Asia Sentinel
Chief Minister Taib in his Roller
A Swiss NGO says Abdul Taib Mahmud’s holdings span the globe and then some
The looting of the riches of the Malaysian state of Sarawak has earned the family of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud billions of US dollars through investment in as many as 400 companies in 25 countries, according to allegations by an NGO that has been stalking him for months.
Research by the Switzerland-based Bruno Manser Fund said official documents show the Taib family stake in 14 Malaysian companies alone is worth US$1.46 billion. The fund has uploaded all of the documents onto the Internet. They can be found here: http://stop-timber-corruption.org/resources.
However, the fund said, its research only covers publicly available information from Malaysia’s Registry of Companies and other official documents and the total of all of the Taib family’s holdings could run well in excess of that amount.
“Not counting their more hidden wealth, this puts the Taib family firmly into the category of one of the richest families in the world and makes them far richer than the Queen of England (whose assets are a mere half billion pounds),” the fund said.
In all, according to the fund, named for a Swiss environmentalist who disappeared in Sarawak in 2000 while trying to aid the Penan tribe, the family also has stakes in companies in Australia (22 companies), Bermuda (1), the British Virgin Islands (7), Brunei Darussalam (1), Cambodia (1), Canada (9), the Cayman Islands (1), Fiji (3), Hong Kong (7), India (2), Indonesia (3), Jersey (1), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1), Labuan (1), New Zealand (5), the People’s Republic of China (2), the Philippines (1), Singapore (2), Sri Lanka (1), Thailand (2), the United Arab Emirates (1), the United Kingdom (4), the United States of America (6) and Vietnam (1).
On May 12, in the wake of previous revelations by the Bruno Manser Fund and another reform NGO, the Sarawak Report, Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Ray announced that she was asking Swiss financial authorities to investigate the chief minister’s assets held in Swiss financial institutions. In a letter to the Bruno Manser Fund, Calmy-Ray indicated that if the probe finds evidence of corruption from timber sales, Taib’s Swiss assets could be frozen. There has been no indication of the progress of that probe.
At the time, a Taib spokesman said the funds had been legitimately deposited and that there was no evidence of criminality.
Allegations are that as chief minister, Taib granted timber access permits to a plethora of companies, most of them owned by ethnic Chinese, that have denuded much of the state, Malaysia’s largest, of much of its tropical rainforest. The two NGOs previously reported that
Taib’s 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. Many of the assets came into their possession when they were in their early 20s and were still college students with no visible access to legitimate resources to invest.
Although the two NGOs have filed numerous complaints with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the anti-graft agency only reluctantly agreed to investigate Taib’s holdings after the Swiss decision. A well-placed source told Asia Sentinel at the time that the MACC had no choice but to do so in the face of an international probe or face embarrassment. But, the source said after the new allegations, “that investigation has gone cold.”
Taib is the linchpin to control of Sarawak by the Barisan Nasional, the national coalition that controls the government in Kuala Lumpur. Despite widespread and embarrassing publication of Taib’s holdings by the Sarawak Report, both Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad campaigned energetically for Taib in April state elections, which the Barisan won, although with a sharply diminished ethnic Chinese vote. Although news media in Malaysia carried stories saying Taib had agreed to step down as chief minister after the election had concluded, he has not done so and there is little sign that he will.
Taib has been chief minister, finance minister and planning and resources management minister of since 1981. “He has been long criticized for corrupt practices and abuse of office but the Malaysian authorities have failed to take action against him, despite an ongoing investigation by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission,” a fund spokesman said in a prepared release. “Taib is a key supporter of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib run Razak’s ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.”
Taib, his four children, eight siblings and his first cousin Hamed bin Sepawi have stakes in 332 companies worth several billion US dollars in Malaysia, the report says. “The Taib family’s share in 14 large companies’ net assets alone has been calculated at 1.46 billion US dollars (RM4.6 billion). The three largest Taib family-linked companies are the 84 percent Taib-owned Cahya Mata Sarawak (net assets RM2.4 billion), the 25 percent Taib-owned Custodev Sdn Bhd (net assets RM1.6 billion) and the at least 35 percent Taib-owned Ta Ann Holdings Bhd (net assets: RM1.4 billion).
