When 1MDB, then newly established, first went to the capital market to raise money, allegedly to finance the Tun Razak Exchange, it only had an outline project in mind and was far from ready to start work. At least that is what the then directors thought.

However when Goldman Sachs were given the job of raising capital for 1 MDB they created a bond and started to sell it in the capital market.  When the bill came in 1MDB found that it was paying GS nearly 10% fees on a transaction which would normally be completed for around 1%.

Goldman’s explanation for this was that 1MDB had been in a hurry to raise the funds and that, consequently,they,GS had to take the bond onto its own books to ensure that the proceeds were immediately available.

Both GS and Najib Razak, Malaysian Prime and Finance Minister and sole power holder over all 1MDB actions, are both on the record as confirming that the funds had to be raised immediatey. That suited Goldmans who could thus justify a very unusually high fee for the job and Najib, whose intention from the start was to steal the proceeds and split them with his fellow criminals Jho Low and Petro Saudi. This time the reason for the bond issue was not the TRE but a largely fictitious oil exploration and exploitation project in Central Asia which existed mainly in the minds of its promoters.

It is relevant to note that once the money had been raised it was still not with 1MDB.  About one third of it went to Petro Saudi who, from having been an almost penniless company, became a large scale oil producer in Venezuela. The rest, via Swiss banks, ended up shared out between Najib and his partner in crime Jho Low; whose bank accounts in Singapore and Switzerland were the vehicle.

Anyone wondering how such a blatant theft could have been concealed need only realise that Najib had total control over 1MDB, was the only person authorised to make deals on its behalf and, as a quasi dictator (since dropping the quasi) controlled the policing, legal and judicial processes in Malaysia. That stranglehold is well illustrated by the events surrounding an attempt by the then Attorney General of Malaysia (ex officio Public Prosecutor) to raise a theft prosecution against Najib.  Summary expulsion from office for that legal official, smothering of the  police investigation and then the murder (naturally still unsolved) of the law officer who had had charge of the investigation. A murder which the police, whose boss is in Najib’s pocket, and wallet, have totally failed to pursue.

So all becomes clear. Malaysia is a failed State controlled by a megalomaniac Prime Minister who can and does what he wants, when he wants and how he wants.   That is the Malaysia  which the UK business and political establishments are so anxious to cosy up to and do business with.  While the rest of us are barely able to avoid vomiting.