While I was in Australia for my undergraduate degree about a few years ago, I saw the news of our country on the front page in a leading newspaper there, which was a rare sight. I got a little too excited to see the word “Malaysia” on the front page until I read the full news. It was about the infamous scandal of 1 Malaysia Development Berhad or better known as 1MDB that was being investigated in different countries in the world; now even dubbed as possibly the biggest heist of sovereign wealth fund in the world. My heart sank; we were on the front cover for once but all the wrong reasons. From then, the investigation on 1MDB has seen the conviction of some popular figures including our former prime minister, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak and many other officials in different parts of the world. However, the interest in 1MDB, one of the largest corruption and money laundering scandals in the world, is increasing again with the latest never-ending revelations from Tim Leissner. Leissner, a former Goldman Sachs banker who has pleaded guilty in the 1MDB scandal, has now turned a star witness in the trial against Roger Ng, who was in charge of Malaysia’s Goldman division and charged for looting millions of dollars from the 1MDB fund with Leissner and Jho Low. Based on the ongoing trial, the scandal extends beyond Jho Low and Najib it is speculated to involve previous top officials from Bank Negara, ex-CEO of a leading media company and the latest talk of the town is the possible involvement of allies of previous White House management. Mind blown. The possible involvement of top personnel from the government agencies and elite society is not the biggest surprise here but the magnanimity of the scam that is growing by day is just beyond an imaginable scale. The one name that connects all the dots in this brazen scandal is the one and only, Jho Low but there was no way he could have pulled this off if it was not for the collusion of much other high profile and influential individuals.
Riches to Rags: From billion in bonds to billions in debt
1MDB started as Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) with an opening fund of RM 11 billion and it was initiated for the development of Terengganu state in 2008. It became 1MDB in July 2009 when the Ministry of Finance took over TIA which happened four months after Dato Seri Najib became the prime minister. The change of TIA into a federal sovereign wealth fund from a state fund was justified with the reason that the benefit is to be expanded to all Malaysians instead of focusing on a single state. The shift from TIA to 1MDB was purportedly advised by TIA’s special officer then, none other than Jho Low. The audit report of 1MDB was kept a classified file under the Official Secrets Act 1972 from 2015. It was when Pakatan Harapan won the election in 2018 that the report was declassified and it was made aware that the company was insolvent or in other words unable to pay its debt. Based on an article from NST, the total outstanding debt of 1MDB as of June 2021 was RM32 billion and a total of RM 12.8 billion had been paid off by the Malaysian government thus far.
If 1MDB was led to serve the intended purpose of its formation, perhaps it would have spearheaded long term economic development in the country. Poor governance, lack of transparency and misuse of power had not just economically jeopardised the nation but we were put on the world map for all wrong reasons. You can call it greed, selfishness or money craze but what caused the scandal to blow out of proportion was the position of certain individuals with absolute power in many important agencies. An old age saying goes, absolute power corrupts, and 1MDB could very well serve as a synonym for this because I could not think of another scandal that could show how unregulated, boundless and limitless power could bring down a country. 1MDB scandal is a breach of trust and a betrayal to the people of Malaysia. The constant revelations on the involvement of high-profile individuals make the rakyat question more on the accountability of higher officials let it be in the government or relevant private entities. People who should have protected the interest of the nation got into bed with the wrong people and betrayed the trust of 32 million Malaysians. And to those who betrayed the rakyat, how do you even sleep at night after laundering money off your own people?
Thanusha is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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