Sarawak’s RM4.9b bonds banker Goldman Sachs facilitating corruption, says Global Witness

ZURAIRI AR

Taib was cast into the international spotlight after Global Witness released a video documentary alleging the state Barisan Nasional chief to have received millions of ringgit in kickbacks over land deals.

Goldman Sachs Inc has been flayed for underwriting RM4.87 billion (US$1.6 billion) in bonds for Sarawak’s energy corridor projects and ignoring alleged corruption in the East Malaysian state by activist group Global Witness.

However, the global investment banker has denied any mistakes in underwriting bonds for the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) project, which won it the ‘Bank of the Year 2012’ award by International Financing Review Asia for “breaking with tradition to win new business in difficult conditions”.

Dirty Dayak Datuks – BN’s Crony Candidates

Sarawak Report

Friends again – Leonard Linggi fell out for a while with Taib, who complained “he always wants too much”

If you were a respected leader of your Dayak community and a cheat came and asked you to betray your people in return for becoming a millionaire several times over, would you do it?

Think about it.

Put yourself in their shoes.

Smoking Gun! The Company That Links Taib To The Hong Kong Timber Kickback Scandal

Sarawak Report

The name of the company is Natalite Investment Limited and it is based in Hong Kong.

We can now reveal, after extensive investigations into the papers of Ross Boyert, the former manager of Taib’s US property company Sakti International, how Natalite Investment Ltd links the Chief Minister to the Japanese timber kickback scandal, which he has consistently denied.

Natalite Investment Ltd is one of a web of companies originally ‘owned’ by one Shea Kin Kwok, who came to fame in 2007 as the ‘owner’ of Regent Star, the company that was receiving millions in kickbacks from Japanese shipping companies in Sarawak.

Kill The Messenger!

Sarawak Report

BN are persisting in their childish attempts to shut up criticism by attacking this website and also the websites of Radio Free Sarawak and Radio Free Malaysia.

They are also jammi
ng the broadcasts of the two radio stations, but with patchy success.

Although the three websites have been hit hard and repeatedly by so-called DDOS (Distributed Denial Of Service) attacks, these attacks are being successfully countered by our systems.

MACC has no comment on Taib’s ‘naughty’ remark

Hazlan Zakaria

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) continues to maintain a wall of silence over criticism levelled against it by a chief minister that it has been “naughty and dishonest” in their investigation of the senior BN politician for alleged graft.

“I don’t want to comment on that,” said the commission’s investigation director Mustafar Ali (right) when approached by Malaysiakini on the sidelines of the Corporate Governance Symposium 2013 in Kuala Lumpur today.

Corruption watchers

KJ John

Introduction

Legal compliance of rules and regulations is a major Malaysian problem in many areas and arenas of life. There are always two sides to this problem. One is our close-one-eye culture; the other is a conscious and intentional effort by rule-breakers to avoid compliance; for reasons beyond public knowledge.

Both of these form an ‘attitude of non-compliance’ which creates a culture of ‘tidak apa,’ or ‘kesian-lah,’ or ‘bagi-chance-lah;’ all of which reflects some forms of encouragement to show mercy or show grace over the human and natural mistakes made. The only problem is that, for the rule-breakers, it is their intention to break the rules for a personal agenda or private motives.

‘Sarawak gov’t should also apologise over video clip’

Dukau Papau

Sarawak PKR today demanded that not only Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s cousins should apologise for their demeaning and insulting remarks against the Dayak community, but also the state government for its cruel and mindless acts against the community.

Norlia and Fatimah, the daughters of former chief minister Abdul Rahman Yakub had insulted the Dayak community with their derogatory descriptions in a covertly recorded video by London-based Global Witness.

The two sisters were alleged to have uttered that the Dayaks are “squatters” living on state land and that they have “low intelligence” which allow them to be easily exploited by businessmen.

“Princess” Jamilah! – More On The Taib Royal Family

Sarawak Report

Furs and diamonds – do they make a Princess?

Sarawak Report can reveal that Taib’s eldest daughter, Jamilah, was dubbed “Princess Jamilah” while still at college in Canada, on account of her fabulous wealth.

