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Wednesday 31 July 2013

Aussie Ministers found to be Corrupt!


FORMER LABOR MINISTERS FOUND TO BE CORRUPT: ICAC

Yahoo!7 & AAPJuly 31, 2013, 10:57 am
Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid and former mining minister Ian Macdonald could face possible criminal charges after the NSW watchdog found they acted corruptly.
Former treasurer Eric Roozendaal was not found to be corrupt.
The reports were handed down today by the Independent Commission Against Corruption after months of investigations.
Commissioner David Ipp has recommended that Mr Obeid and Mr Macdonald be considered by the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for possible prosecution over their involvement in the Mount Penny coal mine.
Mr Obeids' son Moses and businessmen Travers Duncan, John McGuigan, John Atkinson, John Kinghorn and Richard Pool were also found to have engaged in corrupt conduct.
It enabled the Obeids to make $30 million, with the prospect of earning at least $70 million more.
As part of the Indus investigation, ICAC found Mr Obeid's son, Moses, engaged in corrupt conduct over a $10,800 car for former Labor minister Eric Roozendaal.
The corruption watchdog investigated whether Mr Roozendaal received a new Honda CRV at $10,800 - less than its original value - in return for political favours for his colleague, Eddie Obeid.
The ICAC reports said that Moses Obeid "provided a benefit to Mr Roozendaal as an inducement for him to show favour to Obeid business interests in the exercise of his official functions".
Corruption "unexceeded since the days of the Rum Corps"
Prior to the findings being released, counsel assisting Geoffrey Watson warned that if proven, this was "corruption on a scale probably unexceeded since the days of the Rum Corps".
During the investigations, Mr Macdonald was forced on one occasion to deny he was a "crook", Mr Obeid retorted on another that he had "spent more money than (Mr Watson had) made in a lifetime", and the proceedings proved so sensational that curious members of the public began queuing outside the seventh-floor ICAC hearing room, deck chairs in hand.
Operation Jasper unearthed allegations Mr Macdonald rigged a 2008 coal tender process, benefiting the Obeids to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.
Operation Jarilo heard allegations that ex-boxer Lucky Gattellari and businessman Ron Medich offered Mr Macdonald rewards or inducements - including the services of a prostitute called Tiffanie - to arrange meetings with state energy executives.
It's expected to take the commissioner until at least August to deliver findings on a fourth operation - Acacia - which probed a coal exploration licence granted by Mr Macdonald to a company run by ex-union boss John Maitland and entrepreneurs.
Commissioner Ipp will also consider whether the NSW government should amend mining laws and codes of conduct for MPs and ministers.






THE COLOURFUL CHARACTERS OF ICAC

By Lema Samandar, AAPUpdated July 31, 2013, 4:27 pm
A prostitute called Tiffanie, a champion boxer jailed over a murder and one of Australia's richest men.
They were among the colourful cast of characters who featured during three consecutive Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiries that stunned the public and revealed the strange dealing of NSW Labor in the last years of their 16-year reign.
Former champion boxer Lucky Gattellari, perhaps better known for his part in the murder of businessman Michael McGurk, and property tycoon Ron Medich, who is currently before the courts over the same murder, were both found to have engaged in corrupt conduct by the ICAC.
The pair had provided the services of a prostitute, Tiffanie, for the then-mining minister Ian Macdonald.
In return Mr Macdonald arranged meetings between executives from a state-run power company and Mr Medich, who promoted his business interests.
Tiffanie did nothing wrong, but in 2011 she told an ICAC inquiry that the Labor MP "roughly kissed" her and told her "if you knew who I was you'd be very surprised".
The pair did not have sex as Mr Macdonald fell asleep but she told a girlfriend later that he made her feel sick and like vomiting.
Former NSW Labor minister Ian Macdonald arrives at the Independent Commission Against Corruption on May 16, 2013. Photo: AAP

