Monday, September 11, 2017

Trump -Najib meeting : How will Najib explain Malaysian backing for Rohingya rebels as early as the 1990s?

by Ganesh Sahathevan








PM Najib's son -in-law,Daniyar Nazarbayev
at the Malaysian Armed Forces College,
Ulu Tiram


These excerpts from the reports below are presented without comment:


A) JI Training in Malaysia

The JI has been conducting training camps in Malaysia since 1990. Up to 1994, the training was focused mainly on maintaining physical fitness like jogging and trekking. From 1995, however, the training camps held in Gunung Pulai and Kulai began to also teach "military" skills (without firearms training). For instance, JI members were taught to make Molotov cocktails, learn knife-throwing skills, topography, jungle survival skills and trekking. In 1997, additional modules like guerrilla warfare, infiltration and ambush were included.According to Malaysian officials, the so-called school of terror,Luqmanul Hakiem school, was established more than a decade (before 2002, that is before 1992 by Abu Bakar Bashir and Hambali.2

Malaysian authorities say Bashir, Hambali, Samudra and Mukhlas had used the Luqmanul Hakiem school in Ulu Tiram, in the southern state of Johor, since 1993.3


B) " According to other reports from Asian security services, militants from the Jemaah Islamiah - which is connected to al-Qaeda and wants to set up a gigantic Islamic state encompassing Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and southern Philippines - a re also hiding out in these camps, which were set up in the early 1990s to train rebels from the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar's Rakhine State. In more recent years, these camps have in effect been run by Bangladesh's most extreme Islamic outfit, the Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HuJI), which was set up in 1992, reportedly with financial support from Osama bin Laden.

The Jemaah Islamiah is suspected of being behind a number of planned - but foiled - attacks against Western targets in Singapore, as well as the devastating bomb blast on the Indonesian island of Bali on October 12, in which nearly 200 people were killed, most of them Western tourists.

The Jemaah Islamiah militants in hiding in southeastern Bangladesh are believed to be mostly Malaysian and Singaporean citizens. It is, however, uncertain to what extent the Bangladeshi security services have been involved in their relocation. But well-placed local sources say that it would have been impossible without at least some tacit agreement with the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), Bangladesh's chief intelligence agency, which is closely connected with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). "

END 

 Ulu Tiram  is also part of the history of   US Defence and Intelligence activity in South East Asia:
In 1968, Sampley was one of a handful of American soldiers selected to attend the British Jungle Warfare School in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. He was trained for eight weeks by British, Australian and New Zealand instructors in jungle warfare, including methods of visually tracking humans in the jungle. While in Malaysia, Sampley was required to wear a British uniform because the British at that time did not want to publicize that they were training U.S. soldiers to fight in Vietnam.


References








Thursday, June 29, 2017



Vic Police Chief Graham Ashton appears to have ignored crucial evidence of Hambali, Abu Bakar Bashir's network of supporters



by Ganesh Sahathevan

These facts concerning Hambali, the Bali bombers, and Jemaah Islamiah have long been a matter of public record.,Victoria Chief Of Police Graham Ashton was chief Australian Federal Police investigator of the Bali bombings and ought to know these facts by heart (we do). The evidence of a strong level of passive support,at the grassroots and above is evident:


JI Training in Malaysia

The JI has been conducting training camps in Malaysia since 1990. Up to 1994, the training was focused mainly on maintaining physical fitness like jogging and trekking. From 1995, however, the training camps held in Gunung Pulai and Kulai began to also teach "military" skills (without firearms training). For instance, JI members were taught to make Molotov cocktails, learn knife-throwing skills, topography, jungle survival skills and trekking. In 1997, additional modules like guerrilla warfare, infiltration and ambush were included. Around 2000, reconnaissance and observation courses were conducted in Kota Tinggi; these classes were dubbed "urban warfare". The JI even conducted "Recall and Operation exercises" to ensure that members were operationally ready. 14 (which includes the 3 who went to Afghanistan) of the 21 arrestees participated in such training camps in Malaysia.

