150 years jail for arch fraudster

Bernard Madoff receives maximum 150 year sentence

In a sign of the anger that the fraud has stirred, US marshals were positioned behind Madoff, who was dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, in court as a protective measure

• David Teather
• The Guardian, Tuesday 30 June 2009 17.03 BST
• Article history



Bernard Madoff faces Judge Denny Chin, in front of some of his victims, during his sentencing. Photograph: Christine Cornell/AFP/Getty Images The disgraced financier Bernie Madoff has been sentenced to the maximum 150 years in prison for masterminding a $65bn (£38bn) fraud that wrecked the lives of thousands of investors. The US district judge Denny Chin described the fraud as "staggering" and said the "breach of trust was massive" and that a message was being sent by the sentence. There had been no letters submitted in support of Madoff's character, he said. Victims in the courtroom clapped as the term was read out. The sentence, which means the 71-year old fraudster will end his days in prison, was handed down at an emotional hearing in a lower Manhattan courtroom, where victims were given the chance to tell how the fraud had destroyed their livelihoods. Dominic Ambrosino, an ex-prison officer, said he and his wife Ronnie Sue had their "entire life savings wiped out" by Madoff. Another said Madoff had "cheated so he could lead a life of luxury"; another still said Madoff had "discarded her like roadkill" and that she was now living on food stamps. In passing down the sentence, judge Chin referred to one instance where he had comforted a widow and then taken her money. He will serve his sentence in the US north-east. In a sign of the anger that the fraud has stirred, US marshals were positioned behind Madoff, who was dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, in court as a protective measure. According to reporters in the courtroom, Madoff sat looking down in front of him as his victims gave vent to their fury. Standing in front of the judge, Madoff appeared remorseful. "I have left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out." He said he had made a terrible mistake and was tormented by what had happened. "I cannot make an excuse for my behaviour". He said had deceived his family and that his wife Ruth cried herself to sleep every night. He described reports that he and his wife were unsympathetic to victims as untrue". Madoff pleaded guilty in March to 11 counts of fraud, theft and money laundering. The sentencing, in what has been one of the biggest frauds ever seen on Wall Street, was eagerly anticipated. Described by victims in written testimony as a "thief and a monster", Madoff has become an emblem for the greed that pitched the world into recession. Nearly 9,000 victims have filed claims for losses in Madoff's corrupt financial empire. Assistant US attorney, Marc Litt, had been pressing for 150 years, due to the "scope, duration and nature" of the fraud. Madoff's lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, had called for leniency and was hoping to keep the sentence as low as 12 years, asking the judge to "set aside the emotion and hysteria attendant to this case." He described Madoff in court as a "deeply flawed human being" and said the maximum sentence was "absurd". He also noted that he had given himself up and was co-operating with authorities, although judge Chin said he had not told everything that he knew about the fraud. Madoff's famous victims included the film directors Steven Speilberg and Pedro Almodóvar, actors Kevin Bacon and Zsa Zsa Gabor and the author Elie Wiesel.

Ruined lives

But there were many more anonymous and less wealthy people who had their lives ruined by Madoff, including teachers, famers and mechanics. Many invested in so called "feeder funds", which often did little to advertise their connection to Madoff, and they had little or no idea that their money had been lost until they received letters from their financial advisors. The scandal has been linked to at at least two suicides, including a British former soldier, he said he could not face the prospect of bankruptcy after losing his savings in the Madoff fraud. In written statements ahead of the sentencing, more than 100 victims detailed how Madoff had wrecked their lives and in many cases squandered their pensions. Jack Cutter, an 80-year-old from Colorado and former engineer, said he had been forced back to work and taken a job as a meat clerk in a local grocery store. Korean war veteran Allan Goldstein said he and his wife had been forced to sell their home and were living in their daughter's spare room. Another, Julie Behar, wrote that Madoff deserved a "sentence befitting a thief and murderer" while a Connecticut doctor said the entire retirement plan of his practice had been wiped out, leaving 140 employees with nothing. Professional investors were also fooled. A fund managed by Nicola Horlick, described as the City's "superwoman", had 9% of its cash invested with Madoff. The demand for access to the sentencing were so high that two additional rooms were provided for defrauded investors, media and spectators to watch on closed-circuit television. The focus of the investigation is now expected to shift to Madoff's wife Ruth and the couple's two sons, Andrew and Mark, who both worked for the business. They claim they had no knowledge of the fraud and have not faced any charges but many victims are sceptical that Madoff could have managed the scheme on his own. His sons have not visited him in prison. The only other person to face charges has been an accountant accused of helping to mismanage Madoff's books.

