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Seized luxury yacht Equanimity, belonging to fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, is brought to Boustead Cruise Terminal in Port Klang, Malaysia August 7, 2018. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin
April 3, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia has agreed to sell a superyacht linked to a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB to casino operator Genting Malaysia Bhd for $126 million, the country’s attorney general said on Wednesday.
The superyacht Equanimity is among assets allegedly bought by fugitive financier Low Taek Jho and his associates with money taken from the fund, the U.S. and Malaysian officials have said.
Low allegedly paid $250 million for the yacht, which has an interior clad in marble and gold leaf, a spa and sauna, a 20-meter (66-ft) swimming pool, a movie theater and helipad.
(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Paul Tait)
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FILE PHOTO: Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak arrives in court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin
April 2, 2019
By Rozanna Latiff
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Ten years to the day after he was sworn in, disgraced former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to go on trial on Wednesday suspected of corruption linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal that brought down his government.
Najib faces seven charges in the first of several criminal proceedings he is due to face over suspected money laundering of $4.5 billion from state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The trial relates to suspected transfers totaling 42 million ringgit ($10.3 million) into Najib’s bank account from SRC International, a former 1MDB unit.
Najib has pleaded not guilty to three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power over the transfers, which involve a fraction of the $1 billion investigators allege made its way into his accounts.
Najib has consistently denied wrongdoing and says the charges against him are politically motivated.
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas is expected to deliver the prosecution’s opening statement at Kuala Lumpur High Court, Bernama state news agency reported.
The trial is due to begin at 0600 GMT.
Prosecutors are prepared to call more than 60 witnesses, and three of them – described as government and banking officials – could take the stand on Wednesday, Bernama said, quoting unnamed sources.
The trial was originally set to begin on Feb. 12, but was delayed pending appeals by Najib’s lawyers. On Monday, they asked the highest court to review its decision to lift the stay on the trial, media reported.
The review will be heard on Thursday by the Federal Court, though it was unclear whether it would delay proceedings in the High Court on Wednesday.
Prosecutor V. Sithambaram said it was up to the High Court judge to decide whether the trial should be delayed pending the review. One of Najib’s lawyers, Harvinderjit Singh, declined to comment.
The trial begins nearly a year after Malaysians voted Najib out of office in a general election, marked by public disgust over corruption and rising living costs, that surprisingly brought Mahathir Mohamad, 93, back to power.
Since losing the election, Najib has been slapped with a total of 42 criminal charges, most of them linked to 1MDB and other state entities. Nearly $300 million worth of goods and cash were found at properties linked to Najib after the election.
At least six countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore, have launched money laundering and graft probes into 1MDB, set up by Najib in 2009.
As the trial date neared, Najib, Malaysia’s sixth prime minister, sought a radical change of image, painting himself as a victim of a vindictive government and trying to shed the image of a wealthy, elite politician. [L3N1ZV2LF]
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by A. Ananthalakshmi and Nick Macfie)
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FILE PHOTO – A newspaper vendor arranges newspapers showing front pages with images of Kim Jong Nam, at a news-stand outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia February 15, 2017. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin
April 1, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Early on a February morning last year, a balding man in a gray suit entered Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur airport, glanced up at the departures board and walked to check in for his flight to Macau. Moments later, his killers struck.
A few steps away from a Starbucks cafe and a Puffy Buffy Malaysian food stall, a woman stood in front of Kim Jong Nam, estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader, to distract him.
Her partner approached from behind, pulled from her handbag a cloth drenched in liquid VX, a chemical weapon, reached around his head and clamped it onto his face.
That was enough to deliver deadly poison to the portly 46-year-old relative of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Carrying a backpack containing $100,000 and four North Korean passports, Kim Jong Nam had been traveling under his pseudonym “Kim Chol”, police said.
After the attack, he approached a help desk and explained that someone seemed to have grabbed or held his face and now he felt dizzy. He was taken to the Menara Medical Clinic, a small glass-fronted surgery one floor down near the arrivals area.
It was too late. Kim Jong Nam died aged 46 in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.
The assassination has captivated the world due to its audacious nature and lasting geopolitical implications, with South Korean and Western officials accusing North Korea of a state-sponsored hit. Pyongyang denies any involvement.
The brazen murder was caught on grainy CCTV footage that was broadcast around the world, yet many details remain a mystery.
On Monday, Malaysian prosecutors dropped a murder charge against Doan Thi Huong, the 30-year-old Vietnamese woman who smothered Kim Jong Nam, after she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of causing harm using dangerous means.
Huong was sentenced to three years and four months in prison but could be released as early as May for good behavior, her lawyer Hisyam Teh said.
