[Peetwo]

Beaker to continue kicking the tin

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/20...sponsible/

In the latest missive from the ICAO boss he acknowledges that Team Beaker will continue leading the search for the missing aircraft, even though Malaysia should be the lead, as the responsible state! Apparently Australia has more money, hence it falls back on to us and the beard on/beard off Beaker. Good on you ICAO. I'm not sure Beaker will like spending precious money, however being the media tart that he is it will give him the opportunity to mince in front of the cameras.

To be con't............

Here you go Gobbles, I think this is the original...P2

Search for MH370


$150m spent, but 'hunt must continue for air safety's sake'
      

Japan Coast Guard's Mr Koji Kubota was one of those who participated in the search over the southern Indian Ocean for debris after Flight MH370 went missing in March last Year.PHOTO:REUTERS    Mr Raymond Benjamin

Published
Jul 13, 2015, 5:00 am SGT 

UN aviation body chief says it is the responsibility of Malaysia, China and Australia to see to it that the plane is found
Karamjit Kaur

Aviation Correspondent
karam@sph.com.sg

The search for a Malaysia Airlines plane which was presumed to have crashed more than 16 months ago has already cost about €100 million (S$150 million), or more than €200,000 a day.

The search expenses are being borne mainly by Australia, Malaysia and China, whose citizens accounted for more than six in 10 passengers on board the ill-fated flight.
They do not include indirect costs such as assistance rendered to families of the passengers, said Mr Raymond Benjamin, secretary-general of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a United Nations arm which oversees global commercial aviation.

Flight MH370 went missing about an hour after it left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8 last year, with 239 people on board.

Despite intensive search efforts in the Indian Ocean into which the plane is believed to have plunged, no physical trace of the Boeing 777 jet has been found.

WHY PLANE MUST BE FOUND
We don't know what exactly happened in the cockpit so we don't know if it was a security issue or a safety issue. We have never had a situation where an aircraft flew for seven hours before crashing.
MR RAYMOND BENJAMIN, secretary-general of the International Civil Aviation Organisation

In an exclusive interview with The Straits Times on Friday, Mr Benjamin said the aircraft, which allegedly flew for hours without any contact with the ground before it ended its journey, had to be found if the mystery of its disappearance was ever to be resolved.

"We don't know what exactly happened in the cockpit so we don't know if it was a security issue or a safety issue. We have never had a situation where an aircraft flew for seven hours before crashing."

Mr Benjamin, who was in Singapore for an aviation cyber-security conference organised by the Transport Ministry, said it was important to know the cause of an accident to prevent a repeat. "Without the aircraft wreckage, we don't know."

But with little clue as to its location and the consistently rough seas and high winds in the areas being searched, the odds have been stacked against search teams.

As the plane is thought to be in Australia's search and rescue zone, it agreed soon after the incident to lead the hunt for the plane.

But the country, which lost six nationals in the tragedy, is starting to buckle under the financial strain.

The cost to date is already more than three times the amount that was spent, over two years, in the hunt for Air France's Flight AF447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009.

Australia, which has forked out more than any other country, has now asked for support from other Indian Ocean coastal nations and gone to the ICAO for clarity on the country that should take ultimate responsibility for such deep-sea search operations.

Singapore, deploying air and naval resources, was one of many nations involved in the initial phase of the search.

National University of Singapore professor of aviation law Alan Tan said there are no international agreements on the country or party that should bear the costs of an aircraft search.

The Chicago Convention, which regulates global aviation, says that when a plane crashes into international waters, the country of registry - in this case, Malaysia - takes the lead and can request the nearest state to assist.

Prof Tan said: "Australia's financial commitment is voluntary and would have been offered as a matter of diplomatic relations.

"Australia is a wealthy country and that is partly why the search has gone on for so long. But even then, there is clearly a limit to how long the Australians can continue to conduct and finance the search."

In the case of the Air France crash, the aircraft manufacturer, Airbus, contributed to the costs of the search.