Fixture on the New York scene

The disgraced financier built his career and his one-time glowing reputation from nothing. He raised money to set up his first investment company by taking summer jobs as a lifeguard on Rockaway Beach, a down at heal neighbourhood in Queens, and later installing sprinkler systems. During the 1990s, he served as chairman of Nasdaq, the electronic share trading marketplace that competes with the New York Stock Exchange. He also became well known for being something of a philanthropist, making multi-million dollar donation to hospitals, cancer charities and Jewish groups. He became a fixture on the New York social scene and met many of his investors at upmarket parties. He lived with his wife Ruth in a $7m home on New York's swanky Upper East Side and the couple also owned homes in the Hamptons on Long Island and in Palm Beach, Florida. His wife still lives in their Upper East Side home and recently snapped at tabloid photographers as they pursued her on the New York subway. Last weeek, a judge issued a preliminary $171bn fofeiture striping Madoff of all his personal property and $80m in assets his wife Ruth claimed was hers. His wife has been allowed to keep $2.5m in cash, according to an agreement with prosecutors. But six months after his arrest, prosecutors still do not know exactly how much money Madoff took or what his victims might hope to recover. It could months or even years to resolve all of the claims. When he admitted to the fraud, Madoff said it had begun in the 1990s, as he tried to navigate the recession. He said he had hoped he would be able to extricate himself from the scheme when the markets recovered but instead just got deeper in. As the years went by he realised that the day when his fraud was discovered "would inevitably come". He told the court at the time that he was "deeply sorry and ashamed".

Angry with the SEC

He had confessed to his sons late last year that the investment business was a "big lie". Madoff masterminded a huge "Ponzi" scheme. Instead of investing client's money in secrities, it was held with a bank and new deposits used to pay bogus returns to give the impression that the business was successful. At the time of his arrest in December, he claimed to manage $65bn of investors money, but in reality there was just $1bn left. The business employed 25 people in London's Mayfair. Madoff had claimed that his investments produced gains of roughly 1% a month for two decades, which many experts now say should have raised a red flag. Some have directed their fury at the securities and exchange commission, the US financial watchdog, which failed to spot the fraud. An internal investigation at the SEC is expected by the end of September. At the same time, Madoff, whose name, pronounced "made-off", might have been coined by Dickens for a financial crook, lived a lavish lifestyle and prosecutors have set about seizing assets including property and boats. Madoff ran his business like a club and would throw out investors who asked too many questions. Many invested through personal recommendation. Joyce Greenberg, a retired financial adviser in Texas said her family had begun investing money with Madoff in the 1970s after being introduced by her stepbrother. "I hate computers and I never tried to figure out what he was doing because the bookkeeping all added up," she said. Corporate America has suffered a series of massive frauds during the past decade, including scandals at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and more recently the financial empire run by Texas billionaire Allen Stanford. Former WorldCom chief Benrard Ebbers is serving 25 years for accounting fraud. Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison although the sentence was overturned. He remains in prison awaiting resentencing.

Bonus for Singapore civil servants

Singapore to give civil servants two months’ bonus

November 25, 2010

Singapore has raised its 2010 GDP growth forecast to 15 per cent over 2009. — Reuters pic

SINGAPORE, Nov 25 — Singapore civil servants will receive a two-month bonus at the end of the year, the biggest since 1993 when combined with two other payouts, the Straits Times reported today. The move comes as Singapore is benefitting from strong economic growth which is pushing up wages and boosting jobs growth.
The government expects GDP growth in 2011 to come in between 4-6 per cent year-on-year. It raised its full 2010 growth forecast to around 15 per cent year-on-year from a previous estimate of 13-15 per cent.
The state-controlled Straits Times said some 74,000 government employees received a bonus of half a month’s pay in July, as well as a S$300 (RM717) one-off payment. They will get a special variable payment of at least one month’s pay in March.
The newspaper said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean unveiled details of this year’s bonus yesterday.
“Perhaps this is a sign that the government wants to remain competitive with the private market as the labour market is pretty healthy right now,” said David Cohen, an economist at Action Economics.
“Maybe we will see some pressure on prices on that front, but I think overall its a positive sign of the strength of the economy — that the government finances can afford to be generous,” he said.
Singapore’s annual inflation rate eased to 3.5 per cent in October from a 20-month high of 3.7 per cent in September, but analysts said the rate could pick up next year and the central bank should maintain tight policy. — Reuters

