This is from the New York Times here : http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/09/19/world/asia/award-malaysia-children-group-unesco.html?referer=
By LOUISE STORY
September 18, 2016
Organizers of a high-profile event to be held during the annual United Nations conclave this week have at the last minute canceled an award they had planned to give a Malaysian organization over concerns about its links to Malaysia’s first lady, whose family is mired in corruption allegations.
The event, to be held Thursday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, honors people and groups that have fought extremism.
September 18, 2016
Organizers of a high-profile event to be held during the annual United Nations conclave this week have at the last minute canceled an award they had planned to give a Malaysian organization over concerns about its links to Malaysia’s first lady, whose family is mired in corruption allegations.
The event, to be held Thursday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, honors people and groups that have fought extremism.
Among the scheduled honorees was Permata, a Malaysian children’s organization that was founded several years ago under the auspices of Rosmah Mansor, the wife of the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak.
Ms. Rosmah is known for her lavish spending on luxury items like Hermès Birkin bags.
The couple’s family and close friends are at the center of a Justice Department lawsuit claiming that $1 billion in assets — including a $30.6 million penthouse at the Time Warner Center in New York and a $39 million mansion in the Los Angeles hills — were bought with money stolen from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, called 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB.
A statement on Sunday from Tudor Parfitt, a scholar involved in the event, confirmed that the honor had been withdrawn.
The statement said that questions had been raised about the sources of Permata’s funding, and that although the event organizers were not aware of any specific wrongdoing, they did not have time to vet the organization.
The event is co-hosted by the head of Unesco, Irina Bokova. Ms. Bokova is running to be secretary general of the United Nations, so her actions are also being closely scrutinized.
Questions surrounding Malaysia’s prime minister and his wife have intensified since the Justice Department lawsuit was filed two months ago.
Ms. Rosmah is not named in it, and Mr. Najib is referred only to as Malaysian Official 1. But Ms. Rosmah’s son from a first marriage — Riza Aziz, a movie producer — is named. The suit claims that Mr. Najib had $731 million from 1MDB, a government investment account, moved through his personal accounts.
Mr. Najib has said he broke no laws and took nothing for personal gain.
Malaysia is one of the 10 countries that hold a rotating seat on the United Nations Security Council, and Mr. Najib in recent years has had a big presence at the annual General Assembly session.
When Mr. Najib and Ms. Rosmah traveled to New York in the past, they stayed in the lavish Mandarin Oriental hotel, which is in the Time Warner complex, the location of one of the pricey properties included in the United States government’s asset forfeiture suit.
That condo was purchased by a shell company and traced by The New York Times in a 2015 investigation to Jho Low, a close associate of the prime minister and his wife.
Mr. Low, also prominently named in the Justice Department case, has burnished his image with ties to the United Nations as well. In 2014, his family’s foundation, Jynwel, was a major sponsor of the Social Good Summit, an event thematically tied to the General Assembly session. And late that year, the Jynwel Foundation invested $25 million in Irin, the United Nations’ news service.
A spokesman for the prime minister could not be reached for comment, and neither Unesco nor the United Nations Foundation immediately responded to a request for comment.
Follow Louise Story on Twitter @louisestory.
Somini Sengupta contributed reporting from the United Nations, and Richard C. Paddock from Bangkok.
Ms. Rosmah is known for her lavish spending on luxury items like Hermès Birkin bags.
The couple’s family and close friends are at the center of a Justice Department lawsuit claiming that $1 billion in assets — including a $30.6 million penthouse at the Time Warner Center in New York and a $39 million mansion in the Los Angeles hills — were bought with money stolen from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, called 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB.
A statement on Sunday from Tudor Parfitt, a scholar involved in the event, confirmed that the honor had been withdrawn.
The statement said that questions had been raised about the sources of Permata’s funding, and that although the event organizers were not aware of any specific wrongdoing, they did not have time to vet the organization.
The event is co-hosted by the head of Unesco, Irina Bokova. Ms. Bokova is running to be secretary general of the United Nations, so her actions are also being closely scrutinized.
Questions surrounding Malaysia’s prime minister and his wife have intensified since the Justice Department lawsuit was filed two months ago.