In another ICAC inquiry, Travers Duncan, known as "Mr Coal", was found to have acted corruptly by concealing the involvement of the Obeid family in the Mount Penny tenement.
Already one of Australia's richest men, Mr Duncan allegedly stood to make $60 million from the deal.
During the inquiry, he launched an unsuccessful legal challenge against ICAC Commissioner David Ipp in the NSW Supreme Court.
He also lost a last-minute High Court bid to stop the release of findings by the NSW corruption watchdog.
Obeid associates Rocco and Rosario Triulcio, Eddie Obeid's son Paul Obeid and businessmen Richard Poole, John McGuigan, and John Atkinson were also found to be corrupt.
Rocco Triulcio, an Obeid family friend, was another entertaining witness at the inquiry.
He denied being part of a sham purchase of a farm in the coal rich area for the Obeids, but said he'd only visited it once in four years and didn't know what it had been used for.
He did know "there was a lot of grass" on it.
His brother Rosario didn't know much about the farm either.
"You wouldn't have known whether they ran goats or rats or cows there, would you?" ICAC lawyer Geoffrey Watson, asked him.
"I'm assuming they didn't run rats," Mr Triulcio replied, to which ICAC Commissioner David Ipp quipped, "Not four-legged ones."
Mr McGuigan rejected the findings and vowed to take "appropriate action" to restore his reputation.
"I have acted properly at all times and complied with all obligations in relation to the disclosure of relevant information to the NSW government," he said in a statement.
Mr Poole also said he would defend the findings in any subsequent proceedings and maintained he had acted "professionally and properly" at all times.
"It is my belief that the evidence does not support the findings," he said.

UMNO leaders have not only taken power from the Sultans but have also assume the Sultanization of their own self in the mould of the Sultans that they have now deposed in everything but name.

As UMNO leaders struts through the corridors of power in Putrajaya arrogant in the belief that half a century of government will beget them another century of the same, let us remind them that we will not sit idly and allow them to do the same to us! 

Let us remind them that Saddam was once Master of Iraq but died a inglorious death by the hangman's noose. Let us remind them that Ghadaffi was once King of all he surveyed  - today he too is dead. Let us remind them that once Mubarak was Lord of all Egypt today he awaits sentencing for crimes against the people of Egypt.

Yes Muhyiddin can still arbitrarily warn the non-Muslims to not insult Islam simply because it is politically expedient for him to do so. Mahathir can tell the Chinese to kongsi with the Malays if they want to stay in Malaysia. Najib can express his concern over the rising crime rate and yet do nothing about the criminality of corruption and money politics....but you and I know that the beginning of their end started many years back.   

This is what I wrote in September 2009... do read it again. Let not UMNO now become our Sultans - even if they already are in everything but name!





First posted Tuesday, September 22, 2009


The SULTANIZATION of UMNO leaders.


SRI PERDANA

Over the years we have seen UMNO assuming the role that was once the prerogative of the Sultans of the various states in Malaysia. A process started by the British and ironically concluded by the Malays themselves albeit through UMNO. These Sultanization tendencies have evolved over the years to what it is today – an UMNO President living in splendid isolation in a palatial palace call Sri Perdana in Putrajaya surrounded by all the trappings of wealth and power. But I am ahead of myself.
The quest by UMNO leaders towards their Sultanization started with a partiality to ostentatious consumption – Mahyuddins very costly shirts, silk ties, expensive, expensive suits, expensive cars, and grand houses. Khir Toyo’s palace is the manifestation of these tendencies to a T. The Prime Ministers motorcade, the legion of people that seems to be around him everywhere he goes and the splendid, splendid office at Putrajaya is par for the course. Of course to maintain this lifestyle on their meager salaries as Ministers and YB’s meant that they were all susceptible to corruption on a grand scale.
Personalization of authority. In Malaysia all power resides with the Prime Minister. In the state the Mentri Besar title says it all – BIG Minister. This concentration of power in the PM at Federal level and the MB at state level can only gives rise to the politics of patronage and nepotism as all largeness flows from these leaders. The wholesale change that is the norm whenever there is a change of these individuals gives rise to the ‘make hay while the sunshine’ mentality. So where the Sultan was ‘king’ in his state it is now the Mentri Besar that dispense favor to the Sultans – in business opportunities, in extending credit to pay gambling debts, in keeping under lid the excesses of the Royal family.
Historical Identity. Like the Sultan who are normally descended from an immediate family tree – UMNO too are comfortable with accepting it leaders when they are descended from families that are closely associated with UMNO - possibly with the exception of Mahathir – because his Indian background precludes that possibility. But at times even when your Father is a A class leader  their genes are known to skip a generation or two. How else can you explain Najib and his cousin Hishamuddin?
For now the Sultans still cling to being the head of religion in their own states. But we can see this too is increasingly becoming the function of the religious authorities – whose salaries and appointments are the function of the central government – controlled, for now, by UMNO. So effectively even in these areas UMNO will have a say if not effective control to do as it wish – with just a nodding familiarity to the Sultans as a mark of respect.  
So in reality these UMNO leaders – have not only taken power from the Sultans but have also assume, for themselves, the Sultanization of their own self in the mould of the Sultans that they have now deposed in everything but name.
While the Malays are always seen to be loyal to their sultans and are expected to obey their commands unquestioningly we are all aware of what Hang Tuah had to do to appease his Sultan. Kill a loyal friend – Hang Jebat. I do not think any Malay will any longer want to kill a loyal friend against a pretender to the throne calling itself UMNO. Not when the Sultanization of this pretender was done without due consideration of the rights and aspirations of the Rakyat.