Pol Sec to Finance Minister investigation coming to an end

MACC wraps up probe on Minister’s former political secretary

Submitted by shaza on Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

Joseph Kaos Jr

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010 13:43:00

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has completed its probe into Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop’s former political secretary Hasbie Satar, the Dewan Rakyat was told this morning.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong, however, declined to elaborate further on the status of the investigations, other than saying the case has been forwarded to the deputy public
prosecutor for further action.
“The corruption probe into Hasbie Satar has been completed and it has been handed over to the prosecutor,” said Liew, who was responding to a question by Wee Choo Keong (Independent–Wangsa Maju).
Wee had earlier asked on the outcome of the MACC investigations into Selangor’s sand mining company, Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd (KSSB), for alleged corrupt practices in its sand dealings during question time.
Liew said MACC opened six investigation files on KSSB – one being a general probe on KSSB, and five others on individuals.
“So far, two individuals have been charged in court and their trials are ongoing. The other cases are under investigation,” said Liew.
Liew also defended MACC for its lengthy probe into Hasbie and KSSB, which was questioned by Wee.
“Every time MACC begins a probe, there are many issues to be identified. Witnesses have to be called and documents looked into.
However, I am confident the investigations will be concluded so cases can be forwarded to the deputy public prosecutor.”
The MACC powers are limited to investigations and the commission does not have prosecution rights.
Hasbie was detained on Feb 12 but was released by MACC six days later on a RM50,000 bail.
According to media reports, MACC officers from Putrajaya raided an apartment in Teluk Air Tawar, Butterworth, Penang, and found cash in denominations of RM100, RM50, RM10 and RM5 totalling about RM2
MM

May 13 Remembrance

Focus on creating a mature society

A DAY like May 13, 1969 needs to be remembered, simply so that we do not make the same mistakes as our forefathers which led to this black day in our nation’s history. Many may not subscribe to the prime minister’s view that there need not be any official commemoration of the day’s events which gave birth to the New Economic Policy and affirmative action. Just like how some countries observe the Holocaust of World War II, a Racial Harmony Day on May 13, may seem like a good idea to emphasise that "never again" should we go down this dark road to death and destruction. But then again, we already have Aug 31, and now Sept 16, to mark our nationhood and oneness.
Hence one can understand why the prime minister does not feel the need to have another date to remind ourselves that our strength is in our multi-ethnicity.
This is because, there may be some quarters who would rather focus on May 13, than Merdeka Day or Malaysia Day. And seeing that there are parties who are looking to divide the nation and focus on the negative aspects of May 13 for political mileage, the prime minister probably thought it was in the best interest of the nation that this dark chapter remains in the back recesses of our memories.
Perhaps the focus should be creating a society which is mature enough to handle history and to counter those who try to exploit it for selfish reasons. We cannot run from our past, not even the dark ones. Emphasis must be on telling it as it is. But the verdict is still out on whether we as Malaysians are able to handle the truth – even the bitter truth and capitalise on it for the betterment of the nation.
sun2surf says

Non-Malays and the military service

Non-bumiputras must come forward
THE PUBLIC outrage at Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for his remark relating to the low number of non-bumiputras in the armed forces has yielded some positive responses. First it caused the nation to focus on the well-known fact that there are few non-bumiputras in the armed forces as well as their low turnout at recruitment centres. Last year for instance only 1.2% of the recruits were non-bumiputras. There used to be a time when there was a large number of pilots, engineers, technicians and doctors who were non-bumiputras. What has happened to change all that?

It must be in complete despair that Ahmad Zahid had lashed out with the stinging remark. If only a trickle of non-bumiputras are entering the armed forces there must be a reason especially when we know that they were there in bigger numbers a few decades ago.

