Zeti knew about the bank account and the donations

In an interview with Malaysiakini July last year, Najib said Zeti knew about the RM2.6 billion donation in 2013 but never questioned it.

“If BNM is in the know of these funds and they had an inkling or some knowledge that there could be some doubts about the source of the funds, I expected them to tell me. But nothing of that sort happened. So I assumed all along that it was fine.” (Najib Razak)

Logic and common sense tells you that there is no way that Zeti would not have known that big amounts of donations were coming in through Malaysia’s banking system. She was BNM governor. Any bank in Malaysia would also not fail to report to BNM such big amounts coming in.

When asked if Zeti had raised a red flag over the purported transfer, Najib said: “No, there was no comeback from BNM. I assumed everything was fine.”

This was Zeti’s full press statement in response to Najib’s interview with Malaysiakini:

I refer to the former prime minister’s recent interview with Malaysiakini (dated July 2, 2018) when reference was made on the claim that I had knowledge of the inflow of RM2.6 billion into the personal bank account of the former prime minister in 2013. I wish to categorically state that this claim is false. I had no knowledge of this RM2.6 billion remitted into his account.

In fact, on July 3, 2015, I was called to the Prime Minister’s Office. He made a request for me to issue a statement that he had done nothing wrong in his account.

I informed him that I cannot issue such a statement because I did not have knowledge of transactions that had occurred in his account.

I later received a call from another cabinet minister who made the same request for me to issue such a statement. I gave him the same answer that I cannot issue any such statement because I did not have knowledge of what had transpired in his account.

On the matter relating to transactions by account holders in the banking system, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) relies on information provided by the reporting financial institutions.

The banking community is fully aware of the regulations and guidelines governing the reporting of any suspicious transactions and for the necessary due diligence on the operations of any such accounts.

Unless the relevant banking institution reports to BNM of irregularities in an account or if BNM received a tip-off that gives a reason to believe that an offence has occurred, the central bank is not able to initiate an investigation into the account.

Source: MalaysiaKini 3/7/2018

Just two or three days before, she had been appointed chairman of PNB so it’s no surprise that she had to issue such a press statement. Zeti had also been appointed as a member of Mahathir’s Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) in May last year when PH took over the government. Mahathir did say, as reported by the media, that “it would be unfair if PH could not reward those who had worked hard to help it win the 14th general election“.

Amusingly, Lim Guan Eng wants us to believe him that Zeti was telling the truth.

Lim also said, as far as the ministry was concerned, it had all the confidence in Zeti’s integrity and credibility.

“If we want to compare between Najib and Zeti, who do you believe? Who has and who has not the Hermes bags? Who has and who has not jewellery worth RM200 million? Who has and who has not RM140 million in cash?”

Source: NST 3/7/2018

The problem is the public knows Lim Guan Eng himself has neither integrity nor credibility and had multiple times been proven to be a liar, among the most recent being his false accusation that the previous government had stolen GST money. He refused to apologise for his false accusation despite PAC’s findings that no money had gone missing. So, if we want to compare between Lim Guan Eng and Najib, who do you believe?

And now it has been revealed in court that Zeti did not tell the whole truth.

Former AmBank group managing director Cheah Tek Kuang said that after meeting Najib at his house, he then made an appointment to see the Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia at that time, Tan Sri Zeti Aziz.

He testified that a few days later he met Zeti in her office where he informed her of the opening of the said accounts with AmBank by Najib.

“Tan Sri Zeti informed me that she has no objections for AmBank to do so but reminded that the opening of the said accounts is to be made following the banking rules and regulations.”

Source: Star Online 17/7/2019

So not only did Zeti know but she gave her green light. Cheah also met with the AmBank chairman, Tan Sri Azman Hashim, who then asked him to attend to this matter.

So are we to believe that everyone except Zeti knew about the donations account? Zeti has never given any explanation how it is that she could not have known whereas there are clear explanations why Najib did not know that RM42 million had made its way into the donations account.

In fact Zeti’s could also not offer any explanation or even a denial when questioned about her part in the conspiracy to topple Najib.

It was alleged by Umno Youth vice-chief Khairul Azwan Harun in his report that Zeti, Abu Kassim and Gani provided falsified documents to foreign agencies to topple Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“I am not going to say anything without my legal counsel,” Zeti told reporters at Abu Kassim’s farewell dinner to mark his last day in office on Tuesday.

Source: Star 27/7/2016

It is strange that she didn’t just deny the allegation outright. Of course at that time she wasn’t sure if she would be able to get away with lying since PH was not yet in power to ensure she would be protected. Now she knows she can get away with lying after seeing Lim Guan Eng and other convicts and would-be convicts escape punishment under the law, courtesy of AG Tommy Thomas.

Former Special Affairs Department (Jasa) director Puad Zarkashi also claimed that Zeti had knowledge about the RM2.6 billion during a meeting with Malaysian students in Canberra in 2016.

He told the students that Umno leaders met with Najib after the scandal erupted in 2015

Puad said Najib admitted receiving the money and claimed he had discussed the matter with Zeti and even received the central bank’s approval to bring in the money.

He added that the former premier also possessed Bank Negara’s documents regarding the approval.

Source: MalaysiaKini 3/7/2018

So let’s recall Lim Guan Eng’s own flawed line of questioning:

“If we want to compare between Najib and Zeti, who do you believe? Who has and who has not the Hermes bags? Who has and who has not jewellery worth RM200 million? Who has and who has not RM140 million in cash?”

If we want to compare between Cheah and Zeti, who do you believe? Who has and who has not been appointed as a member of the CEP? Who has and who has not been appointed chairman of PNB? Who has and who has not been appointed the first woman chairman of Sime Property Berhad?

Furthermore, if Najib was dishonest, he would have asked the bank to secretly break the law or bend the rules or not inform BNM but instead Cheah testified in court:

“I explained the procedures of opening bank accounts with AmBank to Datuk Seri Najib and he also mentioned that the opening of the said accounts must follow the rules and regulations of the bank, and I am obligated to inform the Central Bank of Malaysia on the opening of the said accounts because Datuk Seri Najib is a politically-exposed person” (Cheah)

For good measure, if we want to compare Lim Guan Eng and Najib, who do you believe? Who lied that national debt was RM1 trillion in 2017? Who lied that RM19.4 billion of GST money was stolen? Who lied that EPF’s dividend being more than 6% proved that the economy was healthy? Who lied that national debt had reduced when it actually increased by RM100 billion?

Everyone is still waiting for AG Tommy @ Mohan to produce solid evidence in court that Najib abused his power to instruct anyone to transfer RM42 million from SRC to the political donations account.

Despite AG Tommy’s best efforts at hiding and twisting facts and biased reporting by some media, Najib seems to still keep coming out smelling like roses — unless you have a PH mahacai nose.

– AA –