🇲🇾 1MDB cases in US, votes in Johor

🇹🇭 What's in a name?

Hello friends!

Thanks for the understanding on the haphazard scheduling this last fortnight. I’ve gone back to uni properly (in a classroom!) full-time and it’s been a bit of an adjustment. I’m ashamed to say I became the person who walks into a tute room mid-class and says ‘oh, is this class x?’ only to have to back out a moment later when everyone murmurs no. I also had to explain to a 17-year-old that I was in high school when 9/11 happened. It’s been a lot. 

The interesting news from the Netherlands regarding colonial atrocities in Indonesia broke as I was drafting this. It is very intriguing so I’m interested in looking deeper in the coming weeks, but I did want to flag now. 

See you next week,
Erin Cook

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🇹🇭 Where to in Thailand?

Pravit Rojanaphruk @PravitR

BTW, after fierce debate late last night, the Royal Academy says we can still use #Bangkok interchangeably with Krung Thep Maha Nakhon as the capital of #Thailand in English. That's even more perplexing. Welcome to Bangkok Krung Thep Maha Nakhon folks! #WhatsHappeningInThailand

 

Welcome to Bangkok! Or it it Krung Thep Maha Nakhon? Well, technically it’s Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. But, for us foreigners, Bangkok will do, the Thai Royal Society confirmed in a series of confusing announcements about changes to the capital’s name. Associated Press has more on what’s in a name. 

🇲🇾 An overdue update

 Goldman Sachs’s former head of investment banking in Malaysia Roger Ng headed to court this week in New York. He faces Department of Justice charges of ‘conspiring to launder money and violating anti-bribery law in his dealings with Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund,’ the Guardian reported Tuesday. 

Justice Department attorney Brent Wible’s opening statements connected Ng to Jho Low and alleged he pocketed US$35 million in kickbacks for his part. “He saw an opportunity to use his position at Goldman to get rich by cheating,” Wible said, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Ng’s lawyers have denied the allegation, saying he’s the ‘fall guy’ for a scheme that goes much further up the chain at Goldman. “This is a massive crime and there are lots of guilty people. He’s just not one of them,” lawyer Marc Agnifilo said. 

Ng’s former boss turned government witness Timothy Leissner, who plead guilty back in 2018 to conspiracy to launder money and corruption charges, is in the defendants’ cross-hairs. "They're not partners-in-crime. There's a gulf between these two men a mile wide. Leissner uses people. You will see this time and time again. He is trying to use my client ... to serve his jail time," Agnifilo told the court. 

The WSJ reports further scrutiny on Goldman is expected following this case and, seeing as Ng is the first fella to see the inside of a courtroom, it’s going to be very interesting to see what he has to say in the coming weeks. 

Former prime minister and core 1MDB cabal member Najib Razak has bigger things to worry about. His accounts have been frozen allowing withdrawals of RM100,000 (US$24,000) a month — a staggering amount far above the monthly income of most Malaysians (or anyone, anywhere, I’m sure) — following a court order injunction requested by 1MDB and subsidiaries. 

Still, he’s busy stirring up fellow former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on Facebook. Any looming court cases for Najib’s role in the conspiracy has been put on the news-backburner ahead of next month’s enormously influential Johor state polls. Like many of the state elections and national by-elections in recent years, results are seen as tea leaves for the politicking in Putrajaya. Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin has claimed a loss for Barisan Nasional, the coalition home to the powerful UMNO, is the best move for keeping out the so-called ‘court cluster’ of UMNO members facing heavy charges, including Najib.