The Godfather of Sarawak

Unmasked! Taib The Godfather

Monday, August 9th, 2010 GMT

Held in trust by private agreement - 50% of the shares of Sakti International, worth approximately US$ 40 million.

Sarawak Report has uncovered devastating documents which prove that Abdul Taib Mahmud, Sarawak’s Chief Minister, is the real owner of millions of dollars of property assets held in the name of family members abroad.
The damning discovery lays bare a system of private deals, which enabled the Chief Minister to conceal his true ownership of the properties. This was presumably in order to hide the extent of his enormous wealth, for which he has yet to provide any legitimate explanation.
Under the system, whilst it is Taib’s relatives who are publicly registered as the official shareholders and directors of the companies owning the properties,  a separate, private agreement ensures that the shares are actually held in trust for him.
Download PDF.

Documentary evidence of elaborate concealment

260 California Street, San Francisco - Bijou Sakti Office Block

Among documents in its possession Sarawak Report has a copy of one such private agreement (see above) relating to the shares in Sakti International, a company that owns buildings in San Francisco.  Sakti is part of a web of companies started in North America by the Taibs, which includes Sakto, a major Ottawa property company, and Wallysons, which owns the Abraham Lincoln Building in Seattle, housing a top secret anti-terrorist facility for the FBI.
The five official shareholders of Sakti International, which is registered in California, are Taib’s brothers, Onn Mahmud and Arip Mahmud, along with three of his children, Sulaiman Taib, Mahmud Taib and Jamilah Taib.   However, as the document which we have obtained shows, a resolution made soon after the formation of the company has privately ruled that half those shares (a commanding majority) are held in trust for the Chief Minister.  The value of these shares amounts to 40 million US dollars for Sakti alone, according to the company’s own documents.

Tip of the iceberg?

However, Sakti International, estimated to be worth US $80 million, accounts for just a small proportion of the Taib family wealth. Our previous exposes have revealed a vast portfolio of further international property assets, which are owned by members of Taib Mahmud’s immediate family.  For example, Taib’s own children are the shareholders and directors of numerous companies controlling residential and commercial buildings in Canada, Australia, Britain and the United States together worth hundreds of millions of US dollars.  Yet, suspiciously, many of these assets came into their possession when they were in their early 20s and still college students with no visible access to legitimate resources to invest. The inevitable question for Taib Mahmud, therefore, is whether, as in the case of Sakti International, they are also secretly holding these other properties in trust for him?  If not, what explanation can there be for these investments?

Golden Wedding Couple - The Godfather and his family

A number of reports have already been made to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) regarding the recent disclosures of the Taib family wealth. These new revelations proving the direct link to the Chief Minister will increase the pressure on the MACC to respond with a proper investigation.

Further Fingerprints

The Sakti International documents in our possession, released as part of the disclosure in a recent court case, provide further extensive evidence of Taib Mahmud’s involvement in the company, despite his denials of any business connections.  Indeed one of the company’s earliest official documents, signed in 1987, even lists him as one of the Directors of Sakti International.

Chief Minister's name in black and white, listed as a Director Of Sakti International

The document in question is a Domestic Stock Corporation Statement for Sakti International, which is required annually by the State of California.  In 1987, the year the company was set up, its inaugural statement clearly registers Taib Mahmud, along with his brothers Onn Mahmud and Arip Mahmud, as a Director of the company.  The only officer of the company is listed as Mahmud Taib, the Chief Minister’s eldest son.
It is well-known that in subsequent Taib family enterprises the Chief Minister has always scrupulously avoided including his own name in any documentation.  This early mistake will undermine his constant claims that, in keeping with his role as Chief Minister, he has no direct business interests. It is clear that he in fact set up Sakti International, using the address of his own house in San Francisco. Download PDF

Cover Up

Subsequently, records show that the structure of the company was altered to make Onn, Arip and Mahmud Taib the three Directors, while Rahman became the only officer of the company.  But, as we are now able to exclusively report, Taib Mahmud secretly retained his control through a resolution by the company directors dated April 8^th 1988. This resolution (see top) placed 500 of the 1,000 shares issued by the company in trust for him.

