Freeze Taib’s accounts, governments told

FMT Staff

 | September 19, 2012

A Swiss NGO has lumped Taib Mahmud together with 'money launderers' Indonesian president Suharto and Philippines' Marcos.

KUCHING: Swiss NGO, Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), has reiterated its call for governments and banks around the globe to freeze the assets of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and his family.

It has also called on anti-corruption and anti-money-laundering authorities worldwide to investigate the Taib family’s business activities.

In a statement issued in conjunction with the release of its report ‘The Taib Timber Mafia. Facts and Figures on Politically Exposed Persons from Sarawak, Malaysia’ in Brussels, Belgium earlier today, BMF said the Taibs could be compared to Indonesia’s president Suharto and president Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines.

“The Taibs are being compared to the Suharto and Marcos clans who have also stolen billions from their countries.

“According to Transparency International, former Indonesian president Suharto had embezzled US$15 to US$35 billion, while former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos is thought to have stolen between US$20 and US$900 billion.

“We want the governments and banks around the globe to freeze Taib family assets.

“These assets should be frozen and restituted to the people of Sarawak, and the Taib family and their co-conspirators should be prosecuted for corruption, abuse of public funds, fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and other related crimes,” noted the statement, alluding to the report which detailed Taib and his family’s extensive wealth.

According to the report, which was released to coincide with the visit by the Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, Bernard Dompok, to the European Union, Taib and his 20-member clan are worth US$21 billion (RM64 billion).

And the extensive wealth, the report claims, was derived “through the almost complete political and economic control of Sarawak” over the past three decades.

“Taib Mahmud has systematically plundered a country once rich in natural resources, particularly oil, gas and timber. While the proceeds of the oil and gas extraction are mostly benefiting Malaysia’s federal government, the Sarawak state government enjoys total autonomy as to the use of the state’s forest resources and state lands.

“The Bruno Manser Fund estimates the combined net worth of 20 Taib family members at close to US$21 billion, which have been acquired through the almost complete political and economic control of Sarawak, over three decades.

“In particular, the Taibs have established monopolies over the granting of timber and plantation concessions, the export of timber to third countries, the maintenance of public roads as well as over the production and sale of cement and a number of other construction materials,” it said.

Taib’s assets being monitored

Taib, an impoverished carpenter’s son, has been helming Sarawak since 1981.

According to the report, his personal wealth now stands at US$15 billion (RM45 billion), making him the richest man in Malaysia.

The second richest man in Malaysia is his brother Onn Mahmud with a net worth of US$1.5 billion (RM4.5 billion).

Both have been closely linked to logging scandals dating back to 1981, the year Taib assumed the chief minister’s post.

The report cited two key scandals – one in 2007 and another in 2008.

“In 2007, a scandal exposed by the Japanese tax authorities revealed that tens of millions of US dollars had been paid in secret, illegal kickbacks by Japanese shipping companies exporting timber from Sarawak.

“The money was paid directly to Hong Kong companies linked to the chief minister’s brother, Onn Mahmud. The Japanese cartel concluded an agreement in 1981 with Malaysia’s Dewan Niaga Sarawak regarding lumber transport.

“Dewan Niaga is a state-affiliated agency in charge of lumber export control and is headed by Onn Mahmud, one of Taib’s brothers.

“In 2008, Indonesian newspaper, Tribun Pontianak, revealed that around 30 shipments of illegal Indonesian logs were imported into Sarawak and re-exported to other countries every month. Chief Minister Taib Mahmud was implicated in this timber scam,” the report noted.

‘Thief minister’

Taib is now aggressively pursuing his pet project – the multi-billion dollar “Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy” (SCORE) – an industrialisation project comprising 50 hydroelectric dams, oil palm plantations, smelter plants and mining projects.

The projects are being widely opposed by the local communities. The dams are set to displace tens of thousands of indigenous people and will ultimately benefit the Taib family and his close political allies.

“Taib is regarded by many Malaysians as being the ‘thief minister’ of Sarawak.

“In June 2011, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission [MACC] announced that Taib was under investigation for allegations of timber corruption.

“The UK, Swiss, German and Australian governments are now monitoring Taib assets abroad and the ongoing investigation in Malaysia,” said the report.

Taib, meanwhile, has denied BMF’s claims that he is being investigated by the Swiss authorities.

The BMF had alleged on its website that the Swiss Financial Marketing Supervisory Authority is investigating Taib’s alleged assets in Swiss banks.

Taib refuted the allegations, describing them as “utterly false and evidently politically motivated”.

He said BMF had a track record of making “scurrilous and scandalous” allegations against the state government.

“Therefore, BMF’s false allegations about assets held in Switzerland by me are a continuation of their malicious efforts to smear the state, the government and the leaders,” he told members of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly sitting in June last year.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/09/19/freeze-taibs-accounts-govts-told/

UK Press Reports “Diplomatic Row” Over William & Kate’s Sabah Visit

11 Sep 2012

Malaysian demonstrators gathered outside St James’ Palace in London to protest at the visit to Musa Aman last week

Britain’s major newspaper, the Daily Mail, has described the planned visit by the royal couple, Prince William and Kate, to Sabah as “the first diplomatic row of their fledgeling royal careers” today.

The reason? Because the person waiting in Sabah to greet them on Friday is Chief Minister Musa Aman, now “implicated in a criminal investigation in to alleged laundering of profit from illegal logging”, says the paper.

The matter has already been picked up by Malaysia’s leading online news portalMalaysiakini and it marks the growing concern amongst onlookers over the decision to encourage the environmentally-friendly prince to endorse the dubious eco-credentials of the man who has presided over the destruction of Sabah’s forests over the last 20 years.