According to Malaysian officials, the so-called school of terror,Luqmanul Hakiem school, was established more than a decade (before 2002, that is before 1992 by Abu Bakar Bashir and Hambali.2

Malaysian authorities say Bashir, Hambali, Samudra and Mukhlas had used the Luqmanul Hakiem school in Ulu Tiram, in the southern state of Johor, since 1993.3


According to report in a Government-owned and controlled newspaper in Singapore, Abdullah Sungkar, was also among the founders of the Luqmanul Hakiem school. Mukhlas, brother of the Bali bomber Amrozi (who helped out at the school), helped set it up. Shahril Hat, an ex-engineer arrested by the Malaysian police, was the principal, while his assistant was Noor Din Mohd Top, a fugitive member of the Kumpulan Militan Malaysia (KMM).Three other Bali bombing suspects , Idris, Imam Samudra and Dulmatin - were said to have met and studied at the same school in the early 1990s.A course instructor there was bomb-maker/trainer, Fathur Rohman Al Ghozi - now in custody in the Philippines4.





Nowhere in official AFP and other Australian Government reports have the above AND the their implications and consequences for the future of Australian national security been discussed. It must be assumed that Ashton and others have either suppressed if not are totally ignorant of the facts and/or the issues they raise.

That Ashton has ignored all this must break the hearts of those whose lives have been lost or otherwise affected by both Bali bombings.It also discloses an appalling lack of skill and knowledge, evidence most recently in the matter of Zulfikar Shariif.Of course, it is also likely that Ashton is more interested in preserving his "diversity" credentials.


Endnotes


1 Home Affairs Singapore-JI White Paper,located at http://www2.mha.gov.sg/mha/detailed.jsp?artid=550&type=4&root=0&parent=0&cat=0&mode=arc.See also http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/speeches/view-html?filename=2002091903.htm


2Mark Baker,” Revealed: school that bred the Bali bombers” The Age(Melbourne) November 22,2002 .Located at http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/11/21/1037697807092.html


3 JASBANT SINGH, Associated Press ; Bali Suspects Used Malaysia As Base, 4 December 2002

4 Melvin Singh, “ TERRORIST SCHOOL IN JOHOR “;The New Paper - 01 Dec 2002,

located at: http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,8982-1038758340,00.html














































































































Celebrations and Bombs


by Bertil Lintner, Senior Writer, Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER)


More than 3 million Muslim devotees from 52 countries gathered along the banks of the Turag river, 30 kilometers north of Dhaka in Bangladesh at Tongi, Gazipur, for the three-day annual Biswa Ijtema (World Congregation) between December 14 and 16. The significance of the event was underlined by the profile of political leaders who attended: present at the concluding prayers were Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed; the Prime Minister, Begum Khaleda Zia; the leader of the opposition in parliament, Sheikh Hasina, and other political, civil and military leaders. The Ijtema is organized annually by the Tablighi Jamaat.


The Biswa Ijtema, the second largest congregation of Muslims in the world after the Hajj, ended peacefully despite rumors that some international terrorist groups may have planned to disrupt the event. But the fact that millions of Muslim devotees from across the world gathered in Bangladesh emphasizes the role that the country has come to play in the context of international Islamic brotherhood. Although the government in Dhaka has reacted fiercely to any suggestion that the country is becoming a haven for Islamic extremists, reports from Asian and Western intelligence services suggest otherwise.


Shortly after the fall of Kandahar in late 2001, several hundred Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters escaped by ship from Karachi to Chittagong. They were then trucked down to hidden camps in the Ukhia area, south of Cox's Bazaar. Local people report seeing heavily armed men, with a few Bangladeshis among them, in those camps. They were told that they would be killed if anyone told "outsiders" about this regrouping of ex-Afghanistan fighters in this remote corner of southeastern Bangladesh.


According to other reports from Asian security services, militants from the Jemaah Islamiah - which is connected to al-Qaeda and wants to set up a gigantic Islamic state encompassing Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and southern Philippines - are also hiding out in these camps, which were set up in the early 1990s to train rebels from the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar's Rakhine State. In more recent years, these camps have in effect been run by Bangladesh's most extreme Islamic outfit, the Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HuJI), which was set up in 1992, reportedly with financial support from Osama bin Laden.


The Jemaah Islamiah is suspected of being behind a number of planned - but foiled - attacks against Western targets in Singapore, as well as the devastating bomb blast on the Indonesian island of Bali on October 12, in which nearly 200 people were killed, most of them Western tourists.