He said Huong was not a criminal but by pleading guilty she had taken responsibility for her actions on Feb. 13, 2017.
Huong’s Indonesian accomplice, Siti Aisyah, 26, was freed on March 11 after a Malaysian court dropped charges against her.
Both women say they believed they were playing parts in a TV prank. Huong was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with “LOL”, or “laugh out loud”, at the time of the attack.
Their lawyers have maintained that the women were pawns in an assassination orchestrated by North Korean agents.
Four North Koreans who were identified as suspects by Malaysian police and had left the country hours after the murder remain at large.
(Writing by Joe Brock and John Chalmers; Editing by Michael Perry)
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FILE PHOTO: Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah attends the retreat session during the APEC Summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on November 18, 2018. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo
March 30, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Brunei has defended its right to implement Islamic laws that would allow death by stoning for adultery and homosexuality against growing global criticism.
Brunei, a Muslim-majority former British protectorate with a population of around 400,000, will implement the Sharia laws from April 3, punishing sodomy, adultery and rape with the death penalty, including by stoning, and theft with amputation.
The laws, elements of which were first adopted in 2014 and which have been rolled out in phases since then, will be fully implemented from next week, the prime minister’s office said in a statement on Saturday.
“The (Sharia) Law, apart from criminalizing and deterring acts that are against the teachings of Islam, also aims to educate, respect and protect the legitimate rights of all individuals, society or nationality of any faiths and race,” the statement said.
Some aspects of the laws will apply to non-Muslims.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, 72, is the world’s second-longest reigning monarch and is prime minister of the oil-rich country. He ranks as one of the world’s wealthiest people.
Brunei, which neighbors two Malaysian states on Borneo island, already enforces Islamic teachings more strictly than Malaysia and Indonesia, the other majority Muslim countries in southeast Asia. The sale of alcohol is banned and evangelism by other religions is forbidden.
The country does not hold elections, but any discontent is assuaged with generous government polices including zero taxes, subsidized housing, and free healthcare and education.
The expected implementation of the strict Islamic laws has drawn widespread criticism. Politicians in Europe and the United States have attacked the plans and raised concerns with Brunei.
“Stoning people to death for homosexuality or adultery is appalling and immoral,” former U.S. vice president Joe Biden said in a Twitter post on Friday. “There is no excuse – not culture, not tradition – for this kind of hate and inhumanity.”
Oscar-winning actor George Clooney has called for a boycott of luxury hotels owned by The Brunei Investment Company, such as the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Dorchester in London and the Plaza Athenee in Paris.
(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by David Holmes)
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FILE PHOTO: Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak leaves a court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin
March 28, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – The corruption trial of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak on charges linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB will start next week after a delay of nearly two months, his lawyer said on Thursday.
The postponement was seen as a blow for the government of Mahathir Mohamad, which reopened investigations into the alleged theft of $4.5 billion from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) after winning elections last May and vowed swift justice.
Originally set to begin on Feb. 12, Najib’s trial was postponed because of appeals over procedural matters raised in pre-trial hearings.
It will now begin on Wednesday, his lawyer, Farhan Read, told Reuters in a brief text message.
Najib has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power over a suspected transfer of 42 million ringgit ($10.3 million) into his bank account from SRC International, a former 1MDB unit.
The trial is the first of several criminal proceedings Najib is expected to face over the scandal, and the sum involved is a fraction of the $1 billion investigators allege made its way to his bank accounts.
He faces years in prison if convicted on a total of 42 criminal charges, most of them linked to 1MDB.
At least six countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore, have launched money laundering and graft investigations into 1MDB, set up by Najib in 2009.
U.S. prosecutors say money stolen from the fund went to buy a private jet, luxury real estate, artwork by Picasso and Monet, as well as jewelry for Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor, who has also been charged.
(Reporting by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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A cashier checks Indian rupee notes inside a room at a fuel station in Ahmedabad, India, September 20, 2018. REUTERS/Amit Dave
March 28, 2019
By Rushil Dutta
(Reuters) – Bullish positions in the Indian rupee firmed over the past two weeks, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday, ahead of general election, while long positions in the yuan unwound on concerns over slowing domestic demand and uncertainty around Sino-U.S. trade talks.
Investors piled on long rupee bets in a return to bullishness earlier this month after a year, the poll of 12 respondents showed.
The confidence rode on brightening re-election prospects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janta Party, translating into inflows of $5.99 billion so far this year into equities.
India will hold general elections in seven stages starting April 11.
Meanwhile, bullish bets on the Chinese yuan receded after a raft of weak economic data showed faltering momentum of external trade and domestic demand, and lack of clarity on trade negotiations between China and the U.S.
