KUALA LUMPUR: Jailed former Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak on Thursday issued a rare apology for his mishandling of the multibillion-dollar 1MDB financial scandal, but maintained he had no knowledge of illegal transfers from the now-defunct state fund.
1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a sovereign wealth fund co-founded by Najib in 2009 while he was premier, has faced corruption probes in at least six countries over the alleged misappropriation of over $4.5 billion by high-level officials of the fund and their associates.
Malaysia’s top court in 2022 upheld a guilty verdict against Najib for corruption and money laundering for illegally receiving about $10 million from former 1MDB unit SRC International, sentencing him to 12 years in prison. The sentence was later halved by a pardons board chaired by Malaysia’s former king.
Najib, 71, has consistently denied wrongdoing and on Thursday expressed remorse about the 1MDB scandal in a letter read at a press conference by his son, Mohamad Nizar Mohd Najib.
“It pains me every day to know that the 1MDB debacle happened under my watch as minister of finance and prime minister,” the former premier said, according to the letter.
“For that, I would like to apologize unreservedly to the Malaysian people.”
Najib said while he initiated investigations into 1MDB, he should have acted differently when questions about its dealings first arose, adding his concerns at the time were its finances and the diplomatic risks the scandal posed.
Malaysian anti-graft investigators have previously said their probes into 1MDB during Najib’s tenure had been blocked, with witnesses disappearing and death threats made against them.
‘DEEP SHOCK’
Najib’s statement comes just days after Malaysia, in its budget plans for 2025, said it would propose a new law that would allow house arrest as an alternative punishment for certain offenses.
Najib has been pushing to serve the remainder of his sentence at home and is seeking to compel the government to confirm the existence of a royal order that he says came with the pardon and recommended house arrest for him.
Najib said he was still “in deep shock” and deeply regretted the 1MDB scandal but maintained his innocence, citing a news report alleging that fugitive businessman Jho Low and two executives at Saudi oil firm Petrosaudi colluded to siphon SRC funds without the ex-premier’s knowledge in 2009 and 2010.
Low faces charges in the United States and Malaysia for his alleged central role in the scandal, while the two Petrosaudi executives were convicted by a Swiss court in August for embezzling 1MDB funds. The three men had denied wrongdoing.
“Being held legally responsible for things that I did not initiate or knowingly enable is unfair to me and I hope and pray that the judicial process will, in the end, prove my innocence,” Najib said.
Authorities have said Najib received more than $1 billion traceable to 1MDB, including a $681 million transfer in 2013. He has denied that.
Najib faces several other graft trials. A Malaysian court is set to determine on Oct. 30 whether to acquit him or ask him to enter his defense on money laundering and corruption charges in a 1MDB-related case.
Malaysia’s jailed ex-PM Najib apologizes for mishandling of 1MDB scandal
https://arab.news/cftcd
Malaysia’s jailed ex-PM Najib apologizes for mishandling of 1MDB scandal
- But former leader maintained he had no knowledge of illegal transfers from the now-defunct state fund
- Malaysia’s top court in 2022 upheld a guilty verdict against Najib for corruption and money laundering
Japan PM on defensive as election prospects dim further
- Fresh survey suggest that Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling coalition could fall short of a majority in elections on Sunday
- Adding to Ishiba’s woes is the continuing fallout from a slush fund scandal within his Liberal Democratic Party
This would be the worst result for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) — which has governed Japan for almost all of the past seven decades — since it last lost power from 2009 to 2012, as well as a major blow to Ishiba himself.
Adding to Ishiba’s woes is the continuing fallout from a slush fund scandal within the LDP that angered voters and helped torpedo his predecessor, Fumio Kishida.
Ishiba promised to not actively support LDP politicians caught up in the scandal running in the election, although they are still standing.
But according to media reports, the party has still provided 20 million yen ($132,000) each to district offices headed by these figures.
“It is truly frustrating that such reports come out at a time like this,” Ishiba said in a campaign speech on Thursday. “Those candidates will not use the money.”
“We cannot be defeated by those with biased views,” he added.
Opposition leaders pounced on Ishiba’s comments, including Yoshihiko Noda, a popular former prime minister who heads the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), the second-biggest in parliament.
“However you look at it, it is cash to secretly endorse them. Mr. Ishiba is making excuses that no one understands,” Noda, 67, said in a campaign speech.
“He is angry with these reports? What are you saying? It is the Japanese people who are angry.”
Ishiba, 67, only became party leader — on his fifth attempt — last month and took office as prime minister on October 1, calling snap elections within days to shore up his position.
LDP members picked the self-confessed defense “geek” as party leader, believing that his popularity among ordinary voters would restore the party’s fortunes.
The fan of trains, 1970s pop idols and making military models promised to create a “new Japan (that) will drastically change the nature of Japanese society.”
