabah that the chief ministers will be a Dayak and a Kadazan, respectively.

Thirdly, the crisis within and among the BN component parties in Sarawak. In Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) , the Sarawak BN backbone party there is a conflict between Melanau and Malay on succession plan for Taib Mahmud. In PRS, the conflict between Dr James Jemut Masing and a group that alligned to Donal Lawan ( a veteran politician and YB Snowdan Lawan father) is eminent.

In SPDP, Mawan action in replacing Enteri as Secretary-General with Ba’Kelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining has caused another crisis in SPDP. It was said among the "coffee-shop" politicians that Sylvester Entri and his supporters-namely Paulus Gumbang, Rosey Yunus, Datuk Peter Nansian and Dr Tiki Lafe were contemplating leaving the party and form a new one.

SUPP one of BN component party, the rift between Datuk Wong Soon Koh and Dr Soon in the formation of Dudong branch is one of the crisis that until now has not been successfully resolved  by Dr George Chan.

PKR might be having some  internal problem such as  the "shaky and unclean" politicians ( How DSAI described PKR Assemblyman like Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim) and the politicians without discipline and loyalty such as Port Klang assemblyman Badrul Hisham Abdullah and the two assemblymen from Perak, Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi of Behrang and his Changkat Jering counterpart Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu and a racist assemblyman like Zulkifli Nordin, they had left and the party had been cleaned but for those who are still with PKR, they  will live in PKR's  spirit and struggle.

When is the State Election?

According to reliable source to Bukittunggal.com,  PBB is going to hold it 12th convention from Feb 27 to March 2 in Kuching. The convention will be officiated by PM Najib. With current development in Peninsular Malaysia whereby UMNO is potraying the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) as an unstable coalition,  and with Anwar political future uncertainty with his sodomy trial (dubed as SODOMY II) in progress therefore the most suitable time for BN to hold the state election in Sarawak will be in March 2010.

I strongly believe that Taib Mahmud will dissolve the state assembly during the coming school holiday in  March 2010.

 PKR Sarawak...Are You Ready

Based on the feedback that I recieved from the ground in N25-Balai Ringin, so far PKR has not started any campaign there. I am doubt whether PKR is serious to wrest N25 from PRS. Unlike the PKR, PRS has started their  campaign there with YB Snowdan and YB Masir Kujat distributing the MRP funds to the villages at upper Pantu. The latest was to TR Ngulu Empaling where a grant worth more than RM50K has  been distributed to the village for the construction of its civic hall.

PKR..Pn Ibi are we ready...to challenge BN in N25?

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US Calls for fair trial for Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR
Wednesday, 17th February 2010

US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry lends his support to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim by calling for a fair trial for the latter.

United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry has added to calls for a fair trial for opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who is now facing another sodomy charge.

The call came after 50 Australian MPs last week asked the Malaysian government to drop the sodomy charge, the second of such charge the former deputy prime minister is facing in 12 years. The Barisan Nasional Youth and Malay rights group Perkasa protested outside the Australian High Commission this morning against that call.

“I call on the government of Malaysia, and specifically on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to ensure a fair and equitable resolution of the legal proceedings currently under way against former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim,” Kerry said in a statement.

“It has been over a decade since Anwar’s first trial, on charges that were later overturned by the Federal Court. The current charges closely mirror the ones levied years ago, and have been brought soon after Mr. Anwar’s resumption of his role as elected Member of Parliament and leader of the parliamentary opposition. I urge the Malaysian government to accord Mr. Anwar every legal protection to which he is entitled as a Member of Parliament and as a citizen — and to settle his case in a manner that builds confidence in the impartiality and credibility of the Malaysian judicial system,” said the former US presidential contender.

Kerry’s call came amid efforts by the Malaysian government and its diplomats to isolate Anwar. The Najib Administration have responded to the calls by saying sodomy is illegal although the charge has yet to be proven in the ongoing case.

Anwar has called the charge as a conspiracy to end his political comeback after being jailed for sodomy and corruption in 1999. He was freed in 2004 and later led the Pakatan Rakyat to deny Barisan Nasional its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority and also capture four more states. Anwar later won back his Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency.

The PKR de facto leader met Kerry over the weekend at the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar.

DSAI Says Sorry For choosing “shaky and unclean” candidates.

KUALA LUMPUR
Tuesday, 16th February 2010

PKR adviser and Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim apologised for his choice of candidates in the 2008 general election.

Anwar said he was responsible for selecting the MP candidates and had made “some mistakes” by choosing “shaky and unclean” candidates.