Ms. Rosmah is not named in it, and Mr. Najib is referred only to as Malaysian Official 1. But Ms. Rosmah’s son from a first marriage — Riza Aziz, a movie producer — is named. The suit claims that Mr. Najib had $731 million from 1MDB, a government investment account, moved through his personal accounts.
Mr. Najib has said he broke no laws and took nothing for personal gain.
Malaysia is one of the 10 countries that hold a rotating seat on the United Nations Security Council, and Mr. Najib in recent years has had a big presence at the annual General Assembly session.
When Mr. Najib and Ms. Rosmah traveled to New York in the past, they stayed in the lavish Mandarin Oriental hotel, which is in the Time Warner complex, the location of one of the pricey properties included in the United States government’s asset forfeiture suit.
That condo was purchased by a shell company and traced by The New York Times in a 2015 investigation to Jho Low, a close associate of the prime minister and his wife.
Mr. Low, also prominently named in the Justice Department case, has burnished his image with ties to the United Nations as well. In 2014, his family’s foundation, Jynwel, was a major sponsor of the Social Good Summit, an event thematically tied to the General Assembly session. And late that year, the Jynwel Foundation invested $25 million in Irin, the United Nations’ news service.
A spokesman for the prime minister could not be reached for comment, and neither Unesco nor the United Nations Foundation immediately responded to a request for comment.
Follow Louise Story on Twitter @louisestory.
Somini Sengupta contributed reporting from the United Nations, and Richard C. Paddock from Bangkok.
Comments : Ha ha ha now we know why MO1 is NOT attending the UN General Assembly in New York. He is sending Java Man to attend instead. Malu nak tunjuk muka - award for the wife sudah kena tarik balik.
This is very bad news for Malaysia and especially for FLOP and MO1. Bad news because the whole country suffers embarrasment. That is a given.
It is even worse news for FLOP and MO1 because I think this has been done on purpose.
The United Nations people cannot be so dumb as to make an award to FLOP WITHOUT doing some background check. They must have known way before hand that MO1 and FLOP have been in the Press for all the wrong reasons.
Yet they still went ahead and made the announcement and THEN pulled the plug on FLOP. I think this was done on purpose, to embarrass FLOP and MO1 outside the country, (since this couple cannot be embarrassed by anything at all INSIDE the country).
On top of that they knew that MO1 had been invited to attend the UN General Assembly. This was designed to cause maximum embarrassment for MO1. This is also a direct insult to a sitting Head of State.
The question is why go to such lengths?
The whole world is now telling Najib and Rosmah "Inside your country you maybe big time cow d*ng, but outside you are just Third World chicken sh*ts."
The whole world is now telling Najib and Rosmah "Inside your country you maybe big time cow d*ng, but outside you are just Third World chicken sh*ts."
p.s. Here is Bernama's earlier report, singing the praises of FLOP:
KL : Isteri PM, Rosmah dipilih untuk menerima anugerah 'Lead by Example' oleh UNESCO.
KSU Kementerian Pendidikan Alias Ahmad berkata anugerah itu diberikan atas usaha dan sumbangan Rosmah dalam membangunkan potensi kanak-kanak, terutama di bawah Program Permata.
"Pengiktirafan ini sekali gus memberi penghormatan kepada Malaysia di atas keberkesanan dalam menyediakan pendidikan berkualiti dan pembangunan holistik kanak-kanak," katanya dalam satu kenyataan hari ini (17 September).
Beliau berkata anugerah UN itu julung kali diadakan bagi mengiktiraf dan meraikan sumbangan beberapa individu di seluruh dunia yang menyumbang kepada keharmonian dan keamanan manusia sejagat.
Anugerah itu akan disampaikan pada majlis Penghormatan Kepada Wira-wira Dalam Kempen Global Menentang Keganasan pada 22 September ini di Muzium Kesenian Metropolitan, New York.
"Penganugerahan berprestij ini merupakan anjuran bersama UNESCO dan enam tokoh wanita ulung dunia yang terlibat dalam bidang pendidikan, hak asasi manusia, pemerkasaan wanita dan advokasi kewarganegaraan global," katanya.
- BERNAMA
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