BEHIND a great fortune that one is at a loss to account for, lies a great crime.
The 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal is certainly proof of this. Lawsuits filed by the United States Department of Justice in July 2016, sighted by The Guardian, said at least US$3.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB, a state fund set up by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak purportedly to boost economic development in the country.
Other estimates place the loss closer to US$5 billion. Is it any wonder the English newspaper called it "the world's biggest financial scandal"?
Or, as the then US attorney-general Loretta Lynch branded it, "the largest kleptocracy case" in the history of the country?
What a way for Malaysia to gain the world's attention. Fame by another name? Sadly for Malaysia, the 1MDB scandal may just be the tip of the iceberg.
As the 1MDB case was making its way through the courts, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) shocked the nation by revealing a RM9 billion fiasco involving six littoral combat ships ordered by the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN).
The story, thus far, is that RM6 billion has been paid, but none of the ships have been delivered. One is expected to be handed over to the RMN in a year or two. Little wonder a section of the nation is calling the littoral vessels "invisible ships".
This is a developing story. And so may be the story of three offshore patrol vessels (OPV) procured at a cost of RM738.9 million by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.
But for now, the OPV is breaking news thanks to Parit Buntar member of parliament Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa, who is calling on the PAC to investigate the alleged scandal. According to Mujahid, the three vessels were to be delivered in February, May and August of 2020, but none appeared. News has it that the first will be delivered this year, the second next year and the third in 2024.
The Parit Buntar MP is naming names and is expected to bring up another name or two.
Corruption in Malaysia is fast becoming an alphabet soup. 1MDB, LCS and now, OPV. Let's not forget, there are only 26 letters in the English alphabet. At this rate, we may run out of them. Some may think that only politicians of a certain stripe are entering the hall of infamy. No, not at all.
Corruption is not limited to one political party. If court cases are any guide, it is an affliction of many. Like charity, corruption begins at home. It is not uncommon to hear of politicians "buying" votes to be elected to the high offices of the party.
A party or two have fined or have let the corrupt go with a warning. This is a sure way of breeding corruption. Once such a politician gets power as an executive in the state or in Putrajaya, it's only a short time before he and his gang turn into kleptocrats.
There should be no room for corrupt politicians in any political party, whatever its ideology. The 1MDB scandal is a lesson in how power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If Malaysia can't learn now, it never will.