“A moderate stimulus package and insistence on deleveraging indicate Beijing’s increased tolerance for slower growth,” DBS Bank said in a note.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said mid-March the government had additional monetary policy measures as its disposal to support economic growth, and that he hoped trade talks with the U.S. would achieve results.
Reuters on Thursday reported that China and the U.S. had made progress in all areas in trade talks but sticking points still remained and there was no definite timetable for a deal.
Meanwhile, investors upped their bearish bets on the Indonesian rupiah to levels last seen in mid-December.
A global economic slowdown and a sudden end to the U.S. Federal Reserve policy tightening have raised expectations of rate cuts in Asia.
Besides Philippines and India, Indonesia has room to reverse some of last year’s multiple interest rate hikes aimed at protecting the local unit from emerging market turmoil, economists said.
Long positions on the Philippine peso reversed course, the poll showed.
Last week, the Philippine central bank kept its benchmark interest rate steady for a third straight meeting. However, it warned that there were risks to economic growth in 2019 if a budget impasse in Congress was not resolved soon.
Investors notched up their long positions on the Thai baht and the Singapore dollar, while cutting bearish bets on the South Korean won and Taiwan dollar.
The Asian currency positioning poll is focused on what analysts and fund managers believe are the current market positions in nine Asian emerging market currencies: the Chinese yuan, South Korean won, Singapore dollar, Indonesian rupiah, Taiwan dollar, Indian rupee, Philippine peso, Malaysian ringgit and the Thai baht.
The poll uses estimates of net long or short positions on a scale of minus 3 to plus 3. A score of plus 3 indicates the market is significantly long U.S. dollars.
The figures include positions held through non-deliverable forwards (NDFs).
(Reporting by Rushil Dutta; polling by Nikhil Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreejay Sinha)
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FILE PHOTO: A Spanish National Police car is seen outside the North Korea’s embassy in Madrid, Spain February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Perez/File Photo
March 27, 2019
By Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) – A shadowy group seeking to overthrow North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been thrust into the international spotlight after a Spanish court investigating a break-in at the North Korean embassy in Madrid named apparent members as suspects.
Cheollima Civil Defense, also known as Free Joseon, first went public in 2017, when it said it was protecting the family of Kim Jong Un’s half brother Kim Jong Nam, who was murdered in a Malaysian airport.
Spanish authorities unsealed court documents on Tuesday accusing at least 10 individuals of storming into the embassy, restraining and beating some staff members and holding them hostage for hours before fleeing with stolen computers and hard drives. Such an action would be one of the most militant operations ever carried out by activists opposed to North Korea’s government.
“Parties seeking to ‘out’ those in Madrid have painted a target on the backs of those seeking only to protect others,” Cheollima Civil Defense said in a website post, apparently acknowledging for the first time its involvement in the raid. “They have chosen to side with Pyongyang’s criminal, totalitarian rulers over their victims.”
It disputed police allegations that weapons or violence were used in the break-in.
Of the 10 suspects, the documents listed the names and birth dates of seven, including citizens of Mexico, the United States, and South Korea. All but one are under 30 years old.
The identification of at least some of the individuals in the group may have undermined their cause and perhaps endangered their lives, analysts and activists said.
“It was too risky,” said one South Korean human rights activist who previously worked with one of the suspects. “Now that their identities are known, they won’t be able to carry out activities as before.”
NORTH KOREA ACTIVIST
The Mexican national named by Spanish authorities as one of the embassy raid’s leaders, Adrian Hong, is a longtime activist who helped found the refugee aid organization Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), and later led an organization preparing for an “imminent, dramatic change” in North Korea, analysts said.
Spanish court documents said Hong played a leading role in the break-in, and that after fleeing to the United States he contacted the FBI to offer information that had been stolen.
Hong could not be reached for immediate comment.
Hong was among several LiNK activists who were arrested and deported from China in late 2006 as they were trying to help a party of North Korean refugees escape.
In a statement on Tuesday, LiNK said Hong had not been involved in any way with the group for more than 10 years and LiNK had no information on his current activities.
Hong told a newspaper in the United Arab Emirates in 2011 that the Arab Spring uprisings then unfolding were “a dress rehearsal for North Korea”.
Kang Cheol-hwan, a defector and founder of the North Korea Strategy Centre in Seoul, said Hong went so far as to travel to Libya to research the aftermath of Muammar Gaddafi’s ouster.
FREE JOSEON
Cheollima Civil Defense takes its name from a winged horse commonly featured in East Asian mythology. Free Joseon, meanwhile, references the last Korean dynasty, and a name that North Korea still often uses to refer to itself.
On its website, the group used soaring language to declare itself the “a provisional government” of Free Joseon as “the sole legitimate representative of the Korean people of the north”.