43 Presidio, Taib's San Francisco town house and early HQ for Sakti International

The Godfather

The Sakti documents give a fascinating insight into the manipulative methods used by Taib Mahmud to control his family members, who are supposedly the earners and ‘businessmen’ who have generated the Taibs’ legendary wealth.  The five relatives who were selected to own shares in Sakti International were each been given a different number of shares. Each then surrendered differing proportions of these shares to be held in trust for the Chief Minister.
Brother Onn Mahmud gets 400 shares, but of them 200 are held for the Chief Minister, whereas brother Arip gets just 200 shares, 100 of which are in trust for Taib. Mahmud Taib has the same arrangement ast Arip. However younger brother, Sulaiman Rahman Taib, who was later made sole Director of Sakti, only gets 100 shares under the agreement and they are all in fact held in trust for his father. Daughter Jamilah also only gets 100 shares, but she gets to hold them all herself.
The system ensures that Taib Mahmud has half of all the shares held in trust for himself, whereas  none of the others hold more than 200 shares. In this way he clearly keeps a commanding control over the company he pretends not to own.

Classic Car on Standby - Vintage Ferrari kept ready for Chief Minister's occasional visits to 43 Presidio Avenue. Son Rahman Taib, who shared his father's interest requested a 4,000 square foot garage to house his car collection in the States

Taib in charge

Former employees of Sakti have testified to the controling position the Chief Minister holds over the other members of the family.  Rahman, as he was known in the States, was still in college when he became sole Director of Sakti and has been described as being in awe of his father, whom he once had to wait a week to get a meeting with.
“We always considered Taib to be the ultimate boss and decision-maker” one former executive has told Sarawak Report, “It was obvious that he was the source of the money and Rahman was extremely deferential towards him”.

Where did the money come from?

The Chief Minister has so far made no comment on the string of recent exposes regarding his wealth.  However, this new evidence will increase the widespread demands for him to explain how he and his family accrued the millions necessary to acquire such investments.  Taib’s personal salary from his numerous concurrent positions still only delivers an official income of just under 50,000 MYR (around US $16,000) a month.

Multi-billionaire? Chief Minister's finances beg immediate scrutiny

In past weeks the existence of Ridgeford Properties in London and Sakto Corporation in Ontario, Canada have also been made public (see previous exposes on Sarawak Report).  These companies own and manage numerous office blocks worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  Ostensibly the Directors and owners of these concerns are Jamilah Taib and her husband Sean (Hisham) Murray, a Canadian national. However, like Sakti,  Sakto was originally set up under the names of Taib family members, not Mr Murray.
Although numerous members of Sean Murray’s family now work for Sakto, all the evidence indicates that these are in fact Taib family businesses, ultimately controlled by the Chief Minister of Sarawak.
Surely the weight of evidence is now such that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission will be unable to ignore the deluge of demands requiring thorough investigation into Sarawak’s White Haired Raja?
Sarawak Report

Bloggers in the Red

By TEO CHENG WEE, The Straits Times
Online journalism may be booming in Malaysia, drawing many readers from traditional print media, but staying profitable is another story altogether.
With intense competition and business models that are still being worked out, many popular news sites are still struggling to stay in the black.
Recently, one of Malaysia's top news websites became the first major casualty.
The Nut Graph, which was launched with much fanfare in 2008, has said it is scaling down operations at the end of this month and retrenching staff. Making an announcement last month, editor Jacqueline Ann Surin cited financial difficulties to explain its move.
Starting next month, The Nut Graph will publish only once a week instead of five times, and focus mostly on columns and commentaries from contributors, rather than news or features.
The Nut Graph's financial struggles have been no secret. Launched with a start-up cost of RM2 million, the website has not turned in a profit, and with funds running low, even had to seek public donations to keep going.
"The expectation of online journalism is that it needs to be super-fast with a high turnover of stories. In order to do that, you need a fairly large team which costs more money," said Surin, a former journalist with local dailies The Star and The Sun.
The Nut Graph business model, she said, was simply not sustainable.
A similar story can be heard at some of the other news websites.
Top news website Malaysiakini, for instance, is the oldest and only website that charges subscription. Even then, the 10-year-old site is making only a small profit, said its editor Steven Gan.
Similarly, the chief executive of The Malaysian Insider, another well-read site, said earlier this week that it was still in the red. Internet advertising, he said, covers only half its costs.
Still, such financial challenges have not stopped newcomers like Malaysian Mirror, Free Malaysia Today and Malaysian Digest from joining the fray in the past year.
News websites have surged in popularity here in the past two years, in the wake of the 2008 general election, as Malaysians flocked online for what they felt was more independent news, at the same time shunning mainstream newspapers which many felt were overly pro-government.
But analysts say that in an increasingly crowded cyberspace, packed with stories of varying quality, more has not proven to be better.
Political analyst Farish Noor noted that there has been a tendency for news websites to overlap and cover the same news, resulting in a 'somewhat shallow consensus of opinion'.
There is also frequent speculation that some websites have hidden political backers, which would explain the ability to absorb financial losses in exchange for online influence.
"After the last general election, people realized that the Internet is a powerful medium. It is possible that politicians and business tycoons will pay for a stake in online media," Gan said.
While some of these news websites have sometimes been criticized for running stories with clear slants, he felt it was up to readers 'to decide how much weight they can put on them and what to believe in'.
Both Gan and Farish see the scaling down of The Nut Graph, which has built up a credible reputation, as a blow to online journalism in Malaysia.
More websites are likely to come up to take its place, but Farish believes that those with agendas will not be able to hoodwink readers for long.
"The public can see through any slant, and that only robs these organizations, and the journalists who work for them, of their credibility," he said.

