A case of banks and bad loans (unedited).
With thanks to FMT
We know that suspects are
murdered while in PDRM custody in the very place where they should be most
secure – a Police Station! The gruesome state of Kugan corpse, beaten to a
pulp, gave mute testimony of the physical abuse Kugan endured before death
mercifully ended the horror of a defenceless Indian being beaten to death by
PDRM! Kugan’s last conscious thoughts on this earth must have been of abject
terror and hopelessness in the face of such cruelty and inhumanity. Man’s
inhumanity against his own species is one of life’s recurrent nightmares – one
often visited upon us by those sworn to protect us: PDRM!
We know of the murder
of Altantuya by UTK operatives who
are trained to do as told – even murder. The question still unanswered is who directed them to murder? That she was murdered by two UTK officers of Najib’s
bodyguard detail - both unknown to
her – shot to death in circumstances still to be explained to us – is indeed
remarkable! Remarkable because our courts deemed it not in the public interest
to pursue their inquiries any further than the
actual act of murder done. Remarkable because it involved Razak Baginda, a
closed close confidant of our Prime Minister.
Remarkable because under Najib Razak’s watch the Ministry of Defence awarded
the Scorpene Submarine tender to Razak Baginda – an award that led to the
murder of Tuya – and this fact alone should have required the Courts to act
more vigorously in their sworn duty to do what is in the public interest! Is it
not in the public interest to know why Tuya was murdered?
For sheer financial lunacy
and reckless disregard of one’s own sworn duty to King and Country, it seems
that nothing could come close to PKFZ. An astounding display
of how political power and greed have cost our
Nation billions. It chronicles how this Tun descended from being President of
MCA to being the accused in a trial that could possibly see no end nor have
anybody blamed. What more punished for a financial debacle of such epic proportions
that PKFZ shall forever be the standards by which future scams in Malaysia
would be measured against!
And I thought I have seen
it all! All that a great power like UMNO could and would do as they continue to
pilfirage and plunder our Nation’s wealth - but
in truth I have not seen it all!
Fresh in our mind is NFC: a
scandal perhaps, a debacle maybe but certainly an abuse of trust placed upon
Sharizat’s and her family by the Nation, albeit unknown
to us until now. But if the truth were to be told, they have
not done anything illegal. Any Lawyer worth his salt will take them through the
courts without any convictions – possibly a censure at most for the abuse of
trust – nothing more! What this Barisan Nasional government should do is not to
waste the Nations money by taking them to court. They should ask Sharizat’s
family to pay back what was given to them! All the work Rafizi has done to
score some political points and mileage will
come to naught because in the end Bank Negara and the Courts will ensure Rafizi
will end up the victim not the hero of this NFC saga. Sharizat and her family
will be given time “to make NFC work” or given time to repay or God forbid, a slap on the hand as a form of ‘tick-off’.
If Barsian Nasional wins the 13th general election, you and I will see NFA
stamped on the files of NFC!
So we have not seen it all!
A few weeks back I was
discussing the Global Financial Crisis that happened many years back, which has now been predicted to resurface in the form of
Non-Performing loans (NPL) resulting from it, with an acquaintance when the conversation wandered East of
Siberia!
This was asked of me:
What if the most August of
our financial Institutions – Premier Foreign and
Local Banks, knowingly and with the collusion of MOF and
Bank Negara and those in Government did what it must not and should not
do if Bafia is to be obeyed?
And what if what these
Banks did, involved billions of Ringgit,
required the collusion of their Lawyers who may or may not know of the
duplicity?
And what if their
criminality was resolved through a political solution which compromises the
integrity of MOF, the office of the Minister of Finance and Bank Negara?
And the person I was
talking to started to unravel a horrifying tale
that seemed only plausible in the time that we now live in! A time under UMNO,
under Najib and under this ‘Malaysia Boleh’ mentality that makes the impossible
possible, the acquisition of material wealth the be all and end all of all
things Malaysian and the illegal legal!
Now where do I start…. at
the beginning I guess.
Banks in Malaysia have
always had problems with Non Performing Loans (NPL), save
for the intervention of Danaharta. Some Banks like SME worked within
their own structure to recover the NPL but most Banks used Debt Collection
agencies to recover their debts.