Fellow students at the Ottawa’s Carlton University were so amazed at the teenager’s conspicuous wealth, her designer outfits and grand accommodation, that they jokingly gave her the royal title.

The disclosure, which was made to Sarawak Report by former student contemporaries of Jamilah, adds to the Taib family pretensions to royalty that just won’t go away.

How we reared a little demon called Taib

Pak Bui

Taib has been demonised: he is the distillation of all our anger and discontent. But he is a symptom of a deep-seated cancer.

According to conventional wisdom, without Taib, Sarawak would be richer, happier and more harmonious. As with any oversimplification, this is partly true.

But Taib did not come to power, and dominate Sarawak for 32 years in a vacuum.

There was, of course, misguided support for his uncle Abdul Rahman Ya’kub and Taib himself, from Tunku Abdul Rahman and Umno, certainly. There were long years of Umno oppression during Mahathir’s reign, that helped to prop Taib up.

Sarawak government bond in 2011 mispriced by RM480m

P. GUNASEGARAM

A Sarawak government 15-year bond issued in June 2011 was considerably mispriced to get as much as 20% or some RM480 million of the bond value of RM2.4 billion upfront, sources said. This mirrors similar mispricing in bonds issued by 1Malaysia Development Bhd or 1MDB.

KiniBiz reported the mispricing of 1MDB bonds by as much as RM4 billion in a series of articles last week.

A check by KiniBiz shows the Sarawak bond, arranged by Goldman Sachs, was issued in three tranches by Equisar Sdn Bhd, a unit of the Sarawak state government, for money to be used  for investments in strategic development projects in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), the Tanjung Manis Halal Hub and the development of the biotech sector.

Be transparent with Petronas money first

Chua Jui Meng

‘My biggest beef with the BN federal government is this: Why is there no oil-based sovereign wealth fund (SWF) for Malaysia?’

Malaysia’s non-commodity Khazanah Nasional, founded in 1993, is ranked 23 with US$34 billion in assets and a Linaburg-Maduell Transparency Index (LM-TI) of 5.

The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF) is Norway’s oil-based Government Pension Fund-Global. It was set up in 1990 and is currently registered with assets worth US$664.3 billion with a perfect 10 LM-TI.

UAE-Abu Dhabi’s oil-based Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, established in 1976, is ranked second with US$627 billion with a 5 LM-TI.

Taib Family Company Loaned RM1.9 BILLION By Development Bank!

Sarawak Report

Sparkling profits – daughter Jamilah Taib (left) and sister Raziah Mahmud are two of the family shareholders in Kumpulan Parabena, parent company of KP Mukah Development

A loss-making Taib family company with share capital of just half a million ringgit was granted almost RM2billion in loans last December by the Malaysia Development Bank (PBMB), which is run by the Ministry of Finance using public money.

The astonishing revelation is made all the more shocking by the fact that the Sarawak Chief Minister himself has a substantial shareholding himself in the obscure company, KP Mukah Development, which only registers half million ringgit in assets.

Sack Taib or abolish MACC, Pakatan tells Najib

SYED JAYMAL ZAHIID AND MOHD FARHAN DARWIS 

Datuk Seri Najib Razak must force Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to resign for refusing to cooperate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) or dissolve the agency, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers said today. 

The leaders pointed out that the MACC would be rendered pointless if politicians accused of graft could enjoy legal immunity and refuse to cooperate with the anti-graft authority at their whim.

“Caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak should show his commitment towards fighting corruption by either demanding the resignation of Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud or else abolish the MACC.

Declare offshore firms owned, Najib, cabinet urged

Mkini

BN chief Najib Abdul Razak and his caretaker cabinet ministers should all declare whether they or their family members own offshore companies, urged DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang.

This follows Malaysiakini’s exclusive report yesterday that some 1,500 Malaysians own offshore companies in Singapore and the British Virgin Islands (BVI), which are allegedly international tax havens.

Those named in the documents obtained by the Washington-based International Confederation of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) included ministers and family members of former ministers. 