Taib Land Sale to Children and Cronies

Hornbill Unleashed

August 25, 2010

Cut-price sale of Kuching land to Taib’s children

Filed under: Human rights,corruption — Hornbill Unleashed @ 5:20 PM
Tags: Save Sarawak, Sarawak politics, corruption, Anak Sarawak Bangsa Malaysia, Taib Mahmud

By Aidila Razak
A company owned by Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s children has obtained land in Kuching at a very low price, causing the state to lose at least RM300 million in potential revenue.

Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen said the state government had alienated 269 acres of land within the city to Monarda Sdn Bhd at a “grossly and obscenely under-priced” rate of RM291,000 per acre on average.

“The market rate is between RM1.5 million and RM2 million per acre. Had the government gone for public tender, the state could have (earned) RM400 million to RM500 million,” he told Malaysiakini today.
Instead, Monarda, which has a paid-up capital of RM100, only paid about RM78.28 million for the three parcels of land, he said.
“We demand that the state government gives a full explanation and be accountable to the people of Sarawak,” said Chong (left), who is also Sarawak DAP secretary.
The three parcels are located next to the Kuching International Airport near Stutong. There is a military base located in the same area.
Monarda is headed by Taib’s eldest son Abu Bekir, who holds 52 shares, and one Choong Sun Nam, who holds 12 shares.
Other shareholders include Taib’s daughters Jamilah and Hanifah Hajar, and Taib’s daughter-in-law Anisa Hamidah Abdullah, all of whom hold 12 shares respectively.
Unusual alienation exercise
Chong, who traced the Taib connection through land and companies registry searches, said this was one of the largest parcels of city land to be alienated in any one exercise.
“The land is currently vacant and Monarda has not done any business since it was founded,” he said.
Earlier this year, three complaintswere lodged with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission against Taib, alleging that he and his family had used corrupt means to build a property empire valued in excess of RM3 billion.
Two documents surfaced this month in the Sarawak Report website alleging that Taib had used proxies in 1987 to take control of a US-based property company, Sakti International Corporation, then worth at least US$80 million (RM250 million). –  MalaysiaKini


Articles in Bahasa Malaysia :- Jual tanah kepada anak, S’wak rugi lebih RM300 juta

