Zeti does not deserve Tunship

Many months ago and in the thick of the 1MDB debacle, it is overheard that Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz was almost ready to quit her position as Governor Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

However, she was asked to stay till her contract expired.

It would worsen further the image of the political leadership. At the time, AG was changed, police raided on MACC, two MACC Directors transfered to PM Department and Tan Sri Muhyiddin and Dato Shafie Apdal removed from cabinet.

As the date of Zeti's retirement gets closer, talk is she was positioning herself for extension. Thus for her remark is no politicians should lead BNM. It was intended to shut out her nearest competitor, Dato Dr Awang Adek Hussein.

Both Zeti and Awang received their doctorate from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and she was aware Awang was a genius; double degree in 3 years and straight for express doctoral program.

Anyway, if Awang Adek cannot make Governor, than Tan Sri Mohd Nor Yakcop does not qualify also.

In the first place, it is no business and authority of her to determine her successor. By saying no politician, she too is playing politics and lobbying. It is heard Dato Nazir Razak was lobbying for his horse.

In the manner Tan Sri Ali Abul bin Sulaiman was appointed by Tun Mahathir, it is and has always been the Prime Minister's call.

Dato Najib has responded to question from the press on this appointment. He said government will decide soon. He will only need take note of the advise or recommendation by some committee or even bloggers.

The latest news is Zeti has confirmed has not been asked to continue.

It is heard over the grapevine that Zeti was only willing to vacate the Governorship without any fuss upon the condition she be awarded Tunship for the next Agong's birthday on June 4th.

Tun Ismail Ali received Tunship for being Governor for 18 years, has an impeccable record in the civil service and is doyen of integrity. Zeti will retire on her 16th year but her integrity is up in question.

Questionable integrity

It was revealed and no denial had come from Zeti of her links to off-shore accounts. Tun M should be upset that she not have it in Labuan but in BVI instead. [Read here and here]. 

There was market talk of collusion between Zeti and Nazir in the CIMB takeover of Southern Bank with husband Tawfiq Ayman acting as broker/intermediary. Nazir does not care who he does business with. Almost made the country a banana republic before George Soros initiated the financial crisis of 1998-2000.

The details are here and here to be verified by interested party and palace or denied by Zeti.  

It has been the talk of the town that husband Tawfiq had a hand in the construction of the new Bank Negara building which include a wing for Museum and Art Gallery.

Construction of the new Financial Services Resource Centre may have been padded for the benefit of someone.

When the contractor H&I Niaga Sdn Bhd made payment demand and sued BNM for RM131.9 million, suddenly Affin Bank pulled their financing from under their rug and wind up the company. [Read MT here]

Do not expect a document trail. All BNM need to do is to verbally instruct Affin.

It is in the same manner Dato Anwar Ibrahim instructed Dato Izham who then told his boss, Tan Sri Ahmad Don that Maybank must finance Realmild's takeover of TV3 and NSTP should he want to keep his job.

And the same manner Nor Yakcop and Nazir took away Renong/UEM, Celcom/Naluri and many other PLCs out of the hands of Tan Sri Halim Saad, Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli, and many other Malay corporate entrepreneurs created.

Some human claiming God created them and in Godly manner, they destroyed all the Malay corporate players.

Trigger 1MDB failure

Affin-H&I is not the only time BNM under Zeti conducted themselves like thugs who threat and extort on helpless businessman and even banker.

Sources within banking circle confirmed that it was BNM that sabotaged 1MDB IPO and systematically failed its plan. As of today, continual attack by critics and detractor of Najib have used 1MDB to tarnish the country's reputation.

All one need to do is to return back to a June 19 2014 report by MMO, "1MDB said to work with Deutsche Bank, Maybank on power asset IPO".

By July, it was confirmed that 1MDB was going for IPO. Deutsche Bank and Maybank were appointed joint global coordinators, Maybank and AmBank as joint principal advisors, and  Goldman Sachs as advisor.

Naturally, Maybank and Deutsche will be doing underwriting business for the IPO.

