Malaysian political scandal could have ramifications on Premier Christy Clark's LNG dream

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      Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has a new political problem to contend with.

      The Wall Street Journal has reported that he received a 2.6-billion ringgit (CDN$873 million) donation to his personal bank account.

      The country's anticorruption commission has stated that it cannot say who made the contribution, but revealed that it came from the Middle East.

      Najib has reportedly denied taking money for personal gain in the past.

      Why should all of this matter to British Columbians?

      As Malaysia's prime minister, Najib has a big say over the state-owned energy company, Petronas. It has controlling interest in the company behind a proposed massive liquefied-natural-gas plant near Prince Rupert.

      This summer, the B.C. legislature was reconvened to pass Bill 30 (Liquefied Natural Gas Projects Agreement Act).

      This legislation was crafted to provide long-term certainty to Pacific NorthWest LNG consortium, of which a Petronas subsidiary holds a 62 percent stake.

      Late last month, Finance Minister Mike de Jong travelled to Malaysia and met Najib.

      But if this new scandal in Malaysia has any traction, it could turn out that de Jong travelled halfway around the world to talk to a lame duck.

      In December, the Nikkei Asian Review reported that Najib was going to extend the term of Petronas CEO Shamsul Azhar Abbas.

      Shamsul was at the helm when Petronas bought the Canadian company, Progress Energy, and was prepared to invest a reported $36 billion into the Canadian economy.

      But effective April 1, Shamsul was replaced by Datuk W. Zulkiflee W. Ariffin as Petronas's president and CEO.

      And now, Shamsul's political patron, Prime Minister Najib, may be in the fight of his political life.

      Meanwhile, LNG prices in Asia have fallen dramatically since the 2013 B.C. election campaign.

      These are not good omens for Premier Christy Clark as she bets her political career on the future of B.C.'s LNG industry.

      Comments

      3 Comments

      Grant

      Aug 6, 2015 at 2:34pm

      BC's Liberals making deals with corrupt politicians in other countries. I would never have believed it. Oh wait .....I would.

      Conned

      Aug 7, 2015 at 10:10am

      LNG prices are projected to be low at least until 2040.

      This LNG can not be economically viable unless subsidized by the BC Govt., and therefore us.

      Why are we subsidizing a Foreign Islamic State owned nationalized Oil Corporation?

      Contrast that with the Norway's Oil & Gas sector with it's Trillion Dollar surplus.

      In Canada Alberta & others have opposed a Canadian nationalized Oil & Gas sector.

      Alberta now has a structural deficit over $10 Billion, Norway a Trillion Dollar surplus.

      The irony is that today the Canadian Oil & Gas sector is nationalized but for foreign Countries.

      1. Alberta Tar Sands, Nexen, owned by the Government Communist China,

      2. Alberta Tar Sands, Petronas / Progress owned by the Government of Malaysia,

      3. BC LNG, Petronas / Consortium owned by the Government of Malaysia,

      4. Alberta tar Sands & NewFoundLand Oil & Gas Projects, some Projects by Stat Oil of Norway.

      5. The trend in the Canadian Oil & Gas sector is ownership by Sovereign Funds and/or Corporations,

      6. Newfoundland Oil & Gas Projects, The Government and people of Newfoundland own 10 to 50% of some of their major Oil & Gas projects,

      So in effect Canada's Oil & Gas sector has become nationalized by Foreign Governments.

      They benefit by taking the profits to their Country leaving us with the environmental clean-up bill and Deficits.

      Canada ought to follow the Norway model nationalize the Energy sector buy out the current Foreign national owners of our resource.

      Implement the Norway model to pay for Canadians and future generations Health Care, Education and investments into a Green Energy future.

      Or we can let the Foreign nationalized oil Corporations own our Canadian Oil & Gas sector.

      Bruce

      Aug 10, 2015 at 9:59am

      Maybe the VREA should give him a courtesy call, to let him know about the immigrant investor program. He could buy a couple of dozen Vancouver homes with that much honestly-earned cash!

      “One of [Vancouver]'s roles today seems to be to be the natural home of a sometimes slightly dodgy flight capital. It’s where you go if you successfully rip off your Third World nation. And there’s a huge industry of people there who are just there to facilitate that move, if you’ve got the readies." - William Gibson