From FMT (extracts):
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........ an example a 20-year gaming concession for sports betting which was given out without tender by the finance ministry in June 2003 — just four months before Mahathir retired on Oct 31, 2003.
“The finance minister and the prime minister at that time was Mahathir himself.
“Thus, this exclusive licence was quietly awarded by Mahathir to one of his closest associates at a bargain price of RM25 million without the knowledge of the cabinet,” See-To said.
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He said at that time, Malaysian gaming industry executives had estimated that such a lucrative sports-betting operation, offering wagers on events such as local and foreign soccer matches and horse racing, could generate an annual revenue of about RM1 billion.
“The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) had reported about this several times at that time and had said that Mahathir’s successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and his cabinet only learned that such a licence was awarded the next year after Mahathir had retired.”
If what has been said is true, then a bit of maths may be the first thing to start off in the discussion section of this post.
RM1 Billion a year income from the exclusive 20-year gaming concession licence alone is RM1,000 million per year or RM20,000 million at a rough cut for 20 years - could be more but let's just work on simple figures for now.
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So for a notional RM20 Billion (not just million) licence (reminder: that's RM20,000,000,000 with eleven zeros), it has been alleged Mahathir as then PM and Finance Minister sold that off for a mere RM25 million.
Does that mean we have allegedly missed collecting 20,000,000,000 minus 25,000,000 or 19,975,000,000 ringgit?
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Wow, how I wish I have just a wee fraction of that. I would have fulfilled my drams and fantasies and bought a yacht and sailed around the world, visiting exotic places like the pampas of Argentina and dance tango to the local Latin bands there.
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........ an example a 20-year gaming concession for sports betting which was given out without tender by the finance ministry in June 2003 — just four months before Mahathir retired on Oct 31, 2003.
“The finance minister and the prime minister at that time was Mahathir himself.
“Thus, this exclusive licence was quietly awarded by Mahathir to one of his closest associates at a bargain price of RM25 million without the knowledge of the cabinet,” See-To said.
He said at that time, Malaysian gaming industry executives had estimated that such a lucrative sports-betting operation, offering wagers on events such as local and foreign soccer matches and horse racing, could generate an annual revenue of about RM1 billion.
“The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) had reported about this several times at that time and had said that Mahathir’s successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and his cabinet only learned that such a licence was awarded the next year after Mahathir had retired.”
If what has been said is true, then a bit of maths may be the first thing to start off in the discussion section of this post.
RM1 Billion a year income from the exclusive 20-year gaming concession licence alone is RM1,000 million per year or RM20,000 million at a rough cut for 20 years - could be more but let's just work on simple figures for now.
So for a notional RM20 Billion (not just million) licence (reminder: that's RM20,000,000,000 with eleven zeros), it has been alleged Mahathir as then PM and Finance Minister sold that off for a mere RM25 million.
Does that mean we have allegedly missed collecting 20,000,000,000 minus 25,000,000 or 19,975,000,000 ringgit?
Wow, how I wish I have just a wee fraction of that. I would have fulfilled my drams and fantasies and bought a yacht and sailed around the world, visiting exotic places like the pampas of Argentina and dance tango to the local Latin bands there.