It should have been approved for December 2014 listing but then CEO Dato Shahrol got greedy and wanted to include the new IPP awarded to them. The news came out as "due to debt burden" and subsequently spin as "longer-than-expected due diligence process and debt refinancing negotiations".

In January 2015, CIMB Securities came out with an analysis of 1MDB impact on Maybank. Though recommending "Add", it was deceptively negative. It was so typical of Nazir's black heart.

After much hype and propaganda, the 1MDB loan from Deutche Bank and Maybank became an issue. Eventually by May 2015, talk was lenders led by Deutche Bank were pulling the plug off 1MDB. Bankers give umbrella to prepare for rain but the first droplet of rain and they take the umbrella away. That was the spark that started it all till 1MDB had to call off the IPO in June. 

If Maybank was adviser, lead manager and underwriter, it is less a risk than exposure through loan. They should know that the IPO would solve the debt burden and 1MDB will be a loaded client. So who was the bastard that decide to sabotage 1MDB?

Someone from BNM instructed someone verbally in Maybank to recall the loan. The someone in Maybank cannot be revealed but it is in the top part of the chart here. Don't make the mistake of assuming that just because Dato Farid is our super junior, it is him.

That is still not spiteful enough.

Sabotaging IPIC

Knowing well that 1MDB first move was the right step to reduce its debt burden by a debt against  asset swap with IPIC, Zeti attempted to thwart the plan.

BNM demanded on 1MDB to recall back the money kept abroad in foreign currency based on some issues over application form. It was the fund set aside for the swap. They recommended AG to charge 1MDB. However, they could not furnish further supporting evidence to AG. Case closed.

They also did another move to anger the Abu Dhabi.

In September 2015, BNM ordered a cap on the voting rights of Aabar Investments PJS in RHB Cap to 15%.

BNM was acting like Securities Commission to apply their dictatorial power under the Financial Service Act(FSA) to prohibit RHB Cap from issuing more than 15% of new shares to Aabar under a rights issue plan. Aabar has 21.09% stake in RHB Cap. [Read The Star here and here].

Reuters reported that this rights issue had been delayed. Bankers said it was an unusual intervention. And could this be meant to the delay the ongoing debt with asset swap with IPIC for 1MDB?

BNM under Zeti had been consistently in collusion with Nazir to sabotage 1MDB.

In the investigation on 1MDB, it was BNM that leaked documents to Tan Sri Gani Patail which ended up leaked to WSJ and Sarawak Report. Our source is an investigator, but we cannot tell.

Zeti used 1MDB to cover her inability in the area of monitoring and enforcement.

She blamed 1MDB for her inability and indecisiveness to monitor and manage the ringgit. There was a blatant clear situation of capital flight from late 2013 to 2015. She failed to detect it and when it affected ringgit in 2015, she blamed in on 1MDB and politics!

Sons and daughters of aristocratic families can be suave, polite and proper but they can be sneeky and shrewd. Hear Colin Firth at 2:45 in the video of what nice boys and girls do too.

Zeti maybe given all sort of accolades from abroad from her fellow Monetarist. She seemed to be the pride of Malaysian women. But her sense of patriotism is suspect.

Replacement

On the question of replacement, few names had been bandied around. Rakyat Post mentioned 8 here.

The Star reported that bankers are pushing for current BNM Deputy Governor Muhammad Ibrahim to replace Zeti. As long as he is not a clone of Zeti and wiser in his decisions, it is no issue. It is heard Nazir is lobbying hard for him.

The future Governor has to be more dynamic and not beholden to IMF and World Bank. He must have a deep understanding of the global financial structure of the Bretton Wood agreement.

In the foreseeable future, many new economic power will emerge. New grouping such BRIC, TPPA and many others will emerge to make their relevant existent. This dynamic should be understood.

They should be more awareness on the direction of the geoglobal economic and political trend. The country cannot be dependent on purely US dollar. There should be consideration for Euro, Chinese Renminbi, Indian Rupee and many other currencies that form our trading partners .

BNM need many more Deputy Governors than the current size. One should be dedicated to currency management.