Why is the Malaysian prime minister still holding the post of finance minister when he is unqualified for the job? It's very simple - he has good friends in Singapore, especially in the financial community.

One of the prime minister’s best supporters is an international agency. This company is among the majors to have a dedicated office in Kuala Lumpur. Is Kuala Lumpur a business and financial hub of Asia? Of course not. So why does the company have an office here?

The answer, again, is a simple one. It has a vested interest in Malaysia. This company is on the verge of buying a majority 51 percent stake in a related local company for over RM100 million. First of all, is this company worth that much?

Second, how many foreign entities can have a 51 percent stake in a local company? Nothing is impossible if you have the right friends. Doing the due diligence for the buyout is a Malaysian bank controlled by a very influential person linked to a influential politician. You see the picture?

That's not the end of it. The relationship between the current government and this company is so ‘tight’ that the Finance Ministry strong-armed Bursa Malaysia to award the agency an exclusive US$3 million yearly contract.

What's the contract for? Well, believe it or not, it's for the simple task of providing research reports on small and medium-size companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. Surely not for US$3 million?

And why didn't Bursa open a tender for the project? It is learnt that the contract single-handedly paid for a unit of the agency that would have gone bust if not for this Malaysian deal.

Well, there's more. Another major Malaysian bank will sign yet another big deal with this company, a contract worth US$500 to the US firm. All the company needs to do is lend its brand name to the coverage of Malaysian-listed companies.

It is also not a coincidental that this deal is maneuvered by one of the Malaysian vice-presidents (VP) from the company.

Why is this VP such a unique Malaysian? She isn't just another Malaysian. This Malaysian grew up in the US and returned to live in Malaysia when she was in her 20s.

That's no big deal because hundreds, if not thousands, of Malaysians are like her but she is different because she holds multiple citizenship and residential status.

This high-ranking Malaysian executive possesses a Malaysian passport as well as an American one, and is PR in both Australia and Singapore!

How she does it, when Malaysian has a clear policy of no dual nationalities, only the Malaysian Home Ministry can answer that because they are fully aware of her position.

Back to Malaysia's relationship with this US company. The PM's son-in-law, a while ago threatened to expose all Malaysian companies that deal with foreign firms with links to Israel.

Guess what? This agency is one of them. The regional boss in Asia is an American Jew. This agency has an exclusive deal with Israel's stock exchange.

This joint-venture is almost similar to the one signed with Bursa Malaysia for US$3 million.

There is no law to say Bursa can't pay anyone in millions of dollars, but the emergence of this company as an adviser in Malaysia since Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took office is quite astonishing.

If you ask around, you will learn that former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad never liked this company, even despised it. That's because this company was the first to desert Malaysia during the Asian financial crisis of 98-99.

Even former finance minister Daim Zainuddin to this day is critical of the way this agency treated Malaysia.

Alas, how things have changed, so quickly too. The company's most senior executives met Pak Lah recently and voiced support for him, his moderate posture on Islam and for mending relations with Washington after Mahathir's fierce criticism of Bush.

In return, the company gets very lucrative deals from Malaysia, a case of ‘I scratch your back, you scratch mine’. It is also no coincidence that many senior analysts in this company in Singapore, KL and Hong Kong are from Malaysia.

And no coincidence that Malaysia is rated highly by this company even after the shocking loss of five states in the recent general elections.

Don't take all this at face value, do your own investigations. Ask the Securities Commission why it allows this company's analysts to regularly indulge in blatant stock trading of the very same companies they are recommending?

Mahathir described it best when he said ‘something is wrong in the state of Denmark’. Now that the opposition parties have successfully taken control of key states and positions, they need to ask more questions.

People should start asking for and demanding the truth - it is out there. The Finance Ministry must be held accountable for any dubious dealings and explain why such favouritism and cronyism still exist under a government that promised to wipe out corruption and collusion.