Anwar vows to stop Mokhzani’s Petronas contract if Pakatan wins GE13

CLARA CHOOI

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim pledged last night to revoke the recent multimillion ringgit Petronas contract awarded to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s son, saying this would be one of Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) first steps to end cronyism should it win federal power in Election 2013.

Speaking at a ceramah in Taman Semarak here, the opposition leader heaped criticism against his long-time arch nemesis for allegedly reaping the riches of the country’s national oil company for his family, namely his son Mokhzani.

“First, within 24 hours of Pakatan’s swearing in, we will drop the prices of fuel for the whole country,” he said to a crowd of over 1,000 people in the Hulu Perak district township.

Is Taib Mahmud above MACC, Najib?

DAP KIT

Party supremo Lim Kit Siang said the Sarawak chief minister’s response yesterday was a slap in the face for caretaker Prime Minister Najib Razak’s purported fight against corruption.Abdul Taib Mahmud’s claim he will not cooperate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) probe against him shows he is not only above the MACC, but the prime minister as well, the DAP says.

Najib needed to act on the matter to prove his anti-corruption credentials that he promised to uphold in signing the Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) Election Integrity Pledge on Feb 20, Lim said in a statement today.

Politicians among 1,500 who own offshore companies

Malaysiakini Team

Top Malaysian politicians, their family members and well-heeled associates are among those owning secretive offshore companies in Singapore and the British Virgin Islands, according to an explosive cache of leaked documents.

They include former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s son Mirzan, Federal Territories and Urban Well-being Minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin and Michael Chia, the alleged ‘bagman’ for Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman.

The files, which were obtained by Washington-based International Confederation of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and examined by Malaysiakini, show more than 1,500 Malaysians owning offshore companies in Singapore – dubbed as the new Switzerland – as well as the British Virgin Islands (BVI), an international tax haven.

Taib says Global Witness video expose was ‘sneaky’

ZURAIRI AR

Taib has said that he will not co-operate with the MACC regarding graft allegations against him.

Tan Sri Taib Mahmud has challenged Global Witness to debate him on the issue of illegal land deals in Sarawak, and accused the international environmental activist group of having a hidden agenda by visiting Malaysia’s biggest state in a “sneaky way”.

He has also suggested links between Global Witness and opposition parties.

Might as well dissolve MACC after Taib snub

The Malaysian Insider

Naughty seems to be the byword in Sarawak.

The long-serving state chief minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud used that word today to describe the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) for its investigations into alleged graft in timber land awards.

“They don’t deserve my cooperation because they have been naughty… and they have not been honest,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

The MACC probe was launched after an environmental activist group released a video documentary alleging the state Barisan Nasional chief to have received millions of ringgit in kickbacks over land deals that have denuded the Borneo state.

Sabah and Sarawak rainforest graft focal point in GE13

Niluksi Koswanage, Reuters

The island of Borneo may be all that stands between Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and an unprecedented election defeat within weeks for his ruling coalition.

Borneo’s two Malaysian states – Sabah and Sarawak – have been a bastion of votes for the National Front coalition headed by Najib’s party, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno).

The two states, among Malaysia’s poorest despite vast natural resources, kept the National Front in power in 2008 even as a groundswell of support for the opposition deprived the government of its iron-clad two- thirds parliamentary majority.

That could start to change. Allegations of corruption in recent months have dogged the chief ministers of both Sabah and Sarawak, long-time rulers who hold vast sway over some of the world’s largest tracts of tropical forests.

‘Taib has written off 8 MP seats’

Joseph Tawie

The general election is no longer a battle between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, it’s about putting right that which is wrong, says DAP.

Sarawakians were today urged to vote for a two-party system and “end” once and for all the “political monopoly and hegemony” of Barisan Nasional.

Fuelled by Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s admission that BN could lose up to eight seats in Sarawak, state opposition DAP said a two-party system will be the “best legacy” Sarawakians could leave behind for their children.

Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats and the opposition has made unprecedented inroads into BN’s rural “fixed deposits” and Chinese majority seats. They are confident of wresting at least 12 seats.