"But that itself was highly unusual, and in a case like MH370, where it is still a mystery whether the plane's mechanics had anything to do with its loss, it would be difficult to force the manufacturers to pay search costs," Prof Tan said.

"The reality, then, is that the question of who foots the bill will probably be left to individual states and how they negotiate this diplomatically," he said.

Even as the ICAO has said it would review global conventions following Australia's concerns, Mr Benjamin does not foresee that the hunt will be called off.

"I do not believe the search will be stopped. It will continue for some time," he said, adding it was the responsibility of Malaysia, China and Australia to see to it that the plane is found.

Mr Benjamin said: "For the moment, there is a strong will on the part of all of these parties to continue and, in particular, China and Malaysia."

 

Beaker to continue kicking the tin

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/20...sponsible/

In the latest missive from the ICAO boss he acknowledges that Team Beaker will continue leading the search for the missing aircraft, even though Malaysia should be the lead, as the responsible state! Apparently Australia has more money, hence it falls back on to us and the beard on/beard off Beaker. Good on you ICAO. I'm not sure Beaker will like spending precious money, however being the media tart that he is it will give him the opportunity to mince in front of the cameras.

To be con't............

WHAT? The Duck is still there? What tf is wrong with these Agencies? Have they all just said "Phuket" or are they just trying to duck it? ... what tf is with the duck?

Gold pure gold @Felinenut - AP Choc Frog for you...MTF P2

Ps Hmm...this is interesting??

Bribery scandal linked to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak


Date July 14, 2015 - 4:32PM

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Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker, John Garnaut
 

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak with Australian prime minister Tony Abbott in Kuala Lumpur last year. Photo: Andrew Meares

Malaysia is blocking the Australian government's requests for information over a corruption scandal which may involve the country's Prime Minister, Najib Razak.

Fairfax Media understands that senior officials in Canberra are aware of intelligence that implicates people in the offices of both Mr Najib and his predecessor, Abdullah Badawi, in allegedly improper dealings involving two Australian Reserve Bank firms over contracts to print polymer bank notes.

But Malaysia has ignored a formal mutual assistance request from the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department to hand over sensitive information about the financial dealings of a group of Malaysian middlemen embroiled in Australia's most important bribery case.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi holds hands with his then deputy Najib Razak (left) in 2008. Photo: Tim Chong

The Malaysian middlemen are allegedly implicated in the bribery scandal, which has sparked the ongoing prosecution of several Australian businessmen who worked for two RBA firms – Securency and Note Printing Australia. 

In another sensational development linked to the case, an Australian judge has accused WikiLeaks of blatant criminal conduct in publishing online last year a suppressed court order naming Mr Najib. It's also been revealed that WikiLeaks is under federal police investigation for the breach.

The RBA bribery scandal involves allegations that Malaysian officials were to be bribed as part of a scheme by the two Reserve Bank companies to win contracts to turn Malaysia's currency from paper notes to polymer between the late 1990s and 2009.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak has been linked to a corruption scandal. Photo: Olivia Harris

Fairfax Media can reveal that the scandal is particularly sensitive in Malaysia because some of the allegedly corrupt middlemen are suspected of having close dealings with figures in the offices of both Prime Minister Najib and his predecessor, Abdullah Badawi.

It's understood that while he was deputy prime minister, Mr Najib's office was allegedly used by a middleman to negotiate a kickback from one of the Reserve Bank firms.

A representative for Mr Najib has dismissed the claims and is threatening legal action. The information about Mr Najib and Mr Badawi is not derived from the Australian court proceedings, but from an ongoing investigation by Fairfax Media involving high-level sources across Australasia.

However, on Tuesday afternoon, Victoria's Supreme Court revoked a suppression order obtained last year by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and which names Mr Najib.

The court order had prevented the publication of any information aired in ongoing Reserve Bank bribery court proceedings that "reveals, implies, suggests or alleges" that "Mohammad Najib Abdul Razak, currently Prime Minister (since 2009) and Finance Minister (since 2008) of Malaysia" ever "received or attempted to receive a bribe or improper payment".