Road to Putrajaya Confiscated

It has come to my knowledge that on last Thursday, 19th of August, police officers had raided bookshops in many parts of the country to confiscate my book “The March to Putrajaya”.  They did so without giving any reason and without issuing any official document.  Neither has there been any public statement accounting for this operation.
Upon inquiry by Malaysiakini, Home Ministry’s Publications Control and Quranic Text secretary Zaitun Samad said that the Ministry was not responsible for any seizure of the book, adding “perhaps the police took those books, but not us” as quoted by a Malaysiakini news report on August 21st.
Under these circumstances, such police operation is clearly illegal, as it constitutes “trespassing” and “theft”, since there were neither search warrants nor known legal ground to back up such action.
I can conceive of no justifiable ground for the authorities to act against my book.  The book is essentially a collection of my articles which contain materials that are factual and truthful as far as I know.  And they have been published over the past few years by Malaysiakini, Malaysia Today and several other websites, as well as Suara Keadilan. Hence, the substance therein has been for a long time in the domain of the public, which, I would like to believe, include the relevant government authorities.
If my articles contain falsehood or illegal elements that have endangered public security or caused injury to any party, I would have expected the injured party to have protested or acted against me.  But there has been none.
Even if I have lied and injured any party, the correct thing to do is to sue me for defamation.  Harassing the bookshops to sabotage the sale of my book is surely a response that is legally and morally wrong. 
Regarding Puan Zaitun’s statement that the Home Ministry was not responsible for this seizure of books, I regret to state that this answer is not satisfactory. The Home Minister’s portfolio clearly includes the police department, and as such, the Minister is answerable to the Cabinet, Parliament and to the public for the conduct of the Police.
What strikes me as strange in this instant is that the control of undesirable publication, which is a function under the Division of Publication Control and Quranic Text in the Home Ministry, should now be taken over by the police, which should amount to usurpation of the Ministry’s authority – judging from Puan Zaitun’s claim of ignorance of this police operation.  The police had no business to interfere into the sales of my book, unless criminal offence has been committed.
What is even more deplorable is the lawless manner with which the police had carried out their work.   It must be clearly understood that illegally confiscating properties on such a large scale is a serious infringement of the law, more so when it is committed by the police, who ironically are the very people who should be protecting the public from such infringement. 
Confiscating my books without legal ground is also a violation of the Constitution, as my right of freedom of expression guaranteed under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution has been transgressed.
I would like to believe that, despite our battered reputation as a democratic country, we still have laws, and as such, the police are not above the law.
The current police incursion into the Constitution and the laws is certainly a matter of grave concern to the public.
I therefore call upon the Minister of Home Affairs, Datuk Seri Hishammudin Tun Hussein, to make a public statement clarifying the Ministry’s stand on my book and the true state of affairs within his ministry over the current incident.

Kim Quek

FELDA Abused

Felda blind to Tun Razak's vision

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:27

By Jamilah Kamarudin

PETALING JAYA: Since its inception more than five decades ago, the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) has brought about many changes and helped improve the lives of Bumiputeras.
Efforts by the late premier Tun Abdul Razak in 1956 were the starting point of the plan to improve and enhance the economy of the Malays, especially the rural community.

At the beginning, Felda aimed at balancing the distribution of the economic and social status and reduce the economic gap within the community and other races.

Land as vast as 4.046 hectares (10acres) for agriculture and 0.809 hectares (two acres) for housing were set aside for settlers.

The rapid growth of Felda’s agriculture sector is a result of the settlers’ toil and and Felda has gone on to become among the richest government agencies after Petronas. It also offered all kinds of loan schemes with high interest to settlers.

But Razak’s philosophy of “giving land to those who do not have” and “enriching the poor” are no longer embraced by the Felda leadership.

The agency has deteriorated since coming under the Prime Minister’s Department in 2004.

Felda’s strategic policy of agriculture was changed to corporate industry through the setting up of Felda Plantation and its 23 subsidiaries. Although the subsidiaries offered lucrative returns, they however also jeopardised the rights of settlers and their inheritors.

Aside from the unsatisfactory extraction grade (KPG -kadar perahan gred) of the palm oil, there were also allegations of manipulation of grades, and issues over their deposits in the Replanting Fund and quality of the oil palm.

The settlers were further burdened by the high interest on loans on the lands which were mortgaged to Felda.

Fulfil social obligation
Several groups have stood up against the mismanagement and began exposing Felda's wrongdoings. Among the more active NGOs, is the National Association for Children of Settlers (Anak).

Its president, Mazlan Aliman, wants Felda to fulfil its social obligation as an agency that takes care of the welfare of the settlers and not just act as a corporate body focused on profits.

"This is the reason that we and the settlers all over the country are beginning to take court action against Felda. The key reason is the swindling and cheating involved in the extraction process,” he said.

After Serting Hill filed its summons, the Raja Alias scheme in Seremban followed suit with a RM200 million summons.

Mazlan expects more schemes in Felda Pahang to do the same.

“I am quite sure the settlers in Pahang will rise to voice their right after several meetings with Felda Chini last week and the setting up of an action committee in Bera and Kratong Felda schemes.

“The Felda Bera scheme will make the first move with the participation of 4,000 settlers and we will file for legal action in November at the latest. This will be followed by Felda Chini and Kratong.

“Anak (the association) and our lawyers R Sivarasa, Wan Rohimi Wan Daud, and Nizam Abdul Hamid will go down to the ground in Pahang next week to study the documents and hold briefings with the settlers. I will also visit Jengka 17 soon to organise a briefing for settlers there,” he said.
Also read:
Felda has to pay RM11 million to 354 settlers 
FMT