The end of his political career....UMNO will accept him as a member but will not nominate him as a candidate

“I feel sad that I asked you to vote for these people - I apologise. Now I have been stabbed in the back,” he said during the state PKR’s Chinese New Year open house here Tuesday.

PKR’s Bayan Baru MP and Anwar’s personal friend, Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim, quit the party on Friday, triggering talk of an exodus by PKR lawmakers.

Zahrain’s ally, Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng, who is facing disciplinary action from the party, said he would only decide on his future after Chinese New Year.

Anoth PR traitor that political career will end soon!

“We enter politics not to get a Datukship or to ask for contracts, shares and land - you don’t join politics to become rich,” Anwar said.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who was present at the event, has alleged that Zahrain’s departure from Pakatan was prompted by his rejection of the latter’s proposal for the Bukit Jambul Country Club (BJCC) to be outsourced and awarded to “a RM2 company”.

Lim also denied that Pakatan was a “brittle” coalition. “Just because one or two run does not mean that we are brittle.

“To those who have left, ‘selamat meninggal’ and to those who are physically still in Pakatan but are not with us in spirit, we leave it up to them what to do - we will still be alright,” he said.

He also hit out at Zahrain for not being a “true friend” to Anwar.

“If he is a truly a friend, why did he choose this moment to act up - when Anwar is facing a trial?

“He can leave - we don’t care,” he said.

A billboard in Zahrain’s constituency, put up by Pantai Jerejak PKR assemblyman Sim Tze Tzin about a week ago, has been vandalised with a large, red X spray painted over Zahrain face.

The board, that is located at the Jalan Tengah - Jalan Mayang Pasir intersection, is one of two PKR billboards in the Bayan Baru parliamentary area that have been put up to wish motorists a happy Chinese New Year.

A check at the other board, located at the Jalan Tun Dr Awang entrance of the Bayan Baru roundabout, Tuesday afternoon showed that it was still untouched.

When asked about the vandalism, Sim said he had only found out about it Tuesday and denounced the act.

“Many people are angry at Zahrain (for jumping ship) but this is not the right way to express their feelings. Instead, we should focus on turning this anger into votes,” Sim said when met at the state-level PKR open house in Rifle Range.

Zahrain quit PKR on Feb 12, citing, among other reasons, dissatisfaction with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Engs leadership of the state.

Sim added that he would take down the affected board this week, earlier than after the full Chinese New Year festivities as previously scheduled.

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Pol sec nabbed is Hasbie Satar a Sarawakian

BUTTERWORTH
Sunday, 14th February 2010

The political secretary to a senior minister caught by MACC men - with RM2mil in cash with him - is Hasbie Satar, a Sarawakian, the Malaysian Mirror can reveal.

The money was stacked in bundles of different denominations - all RM2mil of it!

Officers of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Comissiobn found the cash at an apartment in Teluk Air Tawar here Thursday afternoon.

The officers detained a man, said to be a political secretary to a senior minister, in the 3.30pm raid.

A national daily reported that about 20 MACC officers from Putrajaya arrived in five vehicles and grilled the suspect for over five hours at the Sri Molek apartment over the cash.

Rented ahead of 2008 elections

It was believed that fourth-floor unit was rented by the minister's election team weeks before the March 8, 2008 general election and later used as a transit-home for the minister's staff.

Besides the money – stacked in bundles of RM5, RM10, RM50 and RM100 – the anti-graft officers also seized a 4WD vehicle registered under the name of a Pulau Tikus-based company and a BMW registered in the name of a person from Sarawak.

According to a report in The Star, his bank accounts have been frozen to facilitate further investigations.

It is unclear where the suspect got the money from and why he had kept such a large amount of cash at the apartment.

The detained political secretary is believed to be Hasbie Satar, a Sarawakian, sources told the Malaysian Mirror.

It is learnt that two of the minister's service staff were present in the apartment during the raid.

Amassed millions in short time

The apartment was raided by MACC following a public tip-off that the man was said to have amassed millions of ringgit in properties over a short period of time.

Hewas alleged to have secured property and cash by being the middleman in deals for approval of multi-million ringgit projects.

Investigators had reportedly obtained an order to seize and freeze several of his properties, which include at least four luxury cars and four houses in the Klang Valley.

The MACC is reportedly calling on several other people to help in the investigations.

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Gong Xi Fa Chai

On this wonderful occassion, I would like to wish my Chinese readers, A Happy Chinese New Year

"GONG XI FA CHAI"

  

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