KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed yesterday, in brief.
1. A report claimed Malaysian banks are among the biggest lenders to companies implicated in the Indonesian forest fires. Maybank, which was singled out as the second-largest single creditor, countered that nearly all its palm oil clients have sustainability certificates.
2. Businessperson Wasi Khan @ Wasiyu Zama Israr Ahmad told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur that he had gone to former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for help to secure a contract, but instead got an RM10 million loan from Zahid’s charity Yayasan Akalbudi.
3. The interlocutory sale of Riza Aziz’s 1MDB-linked Beverly Hills mansion yielded more than US$7.3 million (RM30.39 million) in net proceeds, which would now become the subject of a civil forfeiture suit, instead of the mansion.
4. Without naming names, Pakatan Harapan deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin urged component party members to stop infighting and focus on the people’s welfare.
5. Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah has urged the people of the state not to put communist leaders on a pedestal, noting that the communists had not fought for a democratic Malaysia.
6. Police said they would summon PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and other witnesses to facilitate investigations into alleged sexual misconduct by Anwar. Anwar thanked the police for expediting the investigations.
7. Senate Council president Khairudin Abdul Samad accused the Malaysian Trade Union Council of misrepresenting the outcome of a meeting on the Labour Laws Reform Bill, but the MTUC insisted it had contacted Khairuddin before issuing a statement on the meeting. MTUC’s Sarawak chapter is displeased that the meeting had taken place
8. What are Malaysians interested in? Google revealed that popular search terms this year include Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali, his former aide Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz who claimed to have had sexual relations with him, Tanjung Piai that recently saw a by-election, and the Air Pollutant Index.
9. Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman is in stable condition following surgery for appendicitis.
10. Sabah has declared Dec 24 as an additional holiday in conjunction with Christmas celebrations, starting this year.
