What’s wrong with keeping money in the bank?
Two weeks ago, Malaysians were fascinated by the raids on the homes of a former prime minister and the head of a much treasured institution, the Tabung Haji.
The haul of money from the PM’s home is RM120 million, a combination of ringgits and various foreign currencies. Policemen were seen struggling to load the containers of money, and designer goods, onto six trucks for safekeeping.
The haul is almost the annual GDP of one of the less developed, smaller islands in the Pacific. Few banks have more cash in their vaults.
If disgraced PM, Najib Abdul Razak, tired of being an MP, and had not been caught, he could have offered his services as a money changer, or become an “ah long”.
Make-believe Ah long
On the other hand, one of the homes of the chairman of Tabung Haji (Pilgrimage Fund), Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, yielded only RM500,000 cash, a tiny sum in comparison. The MP for Baling is also an Umno-Baru Supreme Council member.
Several questions spring to mind.
What was the money doing in the homes of these two men? Are they from legal sources or will we be told that these were donations, or gifts from supporters?
In my previous job, with a multi-national, gifts of over RM50 had to be declared. Accepting money from clients, suppliers, and contractors was a sackable offence. Nothing from the office could be taken home.
Yet, in Najib’s case, official documents were reportedly seized from his home. There should be no exceptions, even if he was once PM. He has, throughout his career, neglected to conduct his work with professionalism, integrity and transparency.
Ordinary people keep money in the bank, but not these men. Why not? Are they avoiding the ever-watchful income tax department? The interest alone would have yielded a princely sum.
The money stored in their homes was transported from somewhere. Who took it and from where? The paper trail should prove interesting. Was the money transported over a period of days, or in one massive haul? What will CCTV recordings reveal?
Neither Najib, Abdul Azeez, nor their personal assistants could have taken briefcases of the money, over a period of days. This was a major operation.
The condition of the money may reveal its origins. Are the notes torn, soiled or do they look newly minted, as if it were fresh from a bank.
Breaking into a bank safe is MORE difficult than stealing from an Umn0-Baru politician’s house
Thieves and big time robbers need to restudy their modus operandi. It is harder work attempting to break into an ATM, or a bank vault. The homes of politicians and chairmen of important institutions are easier targets.
What were Najib’s reasons for having the RM120 million in his house? Was this money, the remnants of the failed attempt to “win” GE-14? What happened? Why was it not distributed? Will the money be used to lure “katak” politicians to jump from one party to another?
The money counting machine, together with his refrain of “Cash is King”, remind us of the nursery rhyme, “Sing a song of sixpence”. The lyrics include the phrase, “The king was in his counting house, counting out his money.”
Meanwhile, Abdul Azeez claimed that part of the RM500,000 was to finance a planned trip to Gaza. Is this an off-the-cuff excuse, because he was found with his paws in the cookie jar? He has now resigned his position in Tabung Haji. Doubtless, the authorities will be paying him a visit, soon.
Are all politician’s homes well guarded? An opportunist thief could slip-in and sweep the bundles of notes into a rucksack. A few millions of ringgits may not be noticed.
More importantly, will we see a similar haul, of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of ringgits, from other Umno-Baru politicians’ homes, if raids were conducted on them?
Will they have, by now, been alerted to the raids, and moved the money to a safe location? Oops!
Miriam, this is definitely politics of envy. I am sure you are envious of them having all these money. What is wrong with the creed of “greed is good.” These people obviously do not want the bank tellers to be overworked and hence did not want to deposit the cash into the bank. They are very considerate people and moreover they have the space in their homes to keep them and do not want the banks to have to build special vaults to house the additional cash. Moreover, it comes in handy come election time where they can scatter the cash as confetti as it is free money. So please curb your politics of envy.
Well Najib and Azeez wanted to keep the loots in the bank but just right after they finished stealing our National coffer it was passed 4pm therefore it was too late for the stolen money to be deposited into their personal account and to be declared as donation.
Now they need Zahid Comedy to help them find a way to legallise the loot like the 2.6b where he confirmed meeting the donors but this time with other ridiculous reason.
Right indeed Zahid pull another comedian act by asking the Police to returned the loot claiming it was umno’s money. Look at how the stupid thieves work not realising that they dont command power anymore. Wow!!! Malaysia Boleh slogan was being abused to its best by these Moron that once run this country. OMG they still think they call the shot as usual.
Stupidity has no bound.
Every secondary school in Malaysia should teach the classic ” Animal Farm” by George Orwell. Of course it should be taught by a qualified teacher.
With the new insight and knowledge everyone will understand how politic works.
This has something to do with the psyche. Some people like to feel the money – like counting them daily. There is a story of a ruler of a state who has so much cash in his palace that when he died they found many wooden cases/caskets, filled with cash. They money was so long inside the containers that some had turned to dust. Then there was a Chief of Armed Forces whose bungalow was felled by a large landslide which made the news many years ago. Not only was his house NOT approved by the Bandar Rays, there was so much cash, jewellery etc. that the first people on the scene were shocked. Obvious some took the initiative to pocket some but his relatives were soon on the scene but couldn’t cart away because of the sheer amount of loot in the rubble. Finally the man got the police to provide 24 hr guard of the area while the family slowly picked up the loot. He was so thick skinned that he gave a press conference and praised the police for providing protection of his loot! That is the culture of this country. Corrupt and thick-skinned, no shame at all. What happened to the religion that is so sensitive to things Islam. Why no comments or action? So Mariam, Islam in Malaysia is the Malay version. Everything haram is hammered down, EXCEPT when it comes to money and sex. Recently I saw a picture of our famous priapic tourism minister with his 3rd wife – Samantha Kim- photographed in an apartment/house in Paris. Now he will be so busy enjoying himself I doubt he can do his job efficiently. Obviously he will visit Paris weekly. What happened to his No:2? Will she also look for another minister/MP?
Cash no electronic trail mah.