The Jemaah Islamiah militants in hiding in southeastern Bangladesh are believed to be mostly Malaysian and Singaporean citizens. It is, however, uncertain to what extent the Bangladeshi security services have been involved in their relocation. But well-placed local sources say that it would have been impossible without at least some tacit agreement with the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), Bangladesh's chief intelligence agency, which is closely connected with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).


Security concerns heightened over the holding of the Biswa Ijtema in Tongi only a week after at least 18 persons were killed and 300 injured in bomb blasts in four cinema halls in the central Bangladeshi town of Mymensingh on December 7. Without being specific, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia described these as a "planned terrorist attack", while opposition leader Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League claimed that an "identified fanatic terrorist group within [the ruling] alliance is behind these heinous bomb blasts". The international news agency Reuters first reported that Home Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury had said that bin Laden's al-Qaeda network was behind the blast, but later had to retract the report after denials from the minister.


Subsequently, the police raided the local office of Reuters in Dhaka. Dozens of opposition activists were also arrested, but no link to them could be established. The raid on Reuters and the arrest of opposition politicians came only days after a British TV team and their local helpers had been arrested for trying to document the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh and its possible consequences on the country's non-Muslim minorities.


Many foreign observers may contend that the Bangladeshi authorities are simply overreacting to international press coverage, but it could also be that the DGFI has too much to hide, and therefore wants to silence any reports suggesting that their country has become a hot-bed of Islamic fundamentalism.


The four-party alliance that won the Bangladeshi elections in October 2001 includes the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, which has two ministers in the present government. Its youth organization, the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), was behind Bangladesh's most devastating bomb blast before the cinemas in Mymensingh were hit - an explosion on June 15, 2001, at the Awami League office in Narayanganj, in which 21 persons were killed and over 100 others injured. The same government-connected outfit is also suspected of being behind several other bomb blasts as well as attacks on secular Bangladeshi politicians, journalists and writers.


The ICS is closely connected with the most militant of the Rohingya organizations along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), which also has links to the al-Qaeda. Video footage released by the American cable television network CNN in August this year and obtained from al-Qaeda shows Rohingyas as well as Bangladeshis training in camps near the country's southeastern border, but well inside Bangladesh.


Al-Qaeda's involvement in Bangladesh was confirmed in September this year when the police in Dhaka arrested seven "aid workers" working for the Saudi-based Al Haramain Islamic Institute. The men, who came from Libya, Algeria, Sudan and Yemen, belonged to an organization that had first come to Bangladesh to help Rohingya refugees, but later became involved in running Islamic centers all over the country. The so-called institute has been named by several sources as a front for al-Qaeda. Perhaps not surprisingly, nothing came out of the arrests and the whole affair was quickly hushed up by the Bangladeshi authorities, suggesting that the "arrests" were a mistake by some local police officer.


The United States has so far accepted the Bangladeshi government's assurances that the country is not playing host to international terrorist movements, and that it is a reliable partner in the global war on terror. But this ostrich-like mentality may change as more evidence to the contrary comes to light. The arrests of foreign journalists and the raid on Reuters in Dhaka are worrying signs of increasing intolerance in Bangladesh. And the hosting of the Biswa Ijtema is bound to attract the attention of "friendly" Islamic organizations, which see the country as a perfect place to hide out when international attention is focused on events in more high-profile countries such as Pakistan and Indonesia.


This article first appeared in the South Asia Intelligence Review of the South Asia Terrorism Portal, September 16, 2002


Back to articles

Saturday, September 9, 2017

1MDB money laundering scheme that NZ Shewan Inquiry missed is now subject of FBI investigation-FBI fears for safety of witnesses

by Ganesh Sahathevan




Potential witnesses to the multi-billion dollar scandal at 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) are afraid to speak with U.S. investigators as they fear for their safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation says.

Individuals otherwise willing to provide information on the case have also told investigators that they were afraid that they would “place the safety and security of both themselves and their families at serious risk”, according to a declaration in the filing by FBI agent special agent Robert Heuchling.

The agent said identifying witnesses could result in intimidation or threaten their safety, citing Malaysian news reports of local officials and politicians who have been arrested for purportedly disclosing information linked to 1MDB.

