02/07/2025

WEDNESDAY | JULY 2, 2025

/thesuntelegram FOLLOW / Malaysian Paper

ON TELEGRAM m RAM

8

HK rights record under fire as it marks handover

324 charged in mega insurance fraud case WASHINGTON: The Justice Department announced on Monday it has prevented the embezzlement of more than US$11 billion (RM46 billion) in federal funds through health insurance fraud schemes since the beginning of the year. The crackdown has led to criminal charges against 324 individuals, Matthew Galeotti, the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, told reporters during a press conference. Investigators identified US$2.9 billion in actual loss from false claims submitted to Medicare, the government health care programme for seniors, and Medicaid, the federal programme for low-income Americans, and were able to halt the loss of US$11.7 billion. The losses were less than a sixth of the amount authorities were able to prevent from being stolen“by getting ahead of schemes early”, said Galeotti. In the biggest case announced last week, a Russia-based network was caught defrauding Medicare using personal data stolen from more than a million Americans. The network submitted US$10.6 billion in reimbursement claims for medical devices in the name of those patients and without their knowledge. A total of 19 people have been charged in the United States in the case, 12 of whom have been arrested, including four in Estonia in cooperation with Estonian authorities, officials said last week. “We are seeing a disturbing trend of transnational criminal organisations engaging in increasingly sophisticated and complex criminal schemes that defraud the American health care system,” Galeotti said. “As part of this takedown, we’ve identified and charged defendants operating from Russia, Eastern Europe, Pakistan and other foreign countries.” According to Christopher Delzotto, head of the FBI’s health insurance fraud unit, of the 324 indicted individuals, 96 were licensed healthcare professionals including 25 physicians. – AFP India factory fire death toll rises to 39 HYDERABAD: The death toll from the explosion and fire at Sigachi Industries’ chemical factory in southern India has risen to at least 39, a state government official and a senior fire department official said yesterday. The government of Telangana, where the facility is located, has formed a five-member committee to investigate the incident, the cause of which is yet to be disclosed by the company. The explosion on Monday also injured 34, according to officials. “We are still clearing the debris,” said GV Narayana Rao, director of Telangana fire disaster response emergency. “Once we are all done with the clearing, only then we will be able to assess if any other body is still remaining under the debris or if it is all clear.” Police officials said more than 140 people were working in the plant when the incident occurred. Twenty-five of the deceased were yet to be identified, district administrative official P. Pravinya said. Sigachi, which makes microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), caters to clients in the pharma, food, cosmetic and specialty chemicals sectors. MCC is primarily used to prevent the formation of lumps in food products, to maintain texture of cosmetic products, and as a fat substitute in low-calorie foods. Sigachi halted operations at the plant for 90 days from Monday citing damage to equipment and structures. The plant is fully insured and the company is initiating claims. In a separate incident yesterday, five people were killed and four others injured in a fire at a crackers factory in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. – Reuters

Hong Kong’s last remaining opposition parties, disbanded on Sunday citing “immense political pressure” and concern for the safety of its members. It was the second pro-democracy party to announce plans to wind down this year, following the Democratic Party in February. Outgoing US consul general in Hong Kong Gregory May also criticised the government last week for using the security law to target overseas activists. Authorities say that Hong Kong residents continue to enjoy rights and freedoms guaranteed under its Basic Law constitution, although such rights are not absolute. Lee also said Hong Kong will speed up an ambitious plan to urbanise land near its border with China, a development known as the Northern Metropolis that will take up a third of Hong Kong’s total area. The project has raised concerns over its environmental impact as well as its long-term burden on public finances. – AFP

for his administration, noting the need to integrate into China’s economic blueprint. The city this week also marked the fifth anniversary of Beijing’s imposition of a sweeping national security law, under which 76 people have been convicted so far, imposed after the 2019 protests. Lee’s government enacted a separate security law of its own last year that authorities say is needed to restore order. “We have rebuilt a safe Hong Kong,” Lee said in a speech. However, the European Union said on Monday “the repressive use of the National Security Law has undermined confidence in the rule of law and Hong Kong’s international reputation”. “The European Union regrets that additional national security legislation ... introduced new offences, increased penalties and further empowered security authorities,” it said in a statement. The League of Social Democrats, one of

HONG KONG: Chief Executive John Lee said yesterday the city has become safer and more competitive as it marks its 28th year under Chinese rule, although critics decried the use of a “repressive” security law. The former British colony was handed over to China in 1997 under a “One Country, Two Systems” governance model, which guaranteed key freedoms and a high degree of autonomy not enjoyed on the mainland. July 1 in Hong Kong had been marked in previous years by demonstrations but authorities have cracked down on dissent after huge and sometimes violent pro democracy protests in 2019. Lee said “high-level security to safeguard high-quality development” was a top priority o High-level security linked to high-level development

Pro-Beijing supporters mark the 28th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover at Victoria Harbour. – AFPPIC

Trump spending Bill vote extends into second day WASHINGTON: Senate Republicans were still trying to pass President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending Bill early yesterday, despite divisions within the party about its expected US$3.3 trillion (RM13.83 trillion) hit to the nation’s debt pile. rama was “hopefully on the home stretch and then we’ll see where the votes are”. chambers of Congress. “This Bill, as we have said for months, steals people’s healthcare, jacks up their electricity bill to pay for tax breaks for billionaires,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech to the Senate.

Republicans can afford to lose no more than three votes in either chamber to pass a Bill the Democrats are united in opposition to. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released its assessment on Sunday of the Bill’s hit to the US$36.2 trillion debt pile. The Senate version is estimated to cost US$3.3 trillion, US$800 billion more than the version passed last month in the House of Representatives. Many Republicans dispute that claim, contending that extending existing policy will not add to the debt. Nonetheless, international bond investors see incentives to diversify out of the Treasury market. Democrats hope the latest, eye-widening figure could stoke enough anxiety among fiscally minded conservatives to get them to buck their party, which controls both

Thune countered that the tax cuts will help families and small businesses, as he defended spending reductions to social safety net programmes. He said Medicaid was growing at an unsustainable rate and there were some improvements and reforms to make it more efficient. The Senate narrowly advanced the tax-cut, immigration, border and military spending Bill in a procedural vote late on Saturday, voting 51-49 to open debate on the 940-page megabill. Trump wants the Bill passed before the July 4 Independence Day holiday. – Reuters

Senators were voting in a marathon session known as a “vote-a-rama”, featuring a series of amendments by Republicans and the minority Democrats, part of the arcane process Republicans are using to bypass Senate rules that normally require 60 of the chamber’s 100 members to agree on legislation. Beginning on Monday and ongoing for over 16 hours, it was still unclear how long the voting would last. Lawmakers said the process had been held up partly by the need to determine whether amendments complied with special budgetary rules. Shortly after midnight, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters the vote-a