As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on April 17, 2017
1. Money is no longer in the form of coins and currency notes. Today money may be in the form of cheques, credit cards, entries in the account books of banks, telegraphic transfers, even bit coins.
2. But whatever form that money takes, except for small amounts, all others must be recorded in writing or some form of permanent records.
3. Money in the banks may be in the form of coins, currency notes or gold. But in whatever form the value they represent must be as stated in account books. Much of the money dealt in banking transactions do not exist except in the account books of their banks. Banks may therefore lend money which they don’t have. This is necessary because there cannot be enough coins or currency notes minted for the needs of business.
4. We hear much these days of huge sums of money being owned by the rich. Actually they do not have the money in cash i.e. coins and currency notes. They only have entries in the bank books indicating the money they have with the banks.
5. If they want to use their money for payment of goods or services, they merely issue cheques to the amount.
6. Today they may use a credit card which would be accepted by the seller of goods or service, which the seller can claim from the bank. Usually the claim involves a transfer from the account of the buyer to the account of the seller in the bank.
7. If the seller needs to use the money in his accounts, he merely issues a cheque or he uses his credit card.
8. No cash in the form of coins and currency notes are involved at anytime.
9. When a large sum of money is paid to a person for whatever reason, the money could be in the form of a cheque. The cheque has to be deposited in a bank where the sum is credited to the account of the receipient. The cheque is retained by the bank but the stub is retained by the depositor. Of course the depositor can also maintain a book recording the payments made to the bank, or the receipt of money from the bank. In addition the cheques can hold record of the transaction.
10. If for example USD681 million is donated to a person, then this amount will be in the record of the donor’s bank in the first place. There will be records in the bank of the money deposited with it. These records will have details of the source of money, the form of money and a lot of other details.
11. When the money is given to a receipient, the source bank will have records of the acts involved in instructing the bank, the form of transfer, receipts by the receipient or the receipient’s bank charges etc.
12. The receipient bank will credit the amount in the account of the receipient with details of the donor’s bank.
13. If subsequently the receipient spends the money, for whatever purpose, it will be recorded by the bank (debited), recorded in the cheques issued and if the cheque is cashed, the cash paid out as cash or cheques or transfer to the account of the creditor would all be recorded.
14. Clearly an investigator can follow the records of the movements of the USD681 million including the return of USD620 million to the generous Saudi Prince.
15. Banking secrecy should not be in the way of an investigation by Government authorities investigating criminal acts.
16. The mere letter of admission by the generous donor is not enough. Neither can the decision of the Attorney General that there has been no wrongdoings be accepted without all the records aforementioned.
17. Even swearing on the Quran is not acceptable as we cannot tell how strong is the faith of the swearer.
18. So, what can be believed is that the USD681 million or RM2.6 billion in the account of the Prime Minister is 1MDB money. And unless it can be proven otherwise the money must have been stolen. The person stealing money must be classified as a thief whether he is punished or not.