Tuesday 30 July 2013

QUESTION : What then was the motive behind Altantuya's killing? Did two rogue cops wake up one fine morning and say and decide "let's go off that blackmailing bitch Altantuya whom we have never heard of or met and know nothing about"

With thanks to Donplaypuks


The World Anthem


WE ARE ALL OF 1 RACE, THE HUMAN RACE.

30/07/2013

AN OPEN INVITATION TO PM NAJIB TUN RAZAK - CLEAR YOUR NAME OF ALLEGED MURDER IMPLICATION!

by jumbo scorpenis, Donplaypuks®, intrepid correspondent for elephant-in-the-room affairs


The latest revelations by the mysterious Jasbir Singh Chahl, esrtwhile scorpene submarine "negotiator" or restauranteur, or possibly both, that the gruesomely C4 murdered Altantuya (CLICK HERE) was not involved in the RM7.3 billion Scorpene Submarines Scandal, raises more questions than answers.

But before you could say "rush now to consume simply mouth watering and delicious meals in spotlessly clean and super hygienic converted toilet school canteen, rush to register your children in this school", BUMNO/SCUMNO Ministers and party stalwarts have with indecent haste latched on to Chahl's uninvestigated claims. They now claim (after having been silent for 6 long years) that SUARAM and the Opposition have been lying wholesale since 2006 about PM Najib and his wife being allegedly involved in some way in Altantuya's killing; that a "lie" repeated ad nauseum has become "perceived" as the absolute truth. Sob, sob, poor innocent PM Najib and his beloved wife, how dare you perfidiously unsporting Cynthis George and Anwar.

They have chosen to disregard both, the now equally famous and infamous, Staturory Declarations (SD) by RPK and PI Bala (deceased). RPK's "I was reliably told" SD, and PI Bala's even more detailed, stark and  accusatorial SD, had implicated both Najib and Rosmah up to their eyeballs, whether by hear say or direct knowledge, and then been "clarified" or withdrawn, under very suspicious circumstances. There is lawyer Americk Sidhu's video highlighting PI Bala's SD and the suspicious circumstances under which he was "persuaded" by police to withdraw it. Sidhu has laso publicly claimed that another lawyer, Cecil Abraham, had drafted PI Bala's withdrawal SD under instructions from PM Najib. CLICK HERE and HERE. Then again there is  Deepak's 'Black Rose' satire pointing the finger at a very familiar PM and his wife. CLICK HERE.

So, what is the truth? What are we to believe? I have written several articles about this subject since 2011. CLICK HEREHEREHERE and HERE

Let's suspend popular belief and disbelief. Ho hum.

Let us ask those very real elephant-in-the room, or if you can ignore that one, the pink-elephant-in-the room, questions that will not go away, and see if PM Najib will respond and provide us with logical and satisfactory answers and explanations:

1. If Altantuya was not involved in the scorpene submarine scandal, why did Razak Baginda confirm in his court statement that he had an affair with her and that she attempted to blackmail him for $500,000 for her share of work done on the scorpene submarine deal?

2. What then was the motive behind Altantuya's killing? Did two rogue cops wake up one fine morning and say and decide "let's go off that blackmailing bitch Altantuya whom we have never heard of or met and know nothing about" ????

3. There is a confession statement in the police files by Corporal Sirul Azahar, one of the two cops from the Unit Tindakan Khas (UTK or Special Action Force) convicted of killing Altantuya, that they went prepared to kill Altantuya armed with C4 explosives and guns. That is as premeditated as you can get. Who gave Sirul and Azilah Hadri (the other convicted murderer) the orders to carry out the murder?