The agent cited Malaysian press reports from Aug 30 that said the driver of former Malaysian Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail was shot in public as a possible warning against assisting the U.S government in the case.

Abdul Gani had led investigations on 1MDB until he was replaced in 2015.

See also 

Ex-AG of Malaysia's driver shot; coincides with FBI warning that the lives of 1MDB related witnesses may be in danger






EC
DEC24 2016
How did New Zealand's Shewan inquiry miss the Low family's 1MDB theft? 

by Ganesh Sahathevan

John Shewan
John Shewan is a tax and accounting veteran. Photo: SUPPLIED

In April 2016 the Government Of New Zealand apparently reacting to the Panama Papers expose,ordered an inquiry into its foreign trust regime.The inquiry was led by John Shewan (photo above) who submitted his report in June.Commenting on his work he said:

"There has been no direct evidence of illicit funds being hidden in New Zealand foreign trusts, or of tax abuse".

He arrived at this conclusion despite the fact that the billions stolen from Malaysia's 1MDB were hidden using a NZ trust.

In July 2016 the US Department of Justice filed its asset seizure writs against various assets worth USD 1 billion alleged to have been the acquired with funds stolen or otherwise misappropriated from 1MDB, by among others, Joh Low. It has since been revealed that the assets are held via trusts in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands, in which Joh Low and members of his family are beneficiaries. 

The US DOJ has described the 1MDB matter as the largest case of money laundering it has ever encountered. While its writs were filed in July,after the Shewan inquiry was submitted, Jho Low's theft was reported widely in Western and Asian media  since early 2015,and on an ongoing basis. By late 2015 the 1MDB theft was under investigation by regulatory authorities in the UK, US,Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. It is hard to imagine that New Zealand authorities were unaware of the matter. Shewan's conclusion,that
"there has been no direct evidence of illicit funds being hidden in New Zealand foreign trusts", is perplexing. 
END 


References
 

Who is John Shewan?

11:48 am on 12 April 2016 
The government has appointed a veteran of the accounting and audit sector, John Shewan, to conduct an independent inquiry to check whether the rules covering New Zealand-based overseas trusts are fit for purpose or need improving.
The terms of reference include reviewing foreign trusts' disclosure rules on record-keeping, enforcement and the exchange of information with other tax jurisdictions, and Mr Shewan is to report back by June 30.

Who is John Shewan?
He graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with an honours degree in accountancy and started as a junior lecturer at the university in 1976.
The following year he joined leading accounting and audit firm Price Waterhouse (later to become Price Waterhouse Coopers or PwC).
He became one of the firm's leading tax practitioners, becoming a partner in 1984, and chairman of the New Zealand firm from 2003 to 2012, when he retired.
In mid-2012 he was appointed an adjunct professor of accountancy at Victoria University.

What is his government background ?

He has been appointed by Labour and National-led governments to official bodies looking into tax.
In 1988 he was appointed to the Tax Education Office, a position he held for nine years.
In 2009 he was appointed to the Tax Working Group, which was charged to advise the government on the broad design of the tax system. It said the tax system was broken and needed a significant revamp, including a land tax, closing of loopholes, a higher sales tax but lower income tax.

What is his link with business?

Since he left PwC, Mr Shewan has picked up several company directorships.
He is currently chair of the board of the manager of the Fonterra Shareholders' Fund.
He is also a director of Yealands Wines, the New Zealand branch of the China Construction Bank and Munich Reinsurance Australia.
He is an established commentator on tax and policy matters, and has been involved also in a number of high-profile tax cases.
He advised Westpac Bank in a dispute with the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) over the taxation of specialised funding structures. The bank, along with three other major Australian-owned banks, settled the cased by paying IRD $2.2 billion.
Mr Shewan was also an expert witness in a case involving two Christchurch surgeons, who paid themselves low salaries to minimise their tax bills after the top tax rate was raised in 2000. The courts set aside his evidence because it commented on legal issues outside of its scope.