Cahya Mata Sarawak is a construction conglomerate listed on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange (KLSE 2852) that has benefited massively from a cement monopoly and from untendered public contracts awarded by the Taib-led Sarawak state government. Ta Ann Holdings Bhd (KLSE 5012), which is chaired by Hamed Sepawi, is an internationally active logging company. Since its foundation in the 1980s, Ta Ann has been granted more than 675,000 hectares of logging and plantation concessions by the Taib government. Privately-held Custodev Sdn Bhd is a Sarawak-based property development company. Achi Jaya Holdings (net assets 550 million Ringgits), which is wholly owned by the Taib family, holds a monopoly over log exports from the timber-rich state.
“We consider these corporate interests of the Taib family to be illicit assets”, said Bruno Manser Fund director Lukas Straumann in the prepared release. “There are many clear indications that Taib has abused his public office to build a corruption and fraud-based billion-dollar empire.”
“We are shocked to see that the Taib family has so shamelessly enriched itself while the people of Sarawak have to struggle with widespread poverty and an appalling lack of infrastructure and government services.”
The Bruno Manser Fund called on anti-corruption and anti-money-laundering authorities worldwide to investigate the Taib family’s business activities and freeze Taib family assets in their countries.
Hornbill Unleashed 
Freeze all the money and bring them back to develope Sarawak. We need new schools, new bridges. His kids do not need another Ferrari or RR.
Comment by RC — December 8, 2011 @ 5:35 PM |
goodbye taib here come taik,one is dirty another one is smelly.taib and taik,can do whatever in boleh land.
Comment by kuching hitam — December 7, 2011 @ 11:56 PM |
tahi kambing sudah bulat mahu buat apa….bye bye foreverlah…..nothing is hapeening or going to happen this is sarawak and this is malaysia,semua boleh from the boleh land.apa boleh buat,
Comment by kuching hitam — December 7, 2011 @ 11:54 PM |
BN Taib must keep Dayaks remain uneducated, hungry and poor
Only then BN Taib can keep on control power till pigs can fly
Dayak Poverty, Hunger and Illiteracy = BN Taib Rule Forever!
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Too many school dropouts in Sarawak, says Taib
The Star, Friday, July 27, 2001
SRI AMAN: The number of dropouts among primary and secondary students in Sarawak has reached an alarming rate, said Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
He said 64,000 primary and 18,000 secondary students dropped out of school between 1991 and 1996.
“This situation should be checked as it is a cause of concern to the government,” he said when launching the rural national science centre programme at the Civic Centre here on Wednesday.
Taib said if the problem was not addressed, it would hamper the government’s efforts to develop the state.
He said the state’s literacy rate was 83% and that 15.1% of the population did not receive any formal education. Only 9.3% had attained tertiary education.
He said the younger generation should fully utilise the information and communication technology to acquire more knowledge in the globalisation era.
“To create an awareness among rural community on the importance of science and technology, the state government will carry out more roadshows,” he said.
Taib said the government would pick five students from Sri Aman division to visit the National Science Centre and Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur to encourage more students to take up science subjects.
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DCM shocked by claim that Penans are starving
Bernama News, Saturday, 1 August 2009
Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan was shocked over news reports about 3,000 Penans in the remote settlements in upper Belaga in the Kapit Division facing starvation due to shortage of food.
“I’m very shocked…it is impossible. If nobody helps them, the Penans can still survive in the jungle easily as they can hunt for animals and forage for edible plants,” he told reporters here today.
Dr Chan was asked to comment on today’s newspaper reports which quoted Rural and Regional Development Deputy Minister Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun that famine had hit about 3,000 Penans in Belaga following crop failure in their five major settlements, and they were crying out to the government for help.
Entulu, who was with Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia and six MPs at the government-built Penan service centre in Lusong Laku early this week, said the Penans were facing starvation over the last three months, relying on tapioca, wild sago and jungle products but supply had run out.
The five settlements are Long Abit, Long Kajang, Long Tanyit, Long Malin and Long Lidem.
Meanwhile, Ulu Rejang MP Datuk Billy Abit Joo also expressed shock over the news reports, but also amusement, saying that “shortage of food does not mean the Penans are starving”.
“There are about 1,000 Penans in the six settlements and they are not starving.
