The campaign to expose the corruption behind the deforestation and land grabs in Sarawak has received a top TV billing on Canada’s Global News station.
During a prime-time slot aired on Saturday night’s 16X9 programme, investigative reporter Sean O’Shea focused on the massive property portfolio that has been developed in Ottawa, London and the US under the name of Jamilah Taib, the Chief Minister’s oldest daughter [see ‘Family Trees’ 16X9 Global TV]
- Threats – Sean Murray has falsely accused Sarawak Report of being funded by Malaysian opposition parties !
This means that for the first time the questions about the money laundering of Taib’s corrupt kickbacks have been publicly raised in North America.
In response Sean (Hisham) Murray, Jamilah’s husband, threatened Sarawak Report. he stated “Jamilah and I find these statements about ourselves and our business false, highly defamatory and very damaging.” However, the couple refused to be interviewed by the programme.
Devastating report on the Taib family’s company ownerships
The show was aired just before the publication of a separate, devastating ‘blacklist’ of Taib family companies by Switzerland’s Bruno Manswer Foundation, now available online.
BMF’s Stop Timber Corruption Report lays out extensive research into the Taib family’s company ownerships in Sarawak, Malaysia and elsewhere.
It establishes that Taib and his immediate family (his children, siblings and cousin Hamed Sepawi) have beneficial shares in more than 330 companies in Malaysia alone. In many of these companies they also act as the controlling directors.
The Taibs also have a further 80 companies in 25 countries across the world including Australia, the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand, Jersey, Hong Kong, British Virgin Islands, Fiji, Cayman Islands, Indonesia, India, Jersey, Saudi Arabia, Labuan, Cambodia, Brunei, China, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam !
Richer than the Queen – assets of at least one and a half billion US dollars !
- BMF’s ‘Stop Timber Corruption’ campaign is cornering Taib with allegations he has proved unable to anwer to a growing body of international critics
BMF acknowledges that this research only covers publicly available information from Malaysia’s Register of Companies and other official company registers.
This means it is likely to represent just a fraction of the Taibs’ actual wealth.
However, by calculating just the share values of 14 of the major companies on this list, they have estimated a total worth of one and a half billion US dollars (4.6 billion Malaysian ringgit).
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).
Proceeds of corruption
Given that it can be clearly demonstrated that the majority of these Taib family companies have made their wealth from the receipt of contracts from the Sarawak State Government and land grants from the Sarawak State Government, it is impossible to deny that this wealth has come from the proceeds of corruption by Taib, who is Chief Minister, Finance Minister and Planning Minister of the Sarawak State Government!
My family only do business outside the country!
All this from a man who had the brass-necked cheek to declare in a recorded interview just a short while ago that his family only does business outside the country, to avoid “being hounded” by accusations of using his political influence to enrich himself!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YK8KGX7E4A]
So, sadly, we have to add liar to the list of Taib Mahmud’s numerous crimes.
Stolen
The wealth of the Taibs represents the wealth of the natural resources belonging to the people of Sarawak, which the Chief Minister has taken by cheating his people. It is the value of their timber and their lands.
There is also the immense value of Sarawak’s oil, which is treated by Malaysia’s BN party as a national secret!
International disgrace
The MACC (Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission) will continue to fail to proceed against Taib. Their instructions are to torment him with their investigations, but not to rock BN’s 100% control over Sarawak’s vital federal votes.
Of course, Taib maintains this grip on Sarawak’s votes through deeply corrupt practices, which recently caused 50 thousand people in Kuala Lumpur to come out on the streets calling for free and fair elections.
Shamefully, BN have just responded to those calls at the Bersih 2 rally by bringing in laws to prevent more than 3 people gathering together in a public place without a permit!
So just in the same way that the international community are waking up to Taib, it is also waking up to BN’s corruption and repression in Malaysia. Taib is going to find it harder to do his business abroad in future and BN are going to find it harder to find people prepared to speak up for them internationally.
But, wake up Sarawak! In the end this man is your responsiblity, so don’t let West Malaysia’s BN Party keep treating you like meek children. Get rid of him!