Scandals & Scoundrels represents a collection of pieces which Nadeswaran penned when the 1MDB issue was at its zenith. The people at the heart of the scandal had issued powerful diktats and issued stern edicts against making public any information even remotely connected with the financial scam. Employing draconian provisions contained within the Official Secrets Act, the ruling party ran riot.
Acting in an impudent fashion, gag and detention orders were issued against the fourth estate in a fervent bid to hide a ‘whole pumpkin in a heap of rice’. When the dust settled and the head of the State was ultimately accused of corruption and sent to warm the prison benches, the total value of the scam was pegged at a whopping sum of $681 million or Ringgit Malaysia 2.6 billion!
Nadeswaran illustrates in chilling detail the despicable heights to which the perpetrators of the scam descended in an all-out attempt to absolve themselves of the heinous crime they had committed.
Scandals & Scoundrels is an exercise in courage and conscientiousness. Nadeswaran, even under intense pressure and immense threats never shied away from being true to his profession. Asking, probing, goading and poking with a tempo that can only be described as pounding, he hounded the politicians and their blind acolytes by daring them to respond to facts that were uncomfortable if not downright, disturbing.
The book is also peppered with satirical chapters that cover some of the most shameful of cover ups without making references to the key players. However the sardonic titles given to the characters in these Chapters leave no one in doubt as to the actual identity behind the ‘fictional’ characters. For example the titular character going by the acronym of “M01” is the former convicted Prime Minister himself. In one incriminating document he was referred to as “M01”.
Scandals & Scoundrels is also a primer for all young minds aspiring to make a mark in the field of journalism. Bob Woodward, that quintessential barometer of all impartial reporting once remarked, “I think journalism gets measured by the quality of information it presents, not the drama or the pyrotechnics associated with us.” R. Nadeswaran pays absolute and unabashed paean to this principle espoused by Bob Woodward. There is neither pyrotechnics nor sensationalism in his book. Its just facts as they are supposed to be stated and as they exactly unraveled.
Language: English
Published By: R. Nadeswaran
ISBN No: 97898344928
Format: Paperback
No of Pages: 186