The Malaysian human rights organisation Suaram has written a letter directly to the Royal Palace and the Foreign Office expressing concerns about the visit and deploring the engagement with Musa. Environment NGOs have also added their concerns at the failure to confront ‘greenwash’ by a Sabah government that has licensed large areas of once protected forests for destruction.

Don’t be fooled by Musa William and Kate!

PR boost! 

But, for Musa the visit by the young couple has clearly been a godsend. Over past weeks he has been struggling to dampen down criticism during this sensitive pre-election period, and has  refused to step aside in the face of no less than three separate corruption investigations in different countries (Malaysia, Hong Kong and Switzerland).

A mound of evidence has also been published showing how millions of dollars in kickbacks have been processed through bank accounts managed by his nominees.

However, the British Foreign Office has been adamant in its refusal to step back from the visit, which is seen to offer great potential for trading opportunities, including arms sales, to the Malaysian Government.

Last week Malaysian anti-corruption campaigners waved placards outside St James’ Palace in London condemning the visit and calling for William and Kate not to be fooled by Musa’s ‘Greenwash’ and not to lend him a valuable PR boost by appearing to endorse him on the eve of a general election.

Pressure has increased in the face of the latest revelation, which is an official response by the Swiss Federal Government to questions asked by the MP Carlos Sommaruga about the Hong Kong investigation into Musa’s assets:

“Switzerland has provided legal assistance in the case of MUSA Bin Aman et al. to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China for criminal collusion in active and passive corruption” [Swiss response]

Musa is also named in connection with an official Swiss criminal investigation launched into the role of UBS in laundering the illegal timber money, announced last week and the Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, has acknowledged that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation into the same transactions also involves Musa.

Backfiring – the Wills & Kate visit to Sabah has turned a blind eye to Musa’s timber corruption

‘Greenwash’ can’t hide the truth

Mannan (left) hob nobs with Prince Charles about Sabah’s supposed environment credentials at a WWF conference in St James’ Palace

The royal visit was clinched in the wake of a“mission” last year by Sabah Forestry Head Sam Mannan to St James’ Palace promoting Sabah as an ‘eco-friendly’ state.

Mannan has worked assiduously to promote an image of Sabah where deforestation is ‘slowing’ and precious areas are being rescued from logging.

Just before the visit he announced amidst great fanfare that another large area would now be put under ‘protection’.

However, yet again it is an area that has already been logged, just as areas that had been ear-marked for protection under the WWF ‘Heart of Borneo Treaty’ were also deliberately logged by Musa and Mannan before the agreement was signed.

Sabah timber insiders say that the driving force behind the destruction of the state forests over the past 20 years has been the corruption and greed of Musa, who has accepted kickbacks in return for issuing licences in areas that were once protected.

Forest Protection? – evidence from Sabah’s restricted Forest Department maps shows how Musa’s greed has destroyed last remaining reserves. Zone 23 was a Protected Area of virgin forest in the 2005 map (left), but by 2009 (right) it had been re-categorised and a timber licence had been issued to one of Musa’s key logging cronies

Musa and Mannan even stand accused of altering the contours of Sabah’s forest maps in order to give the impression that hillsides are less steep than before, so that they can be logged!

In 2009 STAR President Dr Jeffrey Kittingen pointed out how certain steep areas had suddenly been re-designated into areas of less than 25% gradient so that logging licences could be issued. He called for this areas of 8,000 hectares of virgin forest to be preserved, but Musa has had it logged! [source - Sabakini]

 

Now these concerns and accusations have been corroborated by the mass of information detailing the millions of dollars which have been paid by the timber companies into bank accounts controlled by Musa Aman through his nominees Michael Chia and Richard Barnes in return for issuing such destructive licences.

Swathes of evidence has linked these accounts to Musa Aman and to logging interests who paid millions of dollars as stated “deposits for logging concessions”!

“Deposit for Logging Concession” made into a British Virgin Island company account from which regular payments were also made to Musa’s sons – just some of the evidence now available to Swiss Prosecutors

Although Musa has denied any business associations with Chia, the statements from these accounts make plain that money was paid from them on a regular basis to two of Musa’s own sons in Australia and to their guardian at the time Imbaring bin Bujang.

One of many payments, which have also been testified to in court by UBS own affidavits in Singapore

It is this mass of evidence that has been handed to the Swiss Authorities which has now prompted their launch of the criminal investigation into Musa and UBS.

Tainted host. UK papers are starting to wonder why Wills & Kate are being flown over to greet Sabah’s tainted Chief Minister?

The information has also been made available on this website following the refusal by Malaysia’s Attorney General (Musa’s relative) to prosecute after the MACC produced its own report recommending that 40 charges should be laid against the Chief Minister.

The British Foreign Office has nevertheless adopted the position that Musa should not be treated as guilty before proven in a court of law.

Yet the attitude represents a departure from another convention, which is that people who come under formal suspicion while holding public office should at least step aside until their name is cleared!

The chance to present the young couple as brave jungle warriors for audiences back home has clearly been judged too good to miss.  But, as the true situation emerges this meeting with Musa has started to look increasingly ill-judged.

Musa’s corruption is threatening to taint Britain’s as yet unsullied young royal couple.

Web of bank accounts that link up to Musa’s personal UBS account in Zurich. Information from Hong Kong’s investigation after their arrest of Musa’s nominee, Michael Chia in 2008 carrying $16million in his bag.

Sabah’s naked hillsides – permission from Musa.

Source: http://www.sarawakreport.org/2012/09/uk-press-take-note-of-william-kate-protests/