?From BMF to 1MDB: A Criminological and Sociological Discussion

From BMF to1MDB: A Criminological and Sociological Discussion

Author: TehYik Koon

Publisher: SIRD

ISBN: 9789670960982

Pages: 450pp

Weight: 0.750kg

Price: RM65.00

BumiputraMalaysia Finance Limited (BMF) was a financial institution set up in Hong Kongat the end of 1977. Its parent bank was the Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad(BBMB) which was established in 1965 with public funds to promote Bumiputeraparticipation in the economy. In the 1980s, during Mahathir Mohamad’sadministration, BMF lost M$2.5 billion, allegedly due to fraud and corruption,which could not be accounted for until today. After about 35 years, anothersimilar colossal financial scandal was alleged to have taken place through1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). 1MDB is a development company set up bythe Malaysian government in 2009, during Najib Razak’s administration, with afocus on the long-term economic development of the country. However, withinabout eight years, it has run up more than RM42 billion in debts and keyfigures are tainted by allegations of abuse of power and corruption. It istherefore timely to revisit the BMF case, to discuss and compare it with thepresent interest in the 1MDB case.

This bookwill highlight the alleged fraud and corruption that took place in both cases –tracing the money trail, the problematic structure of both organisations, thepolitical and social structure and environment in Malaysia during theoccurrence of both scandals, and finally compare both cases, to provide ananalysis of the social and political progress of Malaysia in the last threedecades.