☕️ UMNO No.2 says he was misquoted saying 'Najib should go to jail', Asia Times released full interview recording

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

Sri Lankan’s situation is getting worse with the country’s energy minister, Kanchana Wijesekera, warning over the country’s fuel stocks — only 12,774 tonnes of diesel and 4,061 tonnes of petrol left in its reserves. The nation only had enough petrol left for less than a day under regular demand. The next shipment of fuel is not due for more than two weeks. Sri Lanka's central bank could only supply USD125 mil for fuel purchases — far less than the USD587 mil required for the scheduled shipments.

5.6 million Japanese yen (RM182.5K) — the amount a hardcore gamer & die-hard Nintendo spent on Nintendo stocks. One needs to buy 100 or more shares of stock to access the shareholder meeting — this fan clearly hit the threshold, and he took the opportunity to ask Shuntaro Furukawa — the president of Nintendo — whether the company had considered relaunching some fan-favourite game franchises.

RM59.6 mil — the losses in online fraud cases in Selangor during the first six months of 2022, according to Selangor police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed. Arjunaidi said the losses came from 1,354 cases — representing 75% of the total commercial cases in the state. That’s RM44k loss per case.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. The government has acted quickly in providing financial assistance to victims of Baling floods. As of late evening yesterday, more than 100 families had already received RM1,000 assistance housed at several relief centres in the state. Families who lost their loved ones in the incident will receive RM10,000. The government should urgently look at preventive measures. The floods had claimed three lives thus far. Baling had gone through floods late last year — it feels like the government could have prevented this.

2. The 13th prosecution witness in Syed Saddiq’s criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering trial, Rafiq Hakim Razali, said the Muar MP had instructed him to ‘clear’ RM1 mil withdrawn from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia Armada’s account. Rafiq claimed Saddiq told him to clear the money because the MP was afraid the money would be confiscated as he was being investigated by the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).However, former Armada assistant secretary Ahmad Redzuan Mohamed Shafi said withdrawing the money was not an offence during cross-examination by Syed Saddiq’s counsel Gobind Singh Deo.

3. UMNO Deputy Chief Mohamad Hasan ‘Tok Mat’ said he was misquoted by a journalist of Asia Times saying that former PM Najib Razak should go to jail for his role in the 1MDB scandal. However, the journalist, Nicholas Kochan, refuted this by releasing the full recordings of the interview.

4. PM Ismail Sabri is currently on a four-day official visit to Turkiye, where he is expected to explore bilateral commodity trading opportunities. We can’t wait to see how Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacts to Bahasa Malaysia. On another note, PM also called on the world to work together by adopting the spirit of the ‘world family’ in facing global challenges at the opening of the 35th Asia-Pacific Roundtable via a prerecorded video.

5. The Works Ministry has approved the proposed Petaling Jaya Dispersal Elevated Highway (PJD Link) project, but only in principle. The project is still subject to further negotiations. The Selangor government proposed the project to disperse traffic congestion in PJ.

6. For the first time ever, the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) penalised eight companies a total of RM1.548 mil for bid-rigging in four IT-related contracts they tendered between 2015 and 2016. All eight companies were penalised for breaching Section 4 of the Competition Act, which prohibits agreements between enterprises that prevent, restrict, or distort competition in the market. MyCC is currently investigating about 500 companies suspected of bid-rigging activities.

7. Ekovest Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary Ekovest Construction Sdn Bhd (ECSB), has accepted the RM1.98 billion contract from Adil Permata Sdn Bhd (APSB) — the main contractor of the Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link project — a railway shuttle line between Johor Bahru and Woodlands in Singapore. ECSB was appointed as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the RTS Link project. The project is slated for completion by the end of 2026.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. Singapore is transforming its second airport into a flying taxi hub. Seletar Airport is where Singapore’s super-rich land their private jets. Though this might change in 2024 as Singapore has already signed two agreements with Skyports Ltd. and Volocopter GmbH that may convert the ageing aerodrome into a vertiport or an airport where the aerial devices take off and land vertically, Jetsons-style.

2. Mass-shooting incidents (the US is not alone this time):

   1. Another shooting incident in the US - on its Independence Day. Six dead, 30 injured in a mass shooting at the Fourth of July parade in Chicago. A gunman opened fire on parade-goers from a rooftop of a business using a high-powered rifle.

   2. Three people were killed in a shooting at a shopping mall in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sunday by a 22-year-old Danish man believed to have mental health issues.

3. Zimbabwe will be issuing gold coins as legal tender as the local currency tumbles. With the inflation rate at 191% and the risk of hyperinflation akin to the 2000s, the central bank is looking to introduce gold coins as a store of value and to reduce the demand for US dollars. The gold coins, named Mosi-oa-Tunya, after Victoria Falls, can be converted into cash and traded locally and internationally. You may read Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation story here.

4. China acquired UK’s largest microchip plant in an effort to reduce reliance on western semiconductors. UK-based Newport Wafer Fab was acquired by Nexperia. a company headquartered in the Netherlands but its ultimate owners are Chinese firm Wingtech Technology. The purchase will likely be met with resistance as the US Congress looks to maintain the Chinese semiconductor dependency.

5. Russia is set to switch off the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, EU’s biggest piece of gas import infrastructure, for annual maintenance. The maintenance scheduled to take place from July 11 – July 21 comes when European governments scramble to increase natural gas supply to last through the winter. Klaus Mueller, head of Germany’s energy regulator, highlights the risk that Russia may continue to squeeze Europe’s gas supplies even after maintenance works are done. Winter is coming and by the looks of it, Putin has a good chokehold around Europe.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. How does Lego achieve a 31% operating profit margin?

2. Think houses in Malaysia are expensive? Think again. Formula: median housing price / median household income.