Debt Collection became a
lucrative business and like all things Malaysian, ‘good business opportunities’ has its own
attractions to the rich, the powerful and the politically connected. Collusion
between those in the Banks, Debt Collection Agencies and Politicians fed of
each other. Thugs and gangsters become the enforcement arm necessary to ensure
the collection of these debts and as they say, in every cloud there is a silver
lining. In the misery of those who were in debts these agencies thrived.
The Banks tried to use these arrangements legally and the Debt
Collection Agencies received their remunerations via commission and fees agreed
to between themselves and the Banks.
But like in all things
under this Barisan Nasional regime, these ‘arrangements’ soon morphed into a
situation where the Banks ‘sold’ these NPL to the Debt Collection Agencies
under Sale and Purchase Agreements –
something that BAFIA does not allow the Banks to
do.
For example, CIMB can
appoint a Debt Collection Agency to collect a NPL from their customer on the
Banks’ behalf – but what CIMB cannot do is to appoint Shern Delamore or Adnan Sundra & Low to prepare a Sales and
Purchase Agreement to sell that NPL to the Debt Collection Agency. To do this
they have to go through a ‘vesting order’ giving the rights of the NPL to the
Debt Collection Agency. THIS THE BANK CANNOT DO! If Shern Delamore or Adnan Sundra & Low knowingly abets them in doing
this then what Shern Delamore or Adnan Sundra & Low are doing is illegal! If CIMB does not tell Shern Delamore or Adnan Sundra & Low that it cannot vest the NPL to the Debt
Collection Agency then it is not telling its lawyer the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth….so help me God! unless of
course this elite legal firm is in on it!
Local and foreign premier Banks are
involved in this illegal selling of NPL through Sales and Purchase agreements
to Debt Collection Agencies.
Some of these Debts
Collection Agencies are owned by individuals/corporations closely linked to those in the Banks and
by people linked to those in Government.
What they were doing was illegal and contravenes BAFIA’S regulation and they started to look for a political
solution to the problem of legalizing the sale of NPL to the Debt Collection
Agencies.
In 2009 such a political
solution was arrived at. A blanket approval was
given by the Minister of Finance to the Banks to do precisely this AFTER THE
FACT (act of Vesting) . Thus the Minister of
Finance attempted to make legal what the Banks
were doing illegally. The Minister of Finance who did this is Najib Tun Razak. Even more fascinating, Tan Sri Nor Yaacob attempted to amend
Section 49(9)(a) of the BAFIA to allow these debt collection agencies to buy
these non-performing loans, in the form of PU(A)184. However, it was NEVER laid
before the Dewan Rakyat nor passed by Parliament. Unscrupulous lawyers
representing the Banks and debt collecting agencies passed it off as having
been amended. Funnily enough our ‘honourable’ courts bought their limp
averments. Not a surprise, considering what has transpired before when ‘vested
interest’ are working in collusion!
Our concern should be this.
We have seen just about every institution in Malaysia corrupted for political
expediency and profit.
Expediency : ‘the use of
methods that brings the most immediate benefits, based on practical rather than
moral considerations’
Banks are regulated by Bank
Negara and the issuance of their License is by the Ministry of Finance. A feeble attempt was made to deregularise the system. There
are other checks and balances that strictly outline what they can and cannot
do. This NPL caper happened because MOF and Bank Negara failed in their duty to
regulate the Banks and the collusion of some Barisan Nasional politicians in covering up this failure is
just standard operating procedure for this Barisan Nasional government in the
hope that they can ‘manage’ the situation before the shit hits the fan!
And if the Minister of
Finance did give the blanket approval for this
to be done - AFTER THE Vesting of these non-performing loans, FACT – these
questions need to be asked:
- Has the Minister the power to do so contrary to
what Bafia regulates and the Delegation of Powers Act?
- Does it make any such illegal act done before
the Minister’s Letter in 2009 legal?
- Why should the Minister condone this practice by
issuing a letter giving approval for this practice AFTER Vesting of these non-performing loans THE FACT - given that he has a brother in CIMB
and another in Shern Delamore who are currently
representing Standard Chartered Bank in this matter! .
- Were MOF and Bank Negara aware of these
practices? If ‘yes’ why did they condone it, and if ‘No” why were they not
aware of it?
The sums involved are
massive and almost all the Banks operating in Malaysia, local and foreign are
involved. Does this include HSBC, Standard Chartered
Bank, Maybank ….the mind boggles with the implications of such duplicity
by these august financial institutions!