From Global Witness to Eco Crime Watch: In The Palm of His Hand

The Editor

( Video Link inside ) As the controversial  Global Witness ‘sting’ video continues to gather steam in Sarawak, US online news channel Eco Crime Watch has broadcast a remarkable feature on alleged Taib corruption in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in Borneo.
Watch Episode 2 by US journalist Bill Paul, speaking to the Chief Minister of Sarawak Taib Mahmud, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, founder of Sarawak Report and Radio Free Sarawak Clare Rewcastle and Bruno Manser Fonds Director Dr Lukas Straumann, at Crime Watch

Watch this Video on Hornbill Unleashed: In the Pum of His Hand

BN nervous about video backlash

Joseph Tawie

The Global Witness’ video’s Iban version will be the opposition’s biggest weapon to convince the rural community to turn its backs on Taib Mahmud and Barisan Nasional.

Sarawak Barisan Nasional component leaders, ministers and MPs are increasingly nervous about the Dayak backlash from a covertly recorded video by international pressure group Global Witness.

The opposition has since reproduced the 16-minute video in Iban with Bahasa Malaysia subtitles. Thousands of these DVDs and VCDs are expected to find their way into the Iban heartland.

Dayak businessmen up in arms over Sarawak video expose

DEBRA CHONG

Screenshot of one of the scenes in the video clip as released by London-based activist group Global Witness.KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Sarawak’s Dayak corporate chiefs are reportedly seething with rage over a video exposing racist remarks by some prominent state personalities with close government links and want Putrajaya to address their economic woes.

The Borneo Post Online reported today the video, produced by UK-based environmental campaigner Global Witness, was the hottest debate topic at the Dayak Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (DCCI) annual general meeting in Kuching yesterday.

At bankruptcy’s door, but Umno-BN still buys arms worth RM4.2 BILLION

Gavin Khoo

Defence Minsiter Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said 24 deals involving defence assets and services worth RM4.2 billion have been signed between the ministry, local and international defence firms, and the Pahang government at the ongoing Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima 2013).

He said these include six government contracts, three letters of acceptance by the ministry, 11 Memorandums of Agreement (MoAs) and four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs). These deals are aimed at strengthening the country’s defence industry and creating places for European firms at the Malaysian Defence & Security Technology Park (MDSTP) in Sungkai, Perak.

Red-hot speculation Najib will dissolve Parliament after bulk of LIMA contracts inked

Maria Begum

Speculation had swirled Prime Minister Najib Razak would call for a press conference later on Friday, where he may announce the dissolution of Parliament to pave the way for Malaysia’s much anticipated 13th general election.

However, it looks like the rumor has fizzled out after the 3pm timeline came and went without any call from the Prime Minister’s office.

Even so, not all had been convinced although they admitted the rumor had spread like wild-fire through the political circles earlier in the morning.

Sin City – ‘the jurisdiction of choice by people like us’

Tan Wah Piow

Singapore is “the jurisdiction of choice by people like us”. This boast by rogue lawyer Alvin Chong of Sarawak, caught on video by journalists from London-based Global Witness posing as investors interested in land deals,  has gone viral.

The “people like us” presumably  includes the minions and their corrupt politicians in Asia, as well as tax dodgers, and criminals who erstwhile had sheltered their ill-gotten wealth in Switzerland.

The stealth video exposes not just the rampant corruption in Sarawak, it also highlights how virgin forests are stolen from the people, and the arrogant contempt for the indigenous people by the perpetrators of such crimes. Viewers are universally shocked by the revelations.

Defending the corrupt: London law firm paid to lie for Taib

BMF

(London, UK / Kuching, Malaysia) In the wake of a Global Witness „sting“ video release exposing the corruption by Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, London law firm Mishcon de Reya is coming into the spotlight over their dodgy role plaid on behalf of the Malaysian Taib family.

Last week, The Independent quoted Mishcon de Reya’s lawyers as saying that „the government of Sarawak issues licences for land in very controlled circumstances… This is an administrative exercise, not political patronage. Our client never demands or accepts bribes for the grant of licences and leases.“

‘Give MACC absolute powers to probe Taib’

Priscilla Prasena

The Malaysian Citizens Initiative handed over a petition containing 14,000 signatures to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak calling for action against Taib Mahmud.