“The Penans have always faced food shortage due to the destruction of their food source, but this year they had poor rice harvest because the crop had been destroyed by insects and monkeys,” he said.
However, Abit said the Penans’ harvest could still last about seven months. “The Penans will share their harvest, hunt for animals and look for wild sago as their staple food. They will not starve,” he said. – Bernama
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Jabu: 27,902 Household Heads Under Hardcore Poor Category,
19,031 Total Dayaks or 68.2 %
Bernama News, 23 June 2011
KUCHING — A total of 27,902 household heads (KIR) or 49.8 percent of 55,975 registered in e-Kasih system fall under the hardcore poor category, the State Assembly heard today.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu said of the 55,975 registered until June 11, 23,235 were categorised as simple poor and 4,838 had exited poverty.
“Of 27,902 KIR under hardcore poor, 13,349 are Ibans (47.84%), 5,601 Malays 2,925 Orang Ulu, 2,757 Bidayuh and 1,974 Melanaus (bumiputeras), 647 Chinese and 622 others,” he said when replying to Violet Yong (DAP-Pending). (19,031 total Dayaks or 68.2 %)
KIR with income of RM520 monthly fall under the hardcore poor category while those earning RM830 monthly are categorised as simple poor.
Jabu said to ensure effectiveness of e-Kasih, district poverty eradication focus group committees will vet applications to ensure that only those qualified were registered.
The data will be updated with entry from all aid agencies and those not registered with e-Kasih so that data on the low income group is comprehensive.
“The system is under construction and implementation is expected to be completed in 2012,” he said.
Jabu told Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi (BN-Pantai Damai) that 18,876 people were beneficiary of the Housing Assistance Program (PBR) including 10,847 new houses and 8,029 repaired houses.
A total of 1,877 KIR received assistance from the Rural and Regional Development Ministry.
Some 3,426 projects under the 1Azam Programme of the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry had also been implemented until May. — BERNAMA
Comment by Kamus — December 6, 2011 @ 9:46 AM |
RACE SHOULD NOT BE RELEVANT IN REPORTING CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES OF TAIB & TIMBER TYCOON GANG
“Allegations are that as chief minister, Taib granted timber access permits to a plethora of companies, most of them owned by ethnic Chinese, that have denuded much of the state, Malaysia’s largest, of much of its tropical rainforest. The two NGOs previously reported that Taib’s 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. Many of the assets came into their possession when they were in their early 20s and were still college students with no visible access to legitimate resources to invest.”
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The statement “most of them owned by ethnic Chinese” may be VERY inaccurate as Taib family and cronies have shares in MOST of the timber companies not just Chinese shareholders.
This type of writing only perpetuates the divide and rule ideas of racial myths and stereotyping and extremely lazy and careless. Unless the writer is still trapped in the colonial mode of thoughts.
Even if so, these particular Chinese are the very few elite groups & families who for over 48 years also been involved in many other local and international companies vandalizing the land and environment. They are only a handful of these super thieves who collaborate with kleptomaniacs like Taib and PBB BN and UMNO to share the looting of Sarawak wealth by their abuse of power. They form probably less than 1% of Sarawak population?
So writers should be more specific and not make SWEEPING statements by reference to race. No one ever says all the Melanaus (Taib’s tribe) are ripping off Sarawak. In fact the majority of Melanaus probably suffer as much as other natives including Chinese (also Sarawak natives- having been there for many generations). Last year it was reported that Taob was even grabbing land in one his Melanau electorates. He does not care what race you are….
Nevertheless, whoever they are whether Malay Dayak or Chinese who have been involved in the plunder of Sarawak should be brought to book and held accountable for their serious human rights crimes and for vandalizing the environment almost beyond repair.
A new responsible Sarawak government should freeze all the assets of all these robbers pending investigation and retrieval of the ill-gotten wealth hidden overseas and used this for the re-construction of Sarawak economy and repairing the land and compensating the dispossessed landowners.
It is unlikely that this can be done without real will and determination by whoever gets into power on the anti-corruption platform.
The alternative is by social revolution and transformation of the present system. This is even harder to achieve and faraway!
The interim solution is working to wrest control of our land from these pests and parasites through the imperfect electoral system.
Comment by SARAWAK AVENGER — December 6, 2011 @ 9:03 AM |