He pledged to revitalize depressed rural regions and to address the “quiet emergency” of Japan’s falling population by supporting families with policies like flexible working hours.
But he has rowed back his position on issues including allowing married couples to take separate surnames, and only named two women ministers in his cabinet.
Friday’s new poll by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily suggested that the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito might struggle to get the necessary 233 lower house seats needed for a majority.
Ishiba has set this threshold as his objective, and missing it would undermine his position in the LDP and mean finding other coalition partners or leading a minority government.
In voting districts, only 87 of the LDP’s 266 candidates are ahead of their rivals, while 133 are in neck-and-neck battles, many of them against CDP candidates, the top-selling Yomiuri said.
The LDP was also set to lose dozens of seats determined by proportional representation under Japan’s hybrid electoral system, the paper added.
“Regardless of what the election results are, Ishiba’s longevity as prime minister is in question,” said Rintaro Nishimura at think-tank The Asia Group.
UN report says planet to warm by 3.1 degrees Celsius without greater action
- Nations to discuss updated emissions strategies at COP29
- 1.5°C target likely out of reach without climate overshoot
TORONTO: Current climate policies will result in global warming of more than 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, according to a United Nations report on Thursday, more than twice the rise agreed to nearly a decade ago.
The annual Emissions Gap report, which takes stock of countries’ promises to tackle climate change compared with what is needed, finds the world faces as much as 3.1 C (5.6 F) of warming above pre-industrial levels by 2100 if governments do not take greater action on slashing planet-warming emissions.
Governments in 2015 signed up to the Paris Agreement and a cap of 1.5 C (2.7 F) warming to prevent a cascade of dangerous impacts.
“We’re teetering on a planetary tight rope,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a speech on Thursday. “Either leaders bridge the emissions gap, or we plunge headlong into climate disaster.”
Global greenhouse gas emissions rose by 1.3 percent between 2022 and 2023, to a new high of 57.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the report said.
Under current pledges to take future action, temperatures would still rise between 2.6 C (4.7 F) and 2.8 C (5 F) by 2100, the report found. That is in line with findings from the past three years.
“If we look at the progress toward 2030 targets, especially of the G20 member states ... they have not made a lot of progress toward their current climate targets for 2030,” said Anne Olhoff, chief scientific editor of the report.
The world has currently warmed by about 1.3 C (2.3 F).
Nations will gather next month at the annual United Nations climate summit (COP29) in Azerbaijan, where they will work to build on an agreement made last year to transition away from fossil fuels.
Negotiations in Baku will help to inform each country’s updated emissions-cutting strategy, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which are due in February 2025.
The report suggests that nations must collectively commit to and implement a cut of 42 percent on yearly greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and reach 57 percent by 2035 for any hope of preventing warming beyond 1.5 C — a target now seen as likely out of reach.
Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, urged countries to use the Baku talks to increase action in their NDCs. “Every fraction of a degree avoided counts,” she said.
Trees and power lines flattened as Cyclone Dana hits India
- Cyclones are a regular and deadly menace in the northern Indian Ocean
- At least 1.1 million people in the states of Odisha and West Bengal were relocated to storm shelters
KOLKATA: Cyclone Dana uprooted trees and power lines after making landfall on India’s east coast, with officials warning of more fierce weather on Friday.
Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific — are a regular and deadly menace in the northern Indian Ocean.
At least 1.1 million people in the states of Odisha and West Bengal were relocated to storm shelters before the eye of the cyclone reached the coast just after midnight.
District official Siddarth Swain said that the storm had left a “trail of destruction” in the coastal town of Puri.
“Many trees and electric poles are uprooted,” he added. “Makeshift shops on the sprawling beach have been blown away.”
No casualties have been reported so far.
Dana flooded parts of the coast after triggering a surge in sea levels of up to 1.15 meters (3.75 feet).
On landfall the storm had gusting winds up to 120 kilometers per hour, Kolkata-based weather bureau forecaster Somenath Dutta said.
The Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world, was hit by a “gale force wind” that caused hundreds of trees to be uprooted, West Bengal minister Bankim Chandra Hazra said.
“The cyclone also damaged hundreds of homes, blowing off roofs in coastal areas,” he added.
Major airports have been shut since Thursday night in Kolkata, India’s third-biggest city and a key travel hub, which was lashed by heavy rains.
Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world heats up due to climate change driven by burning fossil fuels.
Warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapor, which provides additional energy for storms, strengthening winds.
A warming atmosphere also allows storms to hold more water, boosting heavy rainfall.
But better forecasting and more effective evacuation planning have dramatically reduced death tolls.
In May, Cyclone Remal killed at least 48 people in India and at least 17 people in Bangladesh, according to government figures.