A coalition of NGOs calling themselves Malaysian Citizens Initiative want an “immediate” response from Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak on its call for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to be given an “unambiguous mandate” to investigate Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud.

The coalition, which wants an answer from Najib before the 13th general election, also want the prime minister to approve the setting up of an Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into power abuse and land scams in Sarawak linked to Taib and his family.

MACC raids office of S’wak lawyer implicated in video

Mkini

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has raided the office of lawyer Alvin Chong, who was implicated in the corruption videos released by international NGO, Global Witness.

According to a Sin Chew Daily report, MACC officials from Putrajaya conducted the raid on Chong’s legal film in Kuching on Tuesday morning.

However, they were forced to seek the assistance of Kuching police after being blocked by several individuals who were not identified in the report.

Kuching district police chief Roslan Bek Ahmat told the Chinese daily that the police were only assisting the MACC in terms of security, and were not involved in the raid.

Lawyer in Global Withness’s video was SUPP advisor, is SUPP involved in the Scams?

Joseph Tawie

The video exposé by London based Global Witness has turned public focus from Sarawak DAP’s internal strive to SUPP once again.

Sarawak DAP has taken its nemesis Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP) to task over its ‘deafening silence’ regarding the ‘candid’ and ‘explicit’ interview given by SUPP “legal advisor” Alvin Chong in the covertly recorded Global Witness video which has garnered over 695,110 viewers on YouTube.

The video, which was released two weeks ago and excerpts of which was aired over Al Jazeera, has given the state opposition additional leverage.

Najib leaves Taib video expose to MACC probe

CLARA CHOOI

The Financial Times reported that the prime minister declined to address the expose by Global Witness directly during the interview. 

Barisan Nasional (BN) is “equally as concerned about corruption” as its critics but the problem cannot go away overnight, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in a Financial Times (FT) interview carried today, in the wake of a damning expose on Sarawak’s timber scandals.

The international financial daily reported that the prime minister declined to address the expose by Global Witness (GW) directly during the interview, pointing out that Malaysian graftbusters were already investigating the allegations against Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

UK’s Ben Fogle Pulls Out Of Sarawak PR Contract – “Horrified” At Corruption Revelations

Sarawak Report

Meeting ‘wild’ orang utans in the ‘remote jungles’ of Borneo?

One of Britain’s top newspapers, The Independent, hasreported that the adventure film maker Ben Fogle has just pulled out of his contract promoting Sarawak ‘eco-tourism’.

The paper describes Sarawak as “a regime with one of the world’s worst records in deforestation”.

Fogle told the paper he was “horrified” to learn the true situation on deforestation and corruption under Taib Mahmud in Sarawak, where the Independent verifies that “vast amounts of industrial logging have left only five per cent of forests that have not been either logged or converted to palm oil plantations.”

‘Taib will not dare act against Global Witness’

Dukau Papau

Sarawak DAP believes Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud will not take legal action against the London-based NGO Global Witness, as this could open up a can of worms.

“What has been exposed so far is just the tip of the iceberg,” said state party secretary Chong Chieng Jen (left).

He was commenting on Taib’s statement last Saturday that the state government is mulling action in relation to an undercover investigation by Global Witness that exposed an attempt to sell land  licences held by relatives and individuals claiming to be close to the chief minister.

TAIB, CAN YOU HEAR THE DEAFENING SILENCE ALL AROUND YOU?

 Being Vernon

Today is EXACTLY one week after the Global Witness exposé video hit the news and rocked the world of Malaysian politics – a game-changer, as the Americans say.

The Chief Minister is denying the existence of the mammoth elephant in the room, the lawyers have allegedly left the country, and the famous sisters have gone missing.

The whole of Sarawak is in uproar, coffee-shops and secluded private rooms in expensive restaurants are bustling with the talk of “tax evasions” and “squatters”, BN’s Dayak leaders are dumbfounded and have lost their tongues (and dare we hope silently fuming at the audacity of some cousins of the Chief Minister?), the rest of the country is asking questions and the spin-doctors from BN are in overdrive trying to shift the blame. What a week!