Seni dan Politik

Laundering: Real Estate and ArtTheir laundering functions replicate a fund which in 1MDB’s balance sheet is deemed as investments. Once the London mansion with its swimming pool or a Picasso’s portrait of his love, Marie-Therese Walter, is sold, the proceeds typically return to a private banking account. Hoarding such kind of assets are better than investing in financial products because sellers don’t typically demand you fill a form to declare the source of money for buying a portrait of someone else lover. For 1MDB the disadvantage is finding USD 8bn worth of swimming pools and paintings; that is, limited supply limits their use for the purpose of laundering.

Jho Low is a suspect in money laundering because he had, between 2010 and 2014, accumulated a store of expensive art works. Estimated worth USD 300mn. Then, suddenly, from last year onward he began to quickly disposed them, fetching so far a total USD 167mn. That is, while Arul Kanda was busy stripping 1MDB of assets at home, Jho Low was doing his thing elsewhere.

Below is a list of Jho Low’s sales. Only the Rothko deal was in New York; the rest through London. Some of them like Picasso’s or Basquiat’s were sold at a loss. In US dollars, millions; sterling in parentheses:

• Picasso’s Tete de Femme (of Marie-Therese Walter): 27mn (18.9 million pounds)
• Basquiat’s, Untitled (Head of Madman):  9mn (6.2 million pounds)
• Monet’s Le Palais Ducal vu de Saint-Georges Majeur 17mn (11.6 million pounds)
• Gerhard Richter, abstract: 44mn (30.4 million pounds)
• Lucio Fontana’s punctured, egg-shaped canvas: 23mn (15.9 million pounds)
• Mark Rothko’s 8-foot-tall yellow and blue painting: 46.5mn

There is corruption in art. At the Hay Festival in the UK, Kenny Schachter, a curator and commentator, said in an on-stage interview that the art world was steeped in secretive dealings that reeked of money laundering, insider tips and artists being “corrupted”.

Kita tak tahu samada laporan ini betul atau tidak. Tapi harap boleh lah mereka yang bertanggungjawab buat siasatan yang lengkap.

Money laundering ini boleh berlaku melalui macam-macam cara.

Tak semestinya bawa berpeti-peti duit ke luar. Duit boleh dipecahkan dalam macam-macam bentuk.

Tak tahulah ini semua duit 1MDB atau tidak. Harap BoD baru 1MDB boleh bantu beri penjelasan.

Kalau 1MDB boleh dapatkan semula keuntungan penjualan barang seni pun bagus.