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- How unbiased journalism uncovered By the point it uncovered the huge 1Malaysia Improvement Berhad (1MDB) scandal, its best-known achievement, the unbiased media outlet Sarawak Report had constructed a strong popularity on years of reporting on how corruption abets deforestation in Borneo.
- Now not capable of enter Malaysia as a result of political shakeup brought on by the 1MDB exposé and her associated reporting, the outlet’s founder, Clare Rewcastle Brown, speaks with Mongabay’s podcast about what evokes her reporting, together with having been born in Malaysian Borneo.
- Podcast co-host Rachel Donald discusses with Rewcastle Brown — who was not too long ago awarded the Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani Anti-Corruption Excellence Award — how the worldwide monetary system turned the repository for the billions in stolen funds, a few of which ended up as luxurious properties in the US and even presents to Hollywood celebrities, and the important position of the press in holding folks in energy to account.
In 2015, unbiased journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown revealed that $700 million had appeared within the private checking account of Malaysia’s then-prime minster, Najib Razak. The cash had come from the 1Malaysia Improvement Berhad fund (1MDB), which was supposed for public growth and infrastructure.
This was — and nonetheless is — the world’s greatest money-laundering scandal, and resulted in a 12-year jail sentence for Razak. However Rewcastle Brown herself has additionally confronted a slew of authorized actions, together with an arrest warrant and an try to position her on Interpol’s Crimson Discover checklist of needed fugitives. Nonetheless, after years of persistent investigating, Rewcastle Brown was not too long ago awarded the Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani Anti-Corruption Excellence Award.
Mongabay podcast co-host Rachel Donald speaks with Rewcastle Brown, the founding father of the Sarawak Report outlet, about what led her to research the 1MDB scandal, in addition to environmental destruction in Borneo. Rewcastle Brown additionally shares her ideas on the threats reporters face and the way the authorized system is used to maintain reporters from performing their public service:
Hear right here:
The 1MDB scandal gained widespread worldwide consideration after it was revealed, however key gamers in it stay at massive, like Low Taek Jho (a.okay.a. Jho Low), the mastermind behind the large fraud, who remains to be on the run after befriending a few of Hollywood’s most well-known celebrities by utilizing the monetary windfall to offer the celebs with luxurious presents and bankroll 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Road — fittingly sufficient, a film a few huge monetary fraud.
In Malaysia, the disappearance of the funds derailed a deliberate practice community and different much-needed public tasks, and put an $11.2 billion debt on the backs of Malaysian taxpayers, Rewcastle Brown says.
See associated studying:
Amid corruption scandal, Malaysia switches observe on way forward for rail community
Interpol rejects Malaysia’s request to position journalist on Crimson Discover checklist
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Rachel Donald is a local weather corruption reporter and the creator of Planet: Important, the podcast and publication for a world in disaster. Her newest ideas could be discovered at 𝕏 through @CrisisReports and at Bluesky through @racheldonald.bsky.social.
Mike DiGirolamo is Mongabay’s viewers engagement affiliate based mostly in Sydney. He co-hosts and edits the Mongabay Newscast. Discover him on LinkedIn, Bluesky and Instagram.
Banner Picture: Rainforest in Sarawak, Malaysia. Photograph by Rhett A. Butler.
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