Turkiye to seek improved Africa cooperation in Djibouti talks, officials say
ANKARA:Turkiye’s foreign minister will travel to Djibouti next week to attend a Turkiye-Africa ministerial meeting and discuss improving cooperation between Ankara and the continent, officials from his ministry said.
NATO member Turkiye has ramped up its presence and influence in Africa in recent years, increasing trade nearly eight-fold, giving diplomatic and military support to some countries, and inking deals in various fields.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Djibouti meeting would evaluate a previous conference held in 2021 and discuss possible moves to deepen cooperation.
The meeting will be held on Nov. 2-3 and will be attended by representatives from 14 African countries, along with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the officials added.
It comes amid Turkish mediation efforts to resolve a dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia over a deal that Ethiopia agreed to lease a stretch of coastline from Somaliland, and at a time when West Africa struggles with surging terrorism.
The officials said the mediation was difficult due to the lack of trust between the parties, but that Ankara hoped for good news in coming days.
On Tuesday, Turkiye inked a cooperation agreement with Niger on mining, after having signed a similar cooperation deal with the West African nation on oil and gas in July.
Asked about the accord, the officials said Turkiye’s Mineral Research and Exploration authority had three gold mining fields in Niger, protected by Niger security forces, and planned to start production there by the end of the year.
Turkiye is competing with major powers like France, Russia and China for a foothold in Africa, forging partnerships with several nations and providing armed drones to Somalia, Ethiopia and others.
The officials said Turkiye’s provision of defense equipment and military training aimed to strengthen “national capabilities” and support counterterrorism.
“Countries that have acquired Turkish drones have increased their ground control in their countries,” said an official, citing Burkina Faso’s doubling the level of its control over the state to 65 percent using Turkish drones.
On Tuesday, Tuareg rebels in Mali said a drone strike using a Turkish drone had killed eight people and wounded 20 others.
Tropical storm leaves towns submerged, 40 dead in Philippines
- Accessibility remained a major issue for rescuers Friday, particularly in Bicol
- Government offices and schools across the main island of Luzon remained shuttered
MANILA: Philippine rescue workers battled floodwaters Friday to reach residents still trapped on the roofs of their homes as Tropical Storm Trami moved out to sea after killing at least 40 people.
Tens of thousands remained displaced after fleeing floods driven by a torrential downpour that dumped two months’ worth of rainfall in just two days in some areas.
“Many are still trapped on the roofs of their homes and asking for help,” Andre Dizon, police director for the hard-hit Bicol region, said. “We are hoping that the floods will subside today, since the rain has stopped.”
Accessibility remained a major issue for rescuers Friday, particularly in Bicol, President Ferdinand Marcos said at a press briefing.
“There were landslides in areas that didn’t have landslides before ... so I guess the soil is completely saturated, the water has nowhere to go,” he said.
The cities of Naga and Legazpi were reporting “many casualties but we haven’t been able to get in yet,” Marcos added.
As Trami departed the Philippines in the early hours, traveling west over the South China Sea, the storm’s death toll swelled as fresh reports of victims emerged.
In Batangas province south of the capital Manila, police staff sergeant Nelson Cabuso said six unidentified bodies had been found in Sampaloc village.
“The area was hit by a flash flood yesterday. Our people are still in the area to check if there are other casualties,” he said.
Another five people were killed in a flash flood in the coastal village of Subic Ilaya, police corporal Alvin de Leon said, pushing the toll to at least 40, according to an AFP tally from police and disaster officials.
While Manila was seemingly spared the kind of heavy flooding that accompanied Typhoon Gaemi in July, AFP reporters on Friday saw a subdivision south of the capital that was largely submerged.
Government offices and schools across the main island of Luzon remained shuttered Friday, and storm surge warnings were still in place along the west coast, with potential waves as high as two meters.
State weather agency specialist Jofren Habaluyas said that Batangas province had seen “two months’ worth of rain,” or 391.3 millimeters, fall over October 24 and 25.
An official tally late Thursday reported 193,000 people evacuated in the face of flooding that turned streets into rivers and half-buried some towns in sludge-like volcanic sediment set loose by the storm.
Many of those were in the Bicol region, where more than 30,000 fled Wednesday alone in the face of “unexpectedly high” flooding.
Rescuers in the region’s Naga city and Nabua municipality used boats to reach residents stranded on rooftops, many of whom sought assistance via Facebook posts.
In the Batangas town of Lemery, about 97 kilometers (60 miles) south of Manila, a hospital was forced to turn away patients as its wards and emergency rooms were flooded.
And the search for a missing fisherman whose boat sunk in the waters off Bulacan province west of Manila remained suspended on Friday due to strong currents, the local disaster office said.
About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the Philippines or its surrounding waters each year, damaging homes and infrastructure and killing dozens of people.
But a recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.