This is another one of
those questionable issues that keeps coming out of the woodwork – and they do
keep coming out because these are things you cannot just sweep under the
carpets. Like most of UMNO’s deeds – their motives are questionable because
those affected by the decisions made by the Minister seems to be his cronies or
those connected to Barisan Nasional politicians. We also know that in these
debt collection agencies, criminal element lurks just below the surface as they
are the ones used to retrieve these debts – and so to what extent are these
criminal elements able to influence the decision making of those in MOF, Bank
Negara and in Government?
For now this story is just
about to break. The Head of Surveillance for Financial Institution is already
aware of the outing of these facts and its implications on the financial
institutions involved. He will be holding a Press Conference this Thursday on
this matter. The Banks, Local and Foreign are stirring from their slumber and
are aware of what this entails in terms of their own alleged collusion and
participation in the illegal practice of selling NPL to Debt Collection
Agencies and they are already starting to take positions to contained the
matter.
Where this will go will
depend on the vested interest of UMNO, Barisan Nasional, MOF, Bank Negara, the
Banks themselves and all those involved in this matter.
We wait for relevant
documentations to confirm these Sales and Purchase Agreements of the NPL from
the Banks to the Debt Collection Agencies to emerge on to the public domain.
We wait for disclosures of
the amount of ringgits involved!
We wait for the names of
companies, individuals in MOF, Bank Negara and in Government (some call them
scapegoats or sacrificial lambs taken to the slaughter so that others may
live!) to be revealed.
Banks, Debt Collection
Agencies, Lawyers and MOF officials will be summoned and questioned on a need
basis to satisfy another of those ‘no stone unturned’ investigations that will
be announced by Najib Tun Razak, Minister of Finance merangkap Perdana Menteri
Malaysia and President of UMNO!
The Nation will again be in
shock and in awe of the goings on of our nations elites (or should I say
ULATS!) – political and financial.
Smoke screens are already being thrown around to try and distract our
attention to other ‘more pressing issues’. Muhyiddin has already asked DSAI to
explain the RM3 billion squandered during DSAI time as Minister of Finance -
purely divisionary tactics in as far as I am concerned but they will still try!
Let the games begin!
steadyaku47 comment:
In all the abuses and excesses that UMNO has been involved in Bank Negara the Premier Banks and MOF have somehow managed to be “above it all!”. If
what CT Ali tells us is true then we have a situation where the Banks, the Debt
Collections Agencies and the Politicians are colluding together to make money
out of the miseries of the Rakyat!
Let me tell you how it
works a case involving Metroplex Berhad and CIMB Berhad as follows:
DALAM MAHKAMAH TINGGI
MALAYA DI KUALA LUMPUR
(BAHAGIAN DAGANG)
SAMAN PEMULA NO:
D-24-22-2009
ANTARA
CIMB BANK BERHAD & 1
LAGI … PEMOHON-PEMOHON
DAN
METROPLEX BERHAD … BAKAL
PENCELAH
On or about 1998, Metroplex had
obtained banking facilities
from Commerce International
Merchant Bankers
Metroplex’s loan accounts were
classified as Non-Performing
Loans pursuant to Bank Negara
Malaysia’s (the Bank) Guidelines of
Non-Performing Loan and Provisions
for Substandard, Bad and
Doubtful Debts (NPL).
On 13.8.2006 CIMB and Sinesinga
executed a Sale and
Purchase Agreement to sell and
transfer CIMB’s NPL (including
Metroplex’s loan accounts) to
Sinesinga. Vide a letter dated
27.11.2008 the Bank informed CIMB
and Sinesinga that:-
“2. Bank Negara Malaysia wishes to
inform that the Minister of
Finance has granted approval
pursuant to Section 49(1)(b) of the
Banking and Financial Institutions
Act 1989 (BAFIA) to any licensed
institution that seeks Bank Negara
Malaysia’s approval, to enter into
agreement of sale / disposal /
transfer of NPL subject to fulfillment of the requirements stipulated in the “Guidelines
on the Disposal / Purchase of Non-Performing Loans by Banking
Institutions”.
I am not going to bore you
with the details of the case – suffice that we all know that what Bafia has put together, these UMNO
Politicians have wreck asunder! The Lawyers can argue the case in CIMB favor
till the cows come home but they will not convince us that a political
solution was found to make legal what the Banks have been doing illegally! I would even dare to suggest that Nor Mohamed Yaacob and Nazri Aziz are somehow involve in all this. I
rest my case.