The website also began to sell “post-liberation blockchain visas” that can be bought with cryptocurrency, and on March 11 it claimed responsibility for defacing the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
North Korea has not publicly commented on the Madrid break-in, nor filed a complaint with Spanish police.
The group’s brazen actions led some to speculate that there could be serious dissent against Kim Jong Un taking shape. But other analysts were more sceptical, and say there are lingering questions over possible ties to foreign intelligence agencies.
“I’m still inclined to believe there was some professional involvement, because taking over a foreign mission is not an easy operation,” said Korea Risk Group director Andrei Lankov.
“They took computers and hard disks, but if you don’t have highly specialized capabilities for breaking the codes it’s probably not going to be useful to anyone but major intelligence agencies.”
Cheollima Civil Defense said on Tuesday that no governments were involved or were aware of the embassy operation before hand. It said it had shared “certain information of enormous potential value” with the FBI at the agency’s request, but that agreements of confidentiality “appear to have been broken”.
The U.S. State department said on Tuesday the U.S. government was not involved in the raid.
(Reporting by Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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FILE PHOTO – People gather near a monument for the victims of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 plane crash to mark the fourth anniversary of the accident near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo) in Donetsk Region, Ukraine July 17, 2018. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
March 27, 2019
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Dutch and Australian government officials have met their Russian counterparts to discuss who is responsible for the 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said on Wednesday.
All 298 people aboard were killed when the aircraft, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. About two-thirds of the dead were Dutch.
“The first trilateral meeting has recently taken place,” Blok told reporters in Sydney.
“We cannot go into the content of the process because confidentiality is vital here, but I can say this – we remain committed to achieving truth, justice and accountability.”
In May 2018, the two governments said they would hold Russia responsible after investigators traced the “Buk” missile system they said had been used to bring it down to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade, based in Russia’s western city of Kursk.
At the time, President Vladimir Putin responded that the airliner had not been brought down by a Russian missile.
Australia has said it will seek unspecified financial damages for families of its 38 citizens killed.
(Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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FILE PHOTO: A Thai AirAsia Airbus A320-200 plane prepares for take off at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, June 29, 2016. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom/File Photo
March 26, 2019
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia Group Bhd. said on Tuesday it is dropping advertisements of flights between Brisbane and Bangkok, after drawing criticism on social media that they used a double entendre that promoted sex tourism.
The response comes after Twitter users posted photos of AirAsia ads on a bus and Brisbane airport reading, “Get off in Thailand.”
One Twitter user wrote: “a dog whistle promoting #sextourism brought to you by low budget low ethics airline @AirAsia””AirAsia confirms the campaign has since ended and our media partners have had the last of these advertisements removed,” the carrier said in a statement.
The campaign was aimed to promote Bangkok as a destination, “for example, get off the bus get…off the aircraft in Bangkok” the statement said.
(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng)
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Women from armed forces march in the Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad, Pakistan, March 23, 2018. REUTERS/Caren Firouz
March 23, 2019
By Saad Sayeed
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan wants peace with India and they should focus on health and education, the Pakistani president said on Saturday during a parade to show off its military might following a tense standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Conflict between the rivals erupted last month following a suicide bomb attack claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group in the Indian party of the disputed and divided Kashmir region that killed 40 paramilitary police.
“We do not believe in war and want to solve problems through dialogue,” President Arif Alvi said in his Pakistani Republic Day speech.
“Instead of war we should focus on education and health.”
Pakistani warplanes engaged in a dogfight with Indian aircraft over Kashmir on Feb. 27, a day after a raid by Indian jets on what it said was a militant camp in Pakistan.
In their first such clash since their last war, in 1971, Pakistan downed an Indian plane and captured its pilot after he ejected over Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
The pilot was later released by Pakistan as a peace gesture.
The president, who largely holds ceremonial duties, said India had blamed Pakistan for the suicide-bomb attack without evidence, which he said was irresponsible.
Saturday’s military parade included an air show featuring the Pakistani-built JF-17 fighter jet. One of the aircraft shot down the Indian plane last month.
“Today’s parade is sending the message that we are a peaceful people but we will never be oblivious of our defense,” Alvi said.
The parade was attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who was invited to attend as the chief guest, and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Khan said on Twitter earlier that he had received a message from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his best wishes for Republic Day and calling for peace and regional cooperation.
“I welcome PM Modi’s message to our people,” Khan said.
“I believe it’s time to begin a comprehensive dialogue with India to address and resolve all issues.The dispute over the former princely state of Kashmir sparked the first two of three wars between India and Pakistan after independence in 1947. They fought the second in 1965, and a third, largely over what become Bangladesh, in 1971.
(Reporting by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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