Bruno Manser Fund Willing To Share Info on Taib with Putrajaya

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The NGO says it is happy that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is willing to look into allegations surrounding the Sarawak governor.

  • Evidence of Taib’s alleged corrupt practices
  • Allegations of state lands allocated to Taib family members
  • Question of the Taib family’s unexplained wealth overseas
  • Claims of Canada protecting real estate firm linked to Taib

Swiss NGO Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) says it is willing to share with the Pakatan Harapan government the results of a seven-year evidence-gathering process on alleged corrupt practices by Sarawak’s former chief minister and current governor Taib Mahmud.

This is in response to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s call to show evidence on the Sarawak governor’s alleged corrupt practices after Malaysian prosecutors had failed to answer an earlier letter from the group.

“We are happy that Prime Minister Mahathir is willing to look into Taib’s (alleged) corruption again and are hoping that MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) and the Attorney General’s Chambers will soon be reopening the Taib case,” Aliran quoted BMF executive director Lukas Straumann as saying.

“The investigation should focus on the (alleged) allocation of state lands to Taib family members and on the Taibs’ unexplained wealth overseas.”

In December 2011, an international NGO coalition approached the then attorney-general, the MACC and the inspector-general of police, requesting the arrest and prosecution of 13 Taib family members for allegedly conspiring to steal Sarawak state assets and lands. The letter was left unanswered.

Last month, BMF hailed the claim by a global coalition of NGOs that the Canadian government is breaking international rules to protect a real estate firm allegedly linked to Taib from public scrutiny.

BMF said Amsterdam-based OECD Watch had written to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) secretary-general Angel Gurria about Canada’s purported failure to hold Sakto Corporation accountable.

Sakto was incorporated in 1983 by Jamilah Taib Murray, the daughter of Taib, with a gift from her father as initial capital.

BMF and Malaysian conservation activists in Toronto claim that Sakto, which is currently valued at US$250 million, may have accumulated its wealth partly by laundering money from corruption in the Sarawak logging industry.

The allegations, however, are unproven in court, with both Sakto and Jamilah denying the claims. – FMT