Friday, September 8, 2017

Bag Man comes to The White House: In 2016 De Niro denied ever being in any Red Granite-Riza Aziz production-"It Never Happened"

by Ganesh Sahathevan



No automatic alt text available.
De Niro in Malaysia,23 July 2010


In August 2016 The Hollywood Report (THR) reported:

De Niro also confirms to THR he knew(Najib ) Razak and (Rosmah) Mansor, having met them "a couple of times," adding that there had been early talks for him to star in one of Aziz's films at Red Granite. "But it never happened."


This is strange, given his starring role in Red Granite and Riza's The Bag Man. As reported on this writer's related blog , the movie had a surprisingly low profile in the US,even in promotions, despite starring De Niro and John Cusack.

The LA Times review of the movie does reveal a hint of  art imitating life:


It begins with Dragna, De Niro's well-heeled mob type, cutting a bloody steak in a private jet while he proceeds to make Jack (Cusack) an offer he can't refuse: Pick up a bag, don't look inside, wait for Dragna to pick it up, get paid lots of bucks. Death, and dispensing it, seems to be the central theme of the film. It gives Cusack the chance to play a bad guy who is really good under all that short-tempered, punch-a-girl-if-I-have-to, kill-a-guy-if-I-must gruffness. Cusack makes Jack ever so slightly interesting.

(Rebecca) Da Costa plays Rivka, a long-tall Sally who is turning tricks until she figures out what she really wants to do with her life. At the moment she'd rather not die, and she's interested in the idea of being Jack's partner in crime.


De Niro visited Malaysia in July 2010, accepting a personal invitation from Rosmah Mansor.
Rosmah is expected to accompany Najib Razak when he visits the White House to meet with President Donald Trump on September 2012.

END


References


 

by Ganesh Sahathevan

The Bag Man is a Red Granite Movies production which is surprisingly excluded from its list of movies. This is surprising, given that the movie starred Robert De Niro and John Cusack.
Then again, it was a box office flop.Nevertheless, it did reasonably well in the UAE.






The Bag Man

Domestic Total Gross: $56,574
Distributor: Cinedigm EntertainmentRelease Date: February 28, 2014
Genre: Crime DramaRuntime: 1 hrs. 48 min.
MPAA Rating: RProduction Budget: N/A





Production Companies




The Bag Man
Domestic Release DateFeb 28, 2014
Production Budget
Opening Weekend Theaters2
Maximum Theaters15
Theatrical Engagements17
Domestic Opening Weekend$29,231
Domestic Box Office$56,574
Inflation Adjusted
Domestic Box Office
$59,893
International Box Office$80,697
Worldwide Box Office$137,271
Remove
Note: A theatrical engagement is defined as the movie playing in a single theater for one week. So, for example, a film that plays in 3,000 theaters in its first week and 2,000 theaters in its second week will have had 5,000 theatrical engagements.


View: BY COUNTRY | BY WEEKEND

Country
(click to view weekend breakdown)
Dist.Release
Date
Opening
Wknd
% of
Total
Total Gross / As Of
FOREIGN TOTAL-N/An/a-n/aN/A
Brazil-4/24/14$49,64567.8%$73,2725/4/14
IcelandMyndform3/14/14$608100%$6083/16/14
Lebanon-5/22/14$13,307100%$13,3075/25/14
Slovenia-3/13/14$3,11359.6%$5,2273/23/14
SpainUPI6/27/14$35,33344.2%$80,0227/13/14
Turkey-7/11/14$21,44840.3%$53,1597/20/14
United Arab EmiratesGulf5/1/14$117,91265.6%$179,6115/18/14
Riza 

Monday, September 4, 2017

Gift Of Million Dollar Watch From Malaysia Said To Be Missing From US State Department Register Of Gifts

by Ganesh Sahathevan





BVLGARI DIVA-Expensive, but not as expensive as the
custom made model believed to have been excluded from the records

A custom designed Bvlgari watch worth approximately USD 1 Million , said to have been presented as  a gift to a First Lady of the United States from the government and people of  Malaysia,appears  to be missing from the US State Department's register of gifts from foreign sources.

The only gift  from recent times that appears in that register is this:

Mrs. Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States. Black silk dress with pink and white pattern. Gray-black dress with white and beige pattern and gemstones. Black kaftan with colorful sequins. Pink-red
songket fabric. Rec’d—4/27/2014
 Presented byy Datin Seri Hajah Rosmah binti Mansor, First Lady of Malaysia.

END 

References