4. And why was Altantuya shot first and then blown to smithereens with C4 explosives? It must as sure as hell have been to conceal the fact that either she was incriminatingly pregnant or raped or both. The orders to kill her must have been issued by some one really high up in the ruling political circles/government, police, Army or Navy and linked to the scorpene submarine case; high-up, as who else could have given such orders to the UTK.

5. And here is the $64,000 question on which hinges the resolution of PM Najib's blackened reputation, especially since he was the Defence Minister under whose watch the scorpene submarine scandal took place:

Since October 2006, when Altantuya was murdered in a forest in Kuala lumpur, why has none of PM Najib and/or the Attorney General NOT ordered successive Inspector Generals of Police to investigate and charge in court the person who ordered Chief Inspector Azilaj Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azahar to murder Altantuya? Especially since there is a signed graphic confession from Sirul Azahar to the effect that that was what occurred? Accessories to murder should be allowed to get away scot free? By what law?

6. Lastly, why have BUMNO/SCUMNO Ministers and party members no interest in getting to the bottom of Altantuya's murder - the motive and the kingpin issues?

If you really and truly wish to clear the stain and blot on your (and your wife's) name, that you are implicated in the murder of Altantuya, and want to gain the Rakyat's (citizens') respect and admiration, I hereby challenge you, our elected Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak to order the IGP today to do his job.

Failing which, the Rakyat are entitled to believe in the pink elephant which is so tantalisingly visible to us all!

What say you Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak? Have you the cojones to do what is right?

Donplaypuks® with murder, man!!

Sunday 28 July 2013

JJ Cale Dies.

Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter JJ Cale dies, aged 74
Updated 16 minutes ago
Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter JJ Cale, one of the most versatile musicians of his era who played guitar and spanned music genres from rock 'n' roll to blues and jazz, has died after suffering a heart attack at the age of 74.
Cale passed away on Friday at a hospital in La Jolla, California, according to a statement on his website.
"Donations are not needed but he was a great lover of animals so, if you like, you can remember him with a donation to your favourite local animal shelter," the statement said.
Cale won a Grammy in 2008 for The Road to Escondido, which he recorded with singer-songwriter Eric Clapton.
While he never attained Clapton's level of stardom, he had a wide-ranging influence, particularly his style of playing the guitar and the songs he wrote for music legends.
In a Vanity Fair interview several years ago, Clapton said Cale was the living person he admired most.
Singer-songwriter Neil Young once said "of all the players I ever heard, it's got to be Hendrix and JJ Cale who are the best electric guitar players."
Born in Oklahoma City as John Weldon Cale, he spent the early part of his career in Nashville before moving to Los Angeles in the 1960s, where he flourished.
Known for his easy, laid-back style, he spent more than 50 years making music for Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Johnny Cash and others.
Cale was one of the originators of the Tulsa sound, a type of music that drew from rock, blues, country and jazz.
"I consider myself a songwriter. ... I guess the business end is my songs and the fun part is playing the guitar," Cale said in a 2004 video that showcased his performance with Clapton at the Crossroads Guitar Festival.
"He didn't seem to follow the pack or chase styles," said Kenny Vaughan, Nashville-based guitar player for the Fabulous Superlatives group.
"He never seemed to be a guy who put a lot of effort into being trendy or commercially viable."
Dave Pomeroy, a bassist and head of the musicians' union in Nashville, said Cale had a huge influence on what is now referred to as "Americana" - a blend of country and folk music that is popular with some younger fans.

Music a lifelong vocation for Cale

Music was a lifelong vocation for the guitarist, producer, engineer, singer and songwriter.
In the 1970s he wrote Clapton's hit songs After Midnight and Cocaine.
Cale also wrote Call Me the Breeze, which was covered by southern hard-rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1974, as well as by Johnny Cash.
Other artists and groups that have recorded Cale's work include Santana, The Allman Brothers, and The Band.
His last studio album, Roll On, was released in 2009.
At the time of its release Cale said he remembered when he made his first album.
"I was 32 or 33-years-old and I thought I was way too old then," he said.
"When I see myself doing this at 70, I go, 'what am I doing, I should be laying down in a hammock'."
More recently Cale wrote the song Angel on Eric Clapton's latest album, released last March.
He performed guest guitar and vocals on the track.