Lets be fair

Lets be fair

People may not be able to be fair to SC's Zarinah Anwar probably just because her husband is an alleged crook, but I hope they can at least be fair to her team who scored quite a success today.
Here is the story :

Two former directors sentenced to jail and fined for CBT

The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today found two former directors of Multicode Electronics Industries (M) Berhad, guilty of committing criminal breach of trust under section 409 of the Penal Code involving over RM26 million of funds belonging to the company.

Gordon Toh Chun Toh was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment while Dato’ Abul Hassan bin Mohamed Rashid received a jail sentence of six years. Gordon Toh, a Singaporean, was also ordered to pay a fine of RM1 million, in default two years imprisonment.

In passing the sentence, Judge Dato’ Jagjit Singh said “A pre-meditated white collar scandal executed with precision within T+3 is how I would sum up the whole case”.  He emphasized that the sentence must send a strong message to offenders and would-be offenders that crime does not pay.  He also pointed out that the victim, Multicode, is a public listed company which lost millions as a result, causing its public shareholders to suffer as well.  He said that for the business and commercial sector to flourish, the corporate environment must be free of white collar crimes.

Gordon and Dato’ Abul Hassan were charged in the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur in March 2009 with having engaged in an act which operated as a fraud on Multicode by causing the uplifting of fixed deposits belonging to Multicode under section 87A of the Securities Industry Act 1983.  An alternative charge of CBT was preferred at the same time under section 409 of the Penal Code.  The Prosecution called a total of 31 witnesses over the period of the trial.

Joshua Kevin represented Toh while Ng Aik Guan for Abu Hassan.

In mitigation, Toh said he suffers from cancer while Abul Hassan said he has heart ailment.

Deputy Public Prosecuter from Securities Commission Shanti Geoffray called on the Court to pass a sentence suitable for the severity of offence and public's interest.

Now, this guy I am sure is a crook

Now, this guy I am sure is a crook

I am not sure that Zarinah Anwar of SC is a crook because there is no evidence to convict her as a crook yet. To me, the fact that she is married to an alleged crook does not makes her a crook. We need evidence before we condemned someone. To make it simple, lets put it this way - an Umno man should not be deemed as a traitor among his peers just because he is in love with a DAP girl. Similarly, a policeman should not be judged as a criminal just because his wife is running an illegal gambling den without his knowledge. Now, those who thinks Zarinah is a crook, please do lodge a police or MACC report. Once the evidence are presented and accepted by the court, u all do go ahead and lynch her. Otherwise, I think you all are being unfair.

Now as of why I am so sure that Mat Sabu is a crook - the evidence is there for all to see. Just watch this video and I rest my case.

And in remembrance of those he denigrated

  .

Is she really a crook?

Is she really a crook?

I have to admit that I know nuts about the financial market or the mechanism which control it. So when the Securities Commission or rather its chairman Zarinah Anwar came under relentless attack by bloggers and also the MSM over her husband's wheelings and dealings, I decided to do a bit of checking..It's now more than two weeks since the attack begins and it is yet to show any sign of abateing. Except for some obscure financial bloggers who defended her track record, Zarinah has been portrayed by all sides (pro-government and anti-government) as a really evil person in cohort with her husband in plundering the people's money.  Even Mat Sabu of the communist fame got more backers than her.

  Are all the accusations against Zarinah true? Admittedly, I am not sure.

I tried to find out more about Zarinah and found that she has always been very professional since way back then when she was with the AG's Chamber, and also while with Shell Malaysia, before being asked by the then PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to bolster SC. Her performance at SC has been good. It was however later on tainted by the ECM Libra-Avenue Capital saga and the alleged Kenmark mishandling of journalists issue. She survived those but made a lot more enemies adding to the long list she already accumulated from her iron lady approach in handling the regulatory body.
  As for now, I guess everyone have already made up their mind what they think of Zarinah, thus I was rather more inclined to find out more the human interest side of her story. Unfortunately, I can't find much as she is not the fame-seeker type like her sister Zainah Anwar of Sisters in Islam.

   This is her profile as given by the Malaysian Accounting Standard Board :

Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar is the Chairman of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) since 1 April 2006.  She had served as the Deputy Chief Executive of the SC and member of the Commission since 1 December 2001.  Tan Sri Zarinah is also the Vice Chairman of the Emerging Markets Committee of IOSCO and represents the Committee on the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation Monitoring Board.  Tan Sri Zarinah currently chairs the Malaysian Venture Capital Development Council (MVCDC) and the Capital Market Development Fund (CMDF).  She is also the Vice Chairman of the Asian Institute of Finance Malaysia (AIF).
In addition, Tan Sri Zarinah is a member of the Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority (LOFSA), the Financial Reporting Foundation (FRF), Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC), and the board of directors of the Institut Integriti Malaysia (IIM).
Prior to joining the SC, Tan Sri Zarinah was the Deputy Chairman of Shell Malaysia.  She graduated with an LLB (Hons) from the University of Malaya.


  The more interesting  nuggets I found out while searching about Zarinah was however the story about her family, in particular her father  Tan Sri Haji Anwar bin Abdul Malik, who was credited as the man who gave the United Malays National Organisation or UMNO its name – initially United Malays Organisation.
It was at a meeting in Batu Pahat when Anwar, considered to be one of  the seven Umno founders from Johor Baru met Datuk Onn Jaafar to call for a unification of all the Malay nationalist groups following the introduction of Malayan Union by the British.
Anwar was Datuk Onn’s private secretary when the later was Johor Menteri Besar.
Zarinah and her siblings also have familial ties with other prominent Umno families.
Zarinah's step-sister Marinah Anwar for instance has her daughter married to Mokhzani Mahathir.

 Family photo of Zarinah when she was a little girl. Guess who among the little girls is she?

Zarinah's dad being feted by Umno leaders. The photo was taken at the residence of  Johor MB Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman who seems to look quite funny here. The guy standing next to the wheelchair need no introduction I think.

Zarinah in action on one of her better PR days.