N9 MB illegally siphoning out RM 10 million to London?

by Nathaniel Tan

I think we really should be raising alarm bells when Menteri Besars start siphoning out huge amounts of cash, especially illegally.

We all know the famous case of Mat ‘no speak English’ Taib, and now, it appears that Negeri Sembilan MB Mohamad Hassan appears to be following suit.

Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan has refused to answer a claim that he had transferred RM10 million to London through a moneychanger in 2008.

Yesterday, when Mohamad was winding up on points raised during debate on the 2010 state budget, (N9 Opposition Leader YB Anthony) Loke again demanded an explanation.

“I don’t have to answer you. I answer to the authorities concerned,” said Mohamad, reiterating under pressure from Loke that he did not want to answer the question.

Tsk tsk tsk, sounds guilty as sin to me. Why would the N9 MB refuse to answer such a simple question on a matter so clearly within the ambit of the public interest?

And the cocky ‘fler should know that the ‘authorities concerned’ at the end of the day are the rakyat, so he damned well has a responsibility to answer the Wakil Rakyat.

Putting aside the very considerable issue of what he’s doing with such large sums of cash, let’s not forget that the manner of the money transfer itself could have been illegal, making Mohamad Hasan guilty under the law.

If Tian, who brought this matter up long ago, can be found guilty of kononnya biting a cop, I think our friend should at the very least face an investigation.

The most recent to bring this up was YB Anthony Loke, who I had the honour of collaborating with briefly recently. I must say I found him to be a very gracious and capable gentleman, and it looks like he’s doing his job very well in the N9 state assembly.

He certainly played a good leadership role in defusing a situation involving some BN ADUN screaming Tamil profanities.

ps- Looking back at that Mat Taib case, I can’t help but note with interest:

Muhammad was also former Batang Kali state assemblyman, winning in the general elections of 1982, 1986, 1990 and 1995. He served as Menteri Besar of Selangor from 1986 to 1997. However, he was forced to resign as Selangor Mentri Besar in April 1997 after he was charged in Australia over currency irregularities amounting to RM3.8mil. However, he was later found not guilty.^[2] Muhammad Muhammad Taib was cleared by the court as he pleaded that he did not understand English and therefore did not understand the currency regulations. However, in a later development, an investigative committee found that the court had erred in its judgment.

So very strange. Corruption all the way to Australia? Tsk tsk. Well, at least Australia has competent investigative committees.