Written by Ho Wah Foon. Published by The Edge Malaysia on 3 March 2014.
Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, who has just stepped down as Sarawak chief minister and become the Yang di-Pertua Negeri (state governor), had led the state imperiously for 33 years; and during these years, his family members have amassed billions of wealth.
Ruling with a tight fist, Taib had allowed his immediate and extended families to control 400 companies in every sector in Malaysia and hold overseas assets worth more than RM800 million in four countries, according to the 8-page special cover story in The Edge Weekly.
Under the state constitution, the Chief Minister shall not hold any office of profit and shall not actively engage in any commercial enterprise, but according to the research findings of The Edge Weekly Taib might have broken this state law while he was ruling Sarawak. “Checks show that Taib is a director/shareholder of at least five Malaysian companies: Demak Jaya Holdings Sdn Bhd, Hamamorial Sdn Bhd; Mesti Bersatu Sdn Bhd, Pehin Sri Heritage Sdn Bhd and Ramah Jelita Sdn Bhd,” stated The Edge Weekly.
For example, Demak Jaya Holdings was started in 1988 and made an exempt private company on July 15, 2013. It is co-owned by Taib (50%) and his sister Hanifah Hajar Taib-Alsree (50%). The weekly, in its in-depth investigative report this week, also revealed that due to various reports on the web of companies owned by Taib’s family members, his family members have relinquished some of the companies or converted them to exempt status, which will block public access to their financial information.
Apart from revealing which companies have used the exempt status as a shield, The Edge Weekly also reported the connections of Taib’s family to some of the controversial privatisations of public listed companies in Malaysia and listed what assets they hold overseas.
Although as Yang di-Pertua Negeri, Taib is supposed to hold a ceremonial role, the political analysis of The Edge Weekly sees him as more than a figurehead. “He will wield more power and influence than any governor in history,” said its writer.
A full investigative report and detailed analysis on this powerful politician and his business empire, headlined A Sprawling Family Business Empire, is found in the pull-out of The Edge Weekly (March 3-March 9).
PUTRAJAYA, Feb 25 — Outgoing Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud could become as influential as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad if he is allowed to become Sarawak’s new Head of State, PKR strategist Rafizi Ramli alleged today.
ReplyDeleteRafizi said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should at least suspend plans to elevate Abdul Taib to the symbolic post of Tuan Yang Terutama (TYT), until the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) clears Abdul Taib and his family of the allegations of corruption over his 33-year reign.
“For a person who has been chief minister for 33 years, he will exert undue influence because the system was built by him to benefit him,” Rafizi said after he and PKR’s Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How submitted new documents to the MACC on alleged kickbacks received by Abdul Taib’s family in the state’s timber trade.
Rafizi said stopping Taib from becoming TYT would prevent his successor from coming under the same pressure that Dr Mahathir has placed on the prime ministers after him.
Dr Mahathir is the country’s longest serving prime minister, having held on to the post for 22 years before he retired from office in 2003.
Despite officially retiring from politics, the “Bapa Pembangunan” or Father of Development has continued to wield considerable influence in Umno - the country’s most dominant party - and by extension exerts pressure on public policy.
“[We] do not want another Mahathir,” he added.
See noted that the MACC needs to act on the findings by tax authorities in Japan on Abdul Taib’s younger brother, Onn Mahmud, dealings as an agent handling Sarawak’s timber trade with the East Asian nation.
Although Tokyo tax authorities eventually cleared Onn’s company, Hong Kong-based Regent Star, of tax fraud under Japanese law, See said that the money trail outlined in the findings clearly showed payments by Japanese companies that required further scrutiny.
“It raises the question of how an agent in Hong Kong can exert so much pressure on shipping companies. This interests everyone because why are the companies paying kickbacks,” he said, adding that the situation has been going on since 1983.
On Saturday, whistle-blower website Sarawak Report claimed that the findings by the Tokyo tax authorities provided clear evidence for the MACC to act on Abdul Taib and his family for alleged corruption involving timber shipments from the Borneo state to Japan.
Regent Star was initially found in 2007 to have received RM32 million kickbacks from Japanese shipping companies, but the an appeal tribunal reversed the findings a year later, ruling that the monies paid for “brokerage services” to Onn Mahmud’s firm were legitimate and could be written off as tax rebates.
Rafizi today claimed that the payment for so-called brokerage services is a convenient cover for kickbacks, which under Malaysian law is considered as a bribe.
“Kickbacks come in so many names... you can call it commissions, or brokerage fees, these are all kickbacks,” said the accountant by training.
“It is clear that it is a kickback and our law says a kickback is corruption. The law provides for action to be taken from our side, and I think it is time for us to go not just on Taib, but we also need to scrutinise every one of his family members,” Rafizi added.
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