The order also prevented the naming of former prime minister Badawi and several top politicians from Indonesia and Vietnam, where bribes were also allegedly paid by RBA firms to win contracts. 

The court had initially agreed a suppression order was necessary to avoid unfairly implicating foreign leaders who were not being formally accused of any wrongdoing and in order to protect Australia's "national security" and "to prevent damage to Australia's international relations".

"DFAT's concern was that the publication of the suppressed information, in relation to the named persons [who include Mr Najib], would offend or embarrass them in circumstances that may have adverse consequences for Australia," Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said in a recent finding. 

But in revoking the order, Justice Hollingworth said the earlier online publication of the suppression order by WikiLeaks meant that any ongoing attempt to keep secret its contents was futile. 

The judge also revealed that the federal police "are investigating conduct of WikiLeaks and whoever supplied the DFAT order to WikiLeaks". 

The judge said the online dissemination of the order by WikiLeaks, which is headed by Julian Assange, was "a clear and deliberate breach of law" that was also accompanied by a WikiLeaks press release "full of sensational, inaccurate allegations".

While the court has stressed that "none of the named persons [including Mr Najib and Mr Badawi] is a person whom the accused are alleged to have conspired to bribe", it is understood that the offices of both Malaysian leaders have been implicated in suspected corrupt dealings. 
 
No overseas politicians have been charged or formally accused of conspiring to receive bribes, with the prosecution case restricted to allegations that overseas central bank officials, rather than any ministers, were bribed between 1999 and 2004. This is despite evidence suggesting that alleged bribes were paid by the RBA firms until late 2009 and that overseas politicians may have been complicit in the scandal.  
One well-placed source said he was told informally by the federal police that the agency was told its investigation was "not to go certain places".

A prominent opposition MP said the Malaysian public deserved to know why Mr Najib or his representatives had personally met with officers from one of the RBA firms in Malaysia.

"These questions could not come at a more important time in Malaysia," said Rafizi Ramli, Secretary-General of the People's Justice Party, referring to a series of huge corruption scandals that threaten to engulf Mr Najib.

Mr Rafizi warned that "the Australian government will be seen as being complicit with Mr Najib in his effort to stay in power" if it went to further lengths to prevent disclosure of crucial information.

Fairfax Media has previously reported that a Malaysian middleman and former politician, Dato Abdullah Hasnan, sent an email to the RBA in November 2007 in which he stated he had "managed to personally convince my prime minister/Finance minister [Abdullah Badawi] and the Malaysian cabinet to accept and adopt the polymer bank note technology".

At the time of the email, Mr Najib was deputy prime minister and Mr Badawi was working alongside an alleged bribe payer.

Malaysia's failure to respond to the federal government assistance request in the bribery case underscores the flimsy nature of regional anti-corruption efforts, which are routinely undermined by politicians blocking investigations that threaten them or their associates.  
A well-placed Canberra source told Fairfax Media that Mr Najib's government had blocked the mutual assistance request because of the suspected involvement of top Malaysian officials.

The refusal from Malaysia has hampered efforts by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to make its case that former senior executives from two Reserve Bank firms conspired to bribe Malaysian officials. The Attorney-General's Department declined to comment.

The Malaysian government is under further pressure from revelations last month from Fairfax Media that senior Malaysian officials were involved in in an unrelated bribery scandal involving the purchase of multimillion-dollar Australian properties. The properties were bought by a Malaysian government agency in return for kickbacks wired to Malaysian officials by Australian developers.

The Fairfax Media reports sparked raids by the federal police and the recent suspension of two top officials from Malaysian agency MARA, Datuk Mohammad Lan Allani and Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rahim. 

Malaysia's largest financial scandal, however, involves allegations that nearly $700 million from a sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), was siphoned into a private bank account in Mr Najib's name.

Mr Najib has said he did not take any funds for personal gain. Media outlets and bloggers have reportedly been threatened with legal action for reporting the allegations.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/bribery-scandal-linked-to-malaysian-prime-minister-najib-razak-20150714-gib8nr.html#ixzz3fqmkDOO4