Friday, 30 October 2015 21:25
GOLF SHOCKER: NAJIB'S LATEST 1MDB DENIAL AROUSES TALK OF US$ 500K 'SWEETENER' FOR KEY OBAMA AIDE
With
the US President Barack Obama due to make a supposedly image-boosting
visit to Malaysia next month, yet another embarrassing denial has come
out from the Prime Minister over 1MDB.
This
time Najib Razak has directed his denial against the testimony of a key
aide of Obama himself, his chief fundraiser, the businessman Frank
White Jr of DuSable Capital Management.
Our
research shows that White registered a half million dollar payment from
the Government of Malaysia with respect to 1MDB and he is assumed to
have been one of the key facilitators of the friendly relationship
between the two politicians, who played golf in Hawaii during the
Malaysian flooding disaster at the start of the year.
DuSable
Capital Management focuses on energy support services and over the past
two years it has declared a somewhat ill-defined role in 1MDB’s latest
energy project – a planned solar power plant in Kedah (which we have
noted is budgeted at three times the amount of similar projects elsewhere).
Frank White Jr– DuSable’s Capital Management CEO and Obama’s chief political fundraiser was 1MDB’s latest JV partner
In public depositions the company has stated “one aspect of DuSable’s activities will be to communicate with US Government Officials” [23.04.14] and also “to encourage the US Government to provide non-financial support for the [1MDB Solar Power] project” [26.09.13].
Given
there is no obvious need for 1MDB to require any US government advocacy
to support the construction of a field of power generating solar panels
in Kedah, the inevitable assumption is that Frank White Jr had agreed
as part of his deal with 1MDB to promote its stated boss “the Government
of Malaysia” with his own political boss Barack Obama.
For example by arranging golf between Najib and the President.
Did 1MDB money flow into fixing this glorious moment for Najib?
Nevertheless, in
a written answer to a Parliamentary question, Najib has now
categorically denied that there had been any agreement between DuSable
and 1MDB WHATSOEVER!
“1MDB has never signed any sort of agreement with DuSable Capital Management LLC in Kedah.” [Parliamentary reply by Najib]
The MP who asked the question, PKR’s Wong Chen, has expressed considerable surprise as a result:
“For this Parliamentary session, I put in a question for an update on the 1MDB solar power project in Kedah with DuSable Capital Management LLC (DuSable). The project was reported by The Star on 23rd April 2014.
Yesterday, I received an official Parliamentary reply from the Minister of Finance, YAB Najib Razak that 1MDB has not signed any joint venture agreement with DuSable in Kedah.
We have been told that the Prime Minister’s golfing buddy, President Obama will be visiting Malaysia again this November.
The co-founder of DuSable is Frank White Junior. He has been described by Bloomberg as “President Obama’s top individual fundraiser, a former technology executive who collected millions of dollars for the Obama’s election campaigns.
So, is Najib’s company calling Mr Obama’s aide a liar?
After all, anyone who cares to check can look up the filings
made by DuSable, because the United States’ transparency laws demand
that all companies register their foreign dealings under the so-called
FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act).
Frank
White Jr made a number of depositions about his deal with 1MDB,
beginning in 2013 when the plan to build the solar station was announced.
“DuSable has engaged in a partnership with 1Malaysia Development Berhad to develop, finance and construct a 50 MWac solar project….” the latest 2014 filing explains (second document below):
Submission to FARA by DuSable on 26th Sept 2013
DuSable
amended the declaration the following year to say that the relationship
would not involve any investment in the company by 1MDB, as had been
stated previously.
Presumably the publicity surrounding the news that 1MDB would be investing in DuSable had been considered unconstructive:
1MDB will no longer be an investor in DuSable, but the arrangement remains in place – 2014
What all this documentation makes clear is that DuSable certainly had an arrangement of some sort with 1MDB.
Half a Million Dollars for Frank!
What’s more, the public declarations show exactly how much money DuSable was getting “from the Government of Malaysia” for a “joint venture partnership reimbursement for solar investment project in Malaysia” – according to DuSable US$506,079:
Over half a million dollars!
Nice
money for Frank White Jr for his activities, which included
communicating with US Government Officials to provide that non-financial
support. He puts in the details in a separate form, included are Frank
and his co-director’s hefty travel expenses to KL showing the final
total paid by 1MDB to DuSable was US$524,394.10:
Could the PM explain these payments in the absence of an arrangement?
But,
with such talk of joint ventures and partnerships, how is that Najib
has stated there has been “no arrangement whatsoever”? Does he mean
that Frank White Jr, who is Mr Obama’s close and trusted confidante, is
lying?!
Wong Chen has understandably now challenged Najib to straighten things out with the US Governement:
“If there is no partnership whatsoever between DuSable and 1MDB, will the Minister of Finance file a formal complaint to the US State Department of Justice against DuSable?” he asked yesterday.
Perhaps Najib should sort this little problem before Mr Obama jets in in a couple of weeks?
Sarawak Report
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