☕️ 'Leaked' PAS intelligence report detailed alleged plot to expedite court cases of Najib Razak and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

1. MARKET SUMMARY

MYR is at its lowest against USD since June 2020.

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

200,000 jobs in Moscow are at risk after the exodus from Western companies, according to the city’s Mayor, Sergey Sobyanin. Some USD41 mil was set aside by authorities to support them.

USD28 mil — the revenue of a 7-year-old Youtube star, Nastya, who has upwards of 100 million subscribers across her 11 YouTube channels. The list of the top 10 highest-earning YouTube creators is released by Forbes annually.

USD172 bil - ASEAN e-commerce market size projected in 2025, 2.8x of what it was in 2020.

3. COVID-19 SUMMARY

4. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. On Sunday, documents believed to be Perikatan Nasional (PN) meeting minutes were leaked on social media, allegedly related to discussions between top PAS leaders and several other party leaders. Details:

   1. The docs contained an intelligence report by the PAS central committee on findings allegedly made by PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan and Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.

   2. The intelligence report detailed plots to expedite the court cases of UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former PM Najib Razak and named PN chairman Muhyiddin Yassin as allegedly interfering in the court cases of the two individuals.

   3. Other individuals named in the report include Pejuang chairman Tun Mahathir, Bersatu supreme council member Azmin Ali, Bersatu sec-gen Hamzah Zainuddin and BN treasurer-general Hishamuddin Hussein. 

   4. Ahmad Samsuri has denied the contents of the leaked document but admitted that he attended meetings with some of the UMNO and Bersatu leaders named in the document. He also denied the meetings were held to plan political plots. He described the leaked document as ‘rubbish’ and that even his name was misspelt. 

   5. UMNO veteran Shahrir Abdul Samad said via Facebook that if the contents of the alleged intelligence report were true, this could mean that the national judiciary system has been compromised. 

2. 528 detainees from the Immigration Department’s temporary detention centre in Sungai Bakap, Penang, escaped around 4.30 am yesterday morning. By 10 am, 362 of the detainees have been found and taken back to custody. Not so lucky for six detainees — they have died in an accident trying to cross the highway. Over 200 detainees were arrested whilst walking along the highway as they were afraid to try to cross the highway after the accident. The migrants in the detention centre are mostly from the Rohingya community. The escapees broke out using their bare hands. 

3. An impressive feat by a local 25-year old Malaysian visual effects content creator Mohamad Sofian Abdullah as he created a 54-second video starring Ryan Reynolds to promote his Netflix Movie “The Adam Project”. The filming, however, was done remotely as Sofian filmed his part against a green screen. He has done similar video content with John Cena and Will Smith. Where did Sofian pick up his skills? From the University of YouTube. He started taking interest in this space since he was 14.

4. PKR party communications director Fahmi Fadzil said that the party and its president Anwar Ibrahim have laid out a succession plan during a party retreat in February when Anwar Ibrahim steps down. Anwar Ibrahim will remain PRK president as he won the party poll uncontested to retain the position until 2024. 

5. Navis Capital Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in Southeast Asia, is shopping around for an acquirer of its premium supermarket chains, which could be worth more than RM1 bil. The PE firm through The Food Purveyor Sdn Bhd, which it bought a majority stake in 2014, owns 5 supermarket brands: Village Grocer, Ben’s Independent Grocer, BSC Fine Foods, Leisure Grocer and Pasaraya OTK. 

6. Public listed lingerie maker Caely Holdings Bhd has confirmed that the MACC has issued a frozen order on all bank accounts of the company and its subsidiaries. In its reply to Bursa’s query, the company said the freezing order was not served directly to the company and the company is now unable to make any payment to suppliers, salary, banks or any party, exposing itself to potential lawsuits and claims of breach of contracts. One of its independent non-executive directors received an anonymous package containing documents raising concerns on several transactions involving the company leading to the appointment of an external forensic auditor on Apr 7. The company’s market cap currently stands at RM105.9 mil.

5. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. The deadline issued by Russia for Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their weapons has passed — the final Ukrainian holdouts, reportedly accompanied by 1,000 civilians, have taken shelter in the city's massive Azovstal steel plant. Below the plant has tunnels and workshops, providing a natural advantage to the defenders. Ukrainian officials say around 100,000 civilians remain in the city. Efforts are being made to evacuate civilians.

2. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange moves closer to facing his US charges after the Westminster Magistrates’ court in London formally issued an order on Wednesday to extradite the Australian to the US. UK’s Home Secretary Priti Patel will decide whether to approve the extradition.

3. Netflix is losing subscribers at a staggering rate — the streaming company is expecting to lose as many as two million subscribers globally in the current quarter. The news sent its share price in premarket down by 27%. The drop slashed around USD40 billion of its market capitalisation. CEO Reed Hastings wants to curb account sharing — as many as 100 million accounts are sharing passwords, The plan couldn’t have come at a worse time as households are trying to cut down spending to deal with the rising cost of living. In the UK, 1.5 million streaming subscriptions were cancelled in 1Q2022. Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square potentially raked up USD400 mil in unrealised loss on its Netflix investment it made three months ago.

4. Workers in Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory are experiencing another type of lockdown altogether — a “closed-loop system”. Tesla workers at the automaker’s facility in Shanghai will be required to sleep on the factory floor — with a sleeping bag and mattress — as Tesla restarts production after a three-week shutdown.

5. Elon Musk is reportedly willing to invest between USD10 bil and USD15 bil of his own money to take Twitter private, according to The New York Post. Musk could be launching a tender offer and has tapped Morgan Stanley to raise an additional USD10 bil in debt.

6. Wimbledon Grand Slam organisers are to ban Russian and Belarus players due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine instead of allowing them to compete under a neutral flag.

7. California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) has politely asked Warren Buffett to half retire after saying it will vote in favour of a shareholder proposal to replace Buffett as Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman as Buffett is also the CEO. CalPERS said the two roles should be held separately.

6. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. The evolution and history of the calculator.

2. According to CB Insights, there are now 1,068 unicorns around the world as of Mar 30, 2022. Unicorns are privately held startups valued at more than USD1 bil.