Backed by a Swiss NGO, Malaysian conservation activists allege Sarawak governor Taib Mahmud funnelled money gained through corruption from the logging industry in Sarawak into Ottawa real estate.
Bernard Weil/Toronto Star
Travelling more than 14,000 kilometres from Sarawak, Bilong Oyau’s quest for justice brought him to Toronto, Canada.
Oyau is the headman of the village of Long Sait, tucked deep into the Sarawak jungle. The community of Long Sait fought rapidly encroaching logging with blockades and protests.
“Before there was logging, life was wonderful.
BMF
“After logging…the trees are gone and the animals disappeared and the rivers are polluted,” Oyau was quoted as saying.
The Toronto Star reported that the headman and a group of fellow activists said the deforestation has destroyed Indigenous groups’ way of life in Sarawak, evicting them from their ancestral homes. Though the logging industry has been lucrative, none of that wealth has trickled down to the area’s inhabitants.
Much of the deforestation happened under Abdul Taib Mahmud, a long-time chief minister of Sarawak before becoming governor in 2014.
The group of Malaysian conservation activists is backed by Swiss NGO Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), and they allege Taib funnelled money gained through corruption into Ottawa real estate.
In a rare court proceeding today, the BMF will ask for sensitive financial records from three major banks and an accounting firm, in the ongoing money-laundering case involving Ottawa-based real estate company Sakto Corp founded by Taib’s daughter, Jamilah Taib Murray.
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This is despite court filings in which the banks said the release of the documents would raise privacy concerns.
“We have nothing to lose except money,” BMF executive director Lukas Straumann was quoted as saying.
Sakto was incorporated in 1983 by Jamilah while she was in her early 20s with a gift from her father as initial capital. Jamilah has lived in Ottawa since she was a teenager.
Despite continuous losses in its first years of operation, Sakto continued to grow, making tens of millions of dollars worth of investments in Ottawa. According to the BMF, the company is currently valued at $250 million.
The BMF alleges Sakto is among a network of international companies used to launder the proceeds of corruption from the logging industry in Sarawak.
The allegations, however, are unproven in court, with both Sakto and Jamilah denying the claims.
“This application is simply the latest variant in a long string of unsuccessful efforts,” wrote Sakto’s lawyers in a filing late last month.
On Monday, the BMF will ask the court to order the Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Manulife Financial and Deloitte to release detailed financial records related to Sakto.
Straumann says BMF hopes to use the financial records, if released, to pursue private prosecution – a scarcely used type of criminal proceeding that can be initiated by a private citizen – against Sakto for corruption.
“There is a money trail coming straight to Canada,” Harrison Ngau, former Malaysian MP from Sarawak and part of the group in Toronto was quoted as saying.
In court filings, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Manulife Financial and Deloitte have said BMF hasn’t presented enough evidence to prove anything criminal has taken place, and the release of the documents would raise privacy concerns.
A first hearing was held in Toronto last August, under an order that it not be heard in public. However, the order was lifted in September, and the case will now be heard in
public.
“If the plaintiffs’ evidence is correct, there may be very significant criminal misconduct being committed here in aid of corrupt foreign official(s),” Ontario Superior Court Justice FL Meyers was quoted as saying.
“There may be no one else here who is interested in uncovering the truth whether it has to do with criminality here, corruption abroad that Canadians are facilitating, or deforestation and destruction of Indigenous habitat and culture in Malaysia.”
