Is Dr Mahathir the Lead Character in Malaysian House of Cards?

It now emerges that Sarawak Report was a blackmail job gone awfully wrong for the perpetrators, Petro Saudi and the Malaysian government. Mr. Xavier Justo was an employee of PetroSaudi from March 2010 to April 2011 whereby he was the head of the IT function in PetroSaudi and also an executive administrator in several other unnamed companies. He was also good friends with the CEO of PetroSaudi due to which he had privileged access to PetroSaudi’s confidential data and IT system. In March 2011, he came to know that his employment with PetroSaudi will be terminated, which made him angry, for vengeance and making a quick buck he decided to steal data from PetroSaudi’s IT system.

The data was stolen not for any morality issues but for sole purpose of making money by selling confidential data to some interested parties. In July 2013, Mr. Xavier Justo contacted one Mr. Patrick Mahony of PetroSaudi and demanded 3.5 million swiss francs for the return of the stolen data, the blackmail continued for next 5 months while Mr. Xavier Justo threatened to sell the stolen data to other interested parties should Mr. Patrick Mahony refused to buy the stolen data.

In October 2013, Mr. Xavier Justo met with Mr. Patrick Mahony at Shangri La Hotel in Bangkok where Mr. Xavier Justo verbally threatened Mr. Patrick Mahony that if PetroSaudi refuses to pay for the stolen data Mr. Xavier Justo would sell it to other parties and that it could cause damage to PetroSaudi. However, PetroSaudi refuses to pay and Mr. Patrick Mahony told Mr. Xavier Justo that PetroSaudi hadn’t done anything wrong and that the stolen date would not suggest any wrongdoing.

In May or June 2014 Mr. Xavier Justo was then contacted by Ms. Claire Brown by telephone and at that point Ms. Claire Brown who chose to remain anonymous just mentioned to Mr. Xavier Justo that she is interested in the files and suggest to meet up as she will also be in Bangkok.

They met at Plaza Athene at 10 am and that is how Ms. Claire Brown was also referred to as “Athene Ban” in his WhatsApp conversation. During the meeting, Mr. Xavier Justo did not reveal his name and he only informed Ms. Claire Brown that he was an ex-employee of PetroSaudi and that he has information with regards to PetroSaudi’s businesses including the transaction with 1MDB.

Mr.Xavier Justo also showed Ms. Claire Brown a one page sample of the screenshot of PetroSaudi’s data (email) with attachment similar to the one Mr. Xavier Justo had previously showed Mr. Patrick Mahony and Ms. Claire Brown took five pictures using her Apple Macbook. Mr. Xavier Justo informed Ms. Claire Brown that the data was stolen and both Mr. Xavier Justo and Ms. Claire Brown discussed that their association is to be kept confidential. Both it would seem, knew they were committing a crime, but still went ahead with the discussions.

Nurul Izzah

Ms. Claire Brown assured Mr. Xavier Justo that she had good relations with Mr. Gordon Brown, former prime minister of United Kingdom and with other influential politicians in Malaysia and she would be able to get him a good deal for the stolen data. A second meeting was arranged in August 2014 again at Plaza Athene, Bangkok. Mr. Xavier Justo showed 20-30 documents but did not pass anything to Ms. Claire Brown. Ms. Claire Brown was interested only in one particular document, a joint venture agreement between PetroSaudi and 1MDB, when that was shown by Mr. Xavier Justo, Ms. Claire Brown went out in search for a buyer and approached Ms. Nurul Izzah Anwar, the daughter of Mr. Anwar Ibrahim and offered to sell the stolen data to Mr. Anwar Ibrahim through Ms. Nurul Izzah Anwar.

In September 2014, Ms. Claire Brown contacted Mr. Xavier Justo to meet in Bangkok together with Ms. Nurul Izzah Anwar as Ms. Nurul Izzah Anwar was interested in buying the stolen data but she said she is short on funds and can only offer future government contracts. Mr. Xavier Justo declined as he needed the money immediately.

In February 2015, soon after Mr. Anwar Ibrahim the ex-PM was incarcerated Ms. Claire Brown contacted Mr. Xavier Justo and informed that Mr. Tony Pua would help in selling the data and getting money. Mr. Tony Pua brought into the picture Mr. Tong Koi Ong a media honcho in Malaysia who controls The Edge, an influential financial newspaper and also controls investment firms that invest in Malaysian currency and stocks.

