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Extracted from Malaysiakini
Kuching
shoppers get news of scandal
Tony Thien
Apr 11,
While the
mainstream media have observed a blackout on Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib
Mahmud’s alleged involvement in a multi-million ringgit timber kickbacks
scandal, some Kuching residents are getting the news directly from the streets.
Hundreds
of shoppers in the
The leaflets, which include online news portal malaysiakini’s report on the scandal in three languages -
English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese - were handed out to shoppers in Kuching’s
Electra House Shopping Complex and the nearby open-air market as well as India
Street.
The leaflets which carried the headlines, ‘Taib, we want the truth’ and ‘Kami
mahu kebenaran’, were distributed to pedestrians, passing motorists and shoppers
by opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat leaders yesterday afternoon.
Led by the party’s state liaison
chief Wan Zainal Wan Sanusi, the opposition leaders which included Stampin
branch chief and lawyer See Chee How, took to the busy Kuching streets to
inform the residents about the scandal.
“We want Sarawakians to know what's going on because news reports (on the
issue) have not been covered by the local media,” See told malaysiakini. “We also want the chief
minister to come clean regarding the truth or otherwise of the report.”
Seven uniformed police officers,
accompanied by a dozen of their plainclothes colleagues, watched from vantage
points as the PKR leaders distributed the leaflets. A police photographer and a
video cameraman were also present. However, there were no untoward incidents.
The opposition leaders are demanding that Taib clarifies the news - first
reported in Japan Times -
which implicated him and his family in the alleged payment of kickbacks
totaling 1.1 billion yen (RM32 million) by nine Japanese shipping companies
over a seven-year period up to March last year.
Tax evasion
The
‘Sarawak connection’ came to light after Japanese tax authorities accused the
shipping companies of trying to evade income tax by disguising the payments to
Regent Star, a Hong Kong-based company allegedly linked to Taib and his family,
as business expenses and was therefore not taxed.
However, the Japanese tax authorities discovered that the payments were
“illegitimate expenses” as the
The newspaper also reported that
the shipping firms were likely to be slapped with well over 400 million yen
(RM11.6 million) in back taxes along with heavy penalties for “hiding” the
funds from the tax authorities.
The companies are suspected of having made the payments to the
The Japanese shipping firms, which denied any wrongdoing, argued that the
payments were legitimate expenses being commissions paid to Regent Star.
According to Japan Times in
its report last Thursday, the shipping companies were believed to have used the
money as a “lubricant to facilitate their lumber trade”.
Two brothers as
directors
Sources in the shipping industry said that the companies are required to pay
'mediating charges' - whose sums were tied to the amounts of lumber exported -
to Regent Star as instructed by Dewaniaga Sarawak.
Dewaniaga
Sarawak signed an agreement with a Japanese shipping cartel in 1981 regarding
the transportation of logs from Sarawak to Japan, and nine members of the
cartel - including top shippers Mitsui O.S.K. Kinkai Ltd and NYK-Hinode Line
Ltd - reported they had paid ‘commissions’ to Regent Star.
Meanwhile, a search with the
Commission of Companies office in Kuching reveals that Dewaniaga Sarawak
includes two of Taib's brothers - Mohd Tufail Mahmud and Onn Mahmud - as well
as a brother-in-law, Abdul Aziz Hussain, as directors.
The other directors are Kuching Chinese Chamber of Commerce president Wee Kok
Tiong, a chamber official, Lee Khin Sin, and Mohd Azami Nawawi.
It has three shareholders - Achi Transportation Sdn Bhd, a Taib family-linked
company, as the largest shareholder holding 104,000 shares, followed by
Associated Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sarawak holding 70,000
shares and Koperasi Koppes with 16,000 shares.
One of country’s richest
politicians
Taib, who is the country’s longest-serving chief minister, is believed to be
one of
His family has wide-ranging business interests in
Among them are public-listed
conglomerate Cahaya Mata Sarawak - with interests in banking, financial
services and construction - and a host of subsidiaries, which Taib’s wife,
Laila, has substantial stakes.
It has been estimated that Taib's family is worth at least RM2 billion, though
this is not officially confirmed.
Since the scandal broke, Taib has returned from Johor where he was bestowed
with state honours by the Sultan of Johor but he has not made any comment on
the news report.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Monday that he was not aware of
scandal.