Another positive response is that a better attempt is going to be made to recruit the non-bumiputras. While doing so there should, of course, be no compromise on the quality of the recruits. And because of the publicity given to the dearth of non-bumiputras in the armed forces, the whole country now expects them to come forward to be recruited. And they must if the country is to have a fighting force we can truly call national and a force we can all be proud of. And when they leave in a contingent to serve as part of a larger international peace keeping force overseas the whole country watches with pride as they march out to their carriers.

But while the country tries to unravel the mystery behind the low number of non-bumiputras in the armed forces, it must also mull over their scarcity in the other branches of government as well. The racial composition of the civil service, for instance, does not reflect the true character of multiracial Malaysia.

The teaching service could do with a few thousand more non-bumiputras to make it truly reflective of the national service. While it matters in terms of national unity, yet what is more important is the meaningful contribution they can make to education at the primary and secondary levels.

The country’s education standard was certainly better a few decades ago when it was served by a truly multiracial corps of teachers. It is indeed sad that even at the tertiary level there is a dearth of non-bumiputra teachers. We must change the trend. Let’s make 1Malaysia a truly inclusive concept and the way we do things in this country.
sun2surf

Siapa yang gugat kuasa raja?

Gugat kuasa Raja, Umno dicabar buktikan petualang

Nov 24, 10 

 

PAS hari ini melahirkan rasa kesal parti itu dengan isu gangguan perlembagaan dan kedudukan Raja-Raja Melayu seperti yang sering dibangkitkan, kata ketua penerangannya, Idris Ahmad.

Menurut beliau usaha Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak yang mengingatkan pihak-pihak tertentu yang cuba mengubah perlembagaan negara supaya tidak bersikap seperti 'tikus membaiki labu' sebenarnya cuba menimbulkan ketakutan di kalangan orang Melayu supaya tidak menyokong PAS dan Pakatan Rakyat.

"Sejak mutakhir isu Melayu dan kedaulatan Raja-Raja dibangkitkan sebagai usaha untuk menarik sokongan orang Melayu kepada Umno, kononnya Melayu dan Raja Berperlembagaan hanya selamat di bawah Umno, setelah isu pembangunan sudah lapok, kerana dunia semakin maju," katanya dalam satu kenyataan media hari ini.

Idris berkata satu ketika dahulu kononnya ada perlembagaaan baru seperti yang ditimbulkan oleh Mufti Perak, Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria tetapi sehingga hari ini perkara itu gagal dibuktikan.

“PAS mencabar mana-mana pihak yang ada bukti jika ada mana pihak yang hendak menggugat perkara yang telah dipersetujui bersama seperti kedudukan agama Islam, kedudukan Raja-Raja Melayu dan Hak Istimewa Raja-Raja Melayu silalah bawa ke pengadilan.

Isu derhaka

"Isu derhaka kepada Raja-Raja Melayu dibangkitkan dengan hebat ketika pilihanraya kecil Bukit Gantang, kononnya Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaludin derhaka kepada Sultan Perak. Mereka eksploit perkatan yang diucapkan oleh Nizar "Patik Mohon Sembah Derhaka", pada hal ini adalah istilah yang diajar oleh protokol istana ketika berbahasa dengan Raja apabila kita tidak sependapat dalam satu pandangan," kata Idris.

Menurut beliau, dalam sejarah politik Malaysia - “yang biadab dengan Raja-Raja Melayu ialah pemimpin Umno.” Malahan, dakwa Idris, Umno juga cuba mengambil alih kuasa mengistihar darurat daripada Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.

Katanya, rakyat negara ini juga tidak lupa bagaimana Umno “membelasah Raja-Raja Melayu pada tahun 1983 kerana menolak cadangan supaya kuasa Yang Di-Pertuan Agong mengenai pengistiharan darurat dikurangkan.

"Begitu juga penyokong Umno pula mengatakan Sultan Terengganu binatang. Kenapa polis tidak tangkap mereka yang berdemonstrasi dan menghina sultan Terengganu kerana tidak melantik Datuk Seri Idris Jusuh sebagai Menteri Besar Terengganu?” soalnya.

Idris berkata sebenarnya, banyak lagi yang boleh dibongkarkan bagi membuktikan siapa yang sebenarnya menghina Raja-raja Melayu.MK