He is also rumoured to be the front man for all the deals that ex-PM Mr. Anwar Ibrahim executed in Malaysia, he is believed to be the custodian of the ill gotten wealth of ex-PM Anwar Ibrahim. Mr. Tong could profit himself and his partners, which he did as he was one of the few people to controls a media empire in Malaysia that creates news and an investment arm that profits from the news. Mr. Tong could potentially make himself and his partners millions (if not billions) by publishing a report on the transfer of money from PetroSaudi and 1MDB controversies, in the ensuing economic and political chaos that would ensue. It was no coincidence that Mr. Anwar Ibrahim

Thereafter Mr. Tony Pua, Mr. Tong Koi Ong. Ms. Claire Brown then arrange for meeting with Mr. Xavier Justo and Mr. Tong Koi Ong together with Mr. Ho Kay Tat at Fullerton hotel Singapore where Mr. Xavier Justo agreed to sell to the data to Mr. Tong Koi Ong for USD 2 million. Both Ms. Claire Brown and Mr. Tong Koi Ong said the stolen data would be used to attack the current Malaysian government and the Malaysian prime minister. They agreed that Mr. Tong Koi Ong together with his people will copy all the original documents from Mr. Xavier Justo and Mr. Tong Koi Ong will transfer the money the following day. Mr. Xavier Justo agreed. A second drive was handed by Mr. Xavier Justo to Ms. Claire Brown. Few days later Ms. Claire Brown said data was corrupted and Mr. Xavier Justo couriered another memory stick using DHL to London.

This is precisely what happened. Mr. Tong and Ms. Claire Brown published the report on the dealings of Petro Saudi and 1MDB and since then whole of Malaysia has been into a tizzy. The accusations that 1MDB defrauded Malaysia of billions of dollars was created and as is with gullible population and loss to exchequer, 1MDB became a symbol of corruption and now there was “proof”.

As business deals go, there are no guarantees of return, proving that Petro Saudi and 1MDB wilfully created a loss to the exchequer would have been an uphill task, but proving that politicians took money is an easy thing. In the field of oil and gas losses can be accumulated even in a proven field, India’s Reliance and BP deal for gas exploration is a case in point, where BP has lost a humongous 80% or $5.76 Billion of its $7.2 Billion investment, a value much larger than the estimated $1.83 Billion estimated to have gone bad in Petro Saudi and 1MDB deal.

The report was published and everyone involved benefited except for the guy who stole data and created the starting point, there was an issue of payment to be made to Mr. Xavier Justo, he was now chasing all concerned for the payment.

He was informed they there is a problem to transfer such big amount of money to Mr. Xavier Justo. Mr. Xavier Justo was now a very worried man, he was now a criminal who had been used and there was no money, also when he saw the report and the subsequent leaks he was even more worried, the data that was posted on the internet and elsewhere had been doctored for convenience.

Mr. Xavier Justo had been used by someone big for personal gains and he was looking at doing some jail time as he was the only person who had broken the law while all others were covered. When he contacted Ms. Claire Brown, she assured him that nothing would happen to him as she was protected by a big guy – who would protect him and her as the government would change very soon.

When he probed further Ms. Claire Brown told him that she has signed some documents with Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad and Ms. Claire Brown told Mr. Xavier Justo that she is protected by Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad, Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad in fact gave her a red carpet treatment in Malaysia and has invited Mr. Xavier Justo to see Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad in Malaysia, Ms. Claire Brown also mentioned that she will discuss the stolen data with Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad and his aide Mr. Sayed Yusof and it is safe for Mr. Xavier Justo to travel to Malaysia as Ms. Claire Brown has the support of Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad. Mr. Xavier Justo was arrested in July and sentenced to 3 years in jail.

We can understand why Mr. Tong Koi Ong misled Mr. Xavier Justo to give him the stolen data, but why is Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad supporting Ms. Claire Brown who has been single handedly trying to take on the government and bring down Malaysian economy? Mr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad knows that there is no other way of attacking the Prime Minister and bringing him down, he continues to remain popular among the masses especially in the rural areas and the low income sections of the society.

Corruption in Malaysia is anyways not an issue as almost all of its top leaders have been accused of corruption or proven to have benefitted illegally, even Dr. Mahathir’s sons are one of the richest people in Malaysia, with Malaysia being the only country where such a thing is possible. With Mr. Tong Koi Ong, Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad has found an accomplice who controls the newspapers and also the financial markets, Dr. Mahathir and Mr. Anwar Ibrahim have finally found an ally who could potentially try and bring down the government, where Dr. Mahathir would then step in and rescue the state and the nation and let Mr. Anwar Ibrahim off the hook after a few months of him or his appointee being made the Prime Minister. In the world of Malaysia where every politician is looking for power and money, the stage has been set by the wily old Dr. Mahathir to bring himself into the contention once more, maybe to make his sons the richest people in the world. - http://malaysiadailyopinion.com/