Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad on course to be world's oldest elected leader

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

Mahathir Mohamad is on course to become the world's oldest elected leader at 92, after a shock victory in Malaysia's bitterly fought election.

The former PM came out of retirement and defected to the opposition to take on his one-time protégé Najib Razak, beset by corruption allegations.

His historic win has ousted the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has been in power since independence in 1957.
...
But Mr Najib has been dogged by corruption allegations. He has been accused of pocketing some $700m from the 1Malaysian Development Berhad, a state investment fund he set up.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44063675

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But:

Malaysia election: confusion as rival questions Mahathir's right to be sworn in

The election of Mahathir Mohamad as Malaysia’s new leader has been thrown into doubt after his rival Najib Razak refused to concede defeat and was allegedly offering opposition candidates $6m to switch sides.
...
However, Mahathir’s confirmation faced setbacks on Thursday morning, with reports that the king was refusing to swear him in and that Najib was attempting to swing the election his way by buying up candidates in the state of Sabah.

There was also a suggestion that, according to the constitution, Mahathir was not even eligible to be prime minister because the opposition coalition is not technically one party.

The party that got the most seats was PKR, which is led by the wife of former prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, and there were reports she would be named prime minister instead.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/10/malaysia-election-confusion-as-rival-questions-mahathirs-right-to-be-sworn-in

This links in to Michael Cohen, believe it or not - that corrupt state development fund is linked to Elliot Broidy, of the $1.6m payoff to the pregnant Playboy model:

In March 2018, the previously obscure Broidy was the subject of a slew of national stories regarding his remarkably aggressive influence-peddling in the wake of Trump’s election. For example, the Journal reported that Broidy was slated to make tens of millions of dollars by getting the Justice Department to drop a probe into a multibillion-dollar bribery scandal involving 1MDB, the Malaysian state investment fund. One email revealed a plan to pay Broidy and his wife $75 million if they could successfully lobby the DOJ to drop the probe into 1MBD.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/theory-playboy-model-had-affair-with-trump-not-broidy.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. More on the 1MDB Trump connection

from a commenter on the Balloon Juice blog:

Elliott Broidy, a longtime Republican donor, and his wife, Robin Rosenzweig, discussed setting up a consulting contract with Jho Low, who has been accused of embezzling state funds, the WSJ, according to emails that the publication reviewed.

One email showed a proposal that would have given Broidy and his wife $75 million if they got the Justice Department to drop its probe into 1MDB.

Broidy also prepared talking points for Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak for his 2017 visit to Washington that included a meeting with Trump. Some of the talking points included talking up Malaysia’s relationship with the U.S. in fighting North Korea and arguing against the legal pursuit of 1MDB.

But of course the 1MDB scandal goes back a lot further than that. Back to when Trump suddenly and surprisingly found millions in cash to spend on real estate.

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/05/09/russiagate-open-thread-hey-remember-elliot-briodys-girlfriends-abortion/#comment-6868624