☕️ In Today's Believe It or Not: Najib Razak discloses RM4.49 mil worth of assets in the SRC Int'l trial

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

10.09 seconds — the national 100m sprint record, set by Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi at the Under-20 World Athletics Championships at the Pascual Guerrero Olympic Stadium in Cali, Colombia. His time beat the previous record of 10.18s set by former Southeast Asia sprint champion Khairul Hafiz Jantan. Azeem secured a spot in the semi-finals, scheduled to take place today. All the best!

Fake title holders can be fined up to RM500,000 and jailed for up to 20 years as they could be charged under the Offences Relating to Awards Act (Act 787). The authorities will not hesitate to take action against those using fake or unrecognised titles and awards to organise activities and events, according to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

USD382 mil (approx. RM1.7 bil) — Uber Inc.’s free cash flow in the three months to the end of June, the company’s first-ever cash flow-positive quarter, after burning through USD25 bil since its founding 13 years ago. However, that’s where the good news end. The company still posted a quarterly net loss of USD2.6 bil, the majority stemming from poorly performing investments.

“Two armies that fight each other is like one large army that commits suicide.”

- Henri Barbusse (1873 1935), French novelist, member of the French Communist Party and a lifelong friend of Albert Einstein

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. The third mass rail transit in the Klang Valley, MRT3, is projected to cost a whopping RM50.2bil (or close to RM1 bil per kilometre), as per the finance minister, Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz. He added that the project's overall cost would be finalised after the open tender process is completed. Amidst the increasing cost of construction material and labour scarcity (and not including the corruption cost of doing business), it will not be a surprise if the final cost exceeds this figure.

2. In the Klang Valley Double Tracking 2 (KVDT2) project, Dhaya Maju-LTAT Sdn Bhd’s lawsuit against Putrajaya for the latter’s unjust termination of the former has ended after both parties settled the dispute outside of court. Dhaya Maju’s contract was terminated by the Perikatan Nasional’s government before the current government allowed the company to continue with the project in June 2022.

3. Dewan Rakyat agreed to refer the Generational Endgame (GEG) Bill to the Parliament’s Special Select Committee, consisting of both the government and opposition bloc. The committee has been tasked to fine-tune the Bill, especially Section 9 (enforcement), which received harsh criticisms from both the public and other MPs, as any grey definition in the Bill will lead to enforcement abuses to the public.

4. The Selangor State Assembly passed the development project proposal of the five-year First Selangor Plan (dubbed RS-1), amounting to RM212.44bil. Under the First Selangor Plan, the state aims to contribute 30% to the national GDP by 2025. Selangor is currently contributing 24.8% to Malaysia’s GDP.

5. Putrajaya projected a minimum of RM4 bil will be collected from Cukai Makmur, a one-off tax measure introduced by the government in Budget 2022 that states chargeable income above RM100 million will be taxed at a rate of 33%.

6. As Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) eyes capturing the bulk of the RM80bil clean energy market, the power provider company intends to retire its coal plants sooner, starting with the one at Kapar Energy Ventures before the expiry of the power purchase agreement (PPA). TNB is also exploring the viability of hydrogen as a feasible clean source of energy to power its plants.

7. US House Speaker and the third-in-line of the US presidential succession, Nancy Pelosi, arrived in Malaysia as part of her official visit to four (+1, it’s official that she’s in Taiwan now) Asian countries. The purpose of the visit is to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to its allies and friends in the region amidst China's growing sphere of influence in the Pacific. Pelosi also met PM Ismail Sabri at a luncheon, where the prime minister asked Washington to review its decision to keep Malaysia at Tier 3 of the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.

8. As part of the requirement of the Mareva injunction by SRC International against Najib Razak, the latter disclosed his assets to be worth RM4.49mil as of June 30, 2022. That seems a bit light for a clan member of the Razak dynasty but let's break down the figure based on the affidavits filed by Najib Razak’s team.A Mareva injunction is a temporary order which restrains the party being sued (defendant) from disposing of their assets until the determination of the case between the suing party (plaintiff) and the defendant.

   1. RM2.53mil – deposited in Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASNB) account.

   2. RM1.25mil – deposits in Affin Bank current account.

   3. RM460,986 – seven properties, six in Selangor and one in Pahang.

   4. RM252,000 – one Mercedes Benz and Honda motorcycle.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Where do we even start?! It was a hectic Tuesday.

1. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by the US’s CIA drone strike in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. It is a big blow (pun unintended) to the group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011. He served as Osama’s deputy and took over Al-Qaeda after Osama was killed. US President Joe Biden said the operation on Sunday delivered justice and hopefully a measure of closure to families of the victims of the 2001 attacks on the US. The Egyptian surgeon had a USD25 mil reward on his head.

2. It’s official — US House Speaker is in Taiwan. Rumours of her trip to Taiwan have sent Asian markets tumbling as friction between Washington and Beijing rose to a new level. Most officials have kept mum over Pelosi’s travel plans in Taiwan but sources have revealed she will be meeting President Tsai Ing-wen and a group of activists who are outspoken about China’s human rights record.

   1. China isn’t happy about it (clearly) and subsequently has released an edited montage of its navy, air force, and army being activated for battle via WeChat of Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army.

   2. Taiwan is preparing for attacks by launching a social media and poster campaign to ensure its people know how to find their closest air-raid shelters.

   3. China will be conducting military exercises around Taiwan on Aug 4.

3. Hino Motors Ltd, an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp, is said to have falsified emissions data on some engines going back to at least 2003, more than a decade earlier than previously indicated, according to a company-commissioned probe. The investigative committee blamed it on power distance. The company operated in an environment where engineers did not feel able to challenge superiors.

4. USD190.7 mil worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from cross-chain messaging protocol Nomad after hackers abused “chaotic” security exploit. Nomad, a token bridge that allows users to send and receive tokens between Avalanche (AVAX), Ethereum (ETH), Evmos (EVMOS), Moonbeam (GLMR) and Milkomeda C1 blockchains, became the latest nine-figure attack in the cryptocurrency industry.How did it happen? Crypto experts said the token’s recent smart contract update was the main reason — it was allowing users to spoof transactions. Adrian Hetman, a tech lead at a web3 firm, gave a great analogy — imagine banks allowing withdrawal using a chequebook by only verifying the cheque's authenticity, but not the amount available to withdraw.

Shorts

1. Energy giant BP reported its biggest quarterly profit for 14 years — £8.45 bil between April and June 2022 — after oil and gas prices soared. The figure is more than triple the amount it made in the same period last year. BP said the bumper profit results came from strong refining margins and oil trading.

2. Sheryl Sandberg has officially stepped down as Meta Platforms Inc.’s chief operating officer (COO) as of Aug 1, 2022, after more than 14 years in that role. She would be replaced by Meta’s chief growth officer Javier Olivan.

3. Hong Kong is in a technical recession as the city’s (politically correct term?) gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 1.4% in the second quarter of the year, following a 3.9% decrease in the first quarter. The city recorded a trade deficit of USD206.1 bil in the first half of the year.

4. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) increased its benchmark rate for the fourth month running. The cash rate increased by half a percentage point (0.5%) to 1.85%. The hikes delivered so far (1.75%) will add approximately AUD560 monthly in repayments to the average AUD620,000 mortgage.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Taiwan welcoming Nancy Pelosi’s visit with its iconic landmark, Taipei 101.

2. A very apt name for rice-loving fans — fàn is rice in Cantonese.