NEW OWN-GOAL BY BN ! – FRESH EXPOSE

"Significant prosperity", according to the
State Secretary - on RM 15 a day?

BN bloggers have been boasting that the State Secretary, Mohamid Morshidi bin Abdul Ghani, got a letter into the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper claiming “the rainforest is not devastated” and that ”logging licences are awarded after due process and are not in the personal gift of the Chief Minister”.

However, we can reveal Ghani’s own family are among the state’s top land-grabbers!  Not only that, they have been charged ridiculously preferential rates for the vast tracts of land, which they have been given (by the Chief Minister)!

Vested Interest of a top civil servant

Abdul Ghani is Sarawak’s top civil servant and should therefore remain strictly non-political.  However,  he is in fact known to be one of Taib’s closest allies and he leapt to his boss’s defence after a top Times journalist reported on Sarawak’s environmental catastrophes last week.

Echoing Taib’s own laughable claims, he announced that “70% of the country is under forest cover” (attempting to imply it was virgin jungle), a contention which has been dismissed as ludicrous by all respected international experts.

TOO OLD AND FORGETFUL? – TAIB FORGETS HIS OWN BUSINESSES!

Losing his memory and forgetting his businesses?

Taib Mahmud has been forced onto the defensive throughout the first first week of his election campaign, as he has fought to shake off allegations of landgrabs, corruption, nepotism and the siphoning out Sarawak’s wealth into foreign banks, businesses and property companies.

His advisers had insisted that he face up and address these issues to restore his credibility with outraged voters.  A strategy was devised with a series of staged video interviews answering pre-prepared questions by friendly reporters (including one hired by a foreign PR company).  The edited answers were then put onto Taib’s flock of new websites in an attempt to win back ground in the ‘cyber-war’

Better to have kept silent?

PALM PLANTATION PATRONAGE – HOW TAIB PAYS OFF POLITICAL PALS!

Taib's power-base

Many have questioned in our comments why Taib’s political colleagues allow his corruption to continue? 

Our researches through the land registry are starting to provide the answer.  Most of his political cronies, who occupy the top ministerial jobs, have themselves been major benefactors of the Chief Minister’s largess over state lands.

In recent years they have started to try and cover up their names, but we have gained access to some of the older records as well!  It is plain that for many BN YBs the end of Taib would mean the end of their cushy plantation titles, so they are hanging on to the old ‘rainmaker’ with all their might!

RM21 MILLION CASH – NEW LAND GRAB PROFIT FOR TAIB BROTHER!

Poor Ibrahim? He seems wealthy enough!

With just days to go before the election the Mahmud family are still coining in money from land handed to them by the Chief Minister.

On February 18th, the Malaysia Stock Exchange announced a RM 21 million purchase of 80% of a company that was been given a stake in a 5,000 hectare plantation in the Baram region by Taib Mahmud.  Our researches have shown that the lion’s share of that cash payment went to his own brother Ibrahim Mahmud!

Poor Ibrahim?  

Ibrahim has often been referred to as Taib’s poorest brother, because he did an ordinary job and went into the police force.Insiders have often felt sorry for him because he did not do as well as the others who have lived off timber and oil palm plantations handed to them by the Cheif Minister.

TAIB STEALS HIS ELECTRICITY

Taib's residence in Demak Jaya - his sister
and son Abu Bekir have houses next door

At a time when people are struggling to cope with the rising electricity costs, Sarawak Report has established that the Chief Minister thieves electricity to keep down his own bills !

This astonishing information came to us from senior insiders, who are in a good position to know what is happening in Taib’s household.  We have subsequently obtained corroborative evidence from the chief technician in charge of maintenance at his grand residence at Demak Jaya.

What we have learnt is that the Chief Minister has deliberately installed a secret, subterranian electricity cable, which by-passes the meter outside his house.  The cable links the mains directly to the line entering the house.  This means that while some of the supply still travels through the meter at least half of it does not, thereby slashing Taib’s electricity bill! 

TAIB BLUNDER EMBARRASSES ANOTHER RELATIVE!

Chief Minister claims 70% of Sarawak's
virgin forest is left untouched!

Taib’s advisors would do well to rein in their boss’s sudden enthusiasm for media interviews.  He is not doing well at all! 

At the start of the week, he contradicted his son-in-law, Hisham (Sean) Murray’s denials that he was involved in the family’s international property empire, by admitting he had started it with his own money. Now he has implied that his cousin Hamid Sepawi has been misleading the authorities in his applications for Planted Forest Licences!

The blunder came during a front page article in the Borneo Post, which has been told by Taib to work harder at finding stories to rebut the exposes about BN’s land grabs.

In an interview for the paper headed “State Open To Forest Verification” the Chief Minister made the jaw-dropping statement that “70% of virgin forest..remains intact in Sarawak”.  With a brass neck that you can only admire, the Chief Minister, who has been condemned the world over for his greedy destruction of the Borneo Rainforest, challenged NGOs to come an check for themselves!

TAIB’S BIG BOOB AS HE LAUNCHES CYBER-WAR ATTEMPT!

Venturing onto the ‘new media’ –
but Taib falls at the first hurdle!

Taib finally waded into the ‘cyber-war’ this week – and ended up branding his son-in-law a liar!

The septuagenarian is notoriously shy of interviews and has avoided TV appearances for years, but he has been under pressure to answer our findings on Sarawak Report and recently the PM Najib Razak publicly warned that if BN wanted to win the election they mustfirst win the cyber-war!

The PM, who is a full generation younger than Taib, further upped the pressure during his visit to Sarawak at the weekend by meeting his ‘young facebook friends’ from Kuching.  So, yesterday Taib ventured forth – with a series of staged ‘on-line interviews’, which were then launched across numerous BN-controlled websites.

‘Did you put words into Teoh’s mouth?’

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officer was today grilled on whether he had put words into Teoh Beng Hock’s mouth and on the process of questioning witnessess.

The enforcement officer Mohd Nazri Ibrahim was testifying before the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Teoh’s death.

Nazri had recorded Teoh’s statement prior to the DAP politicial aide’s death in July 2009.

Commission chairman James Foong asked Nazri what was the meaning of the phrase “recording statement” and concluded that although it was a “nice word”, it however still meant that the witness was interrogated.

MACC man: Teoh’s death angered me

KUALA LUMPUR:  A Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officer said today that he felt angry, not guilty, over the death of Teoh Beng Hock.

Continuing with his statement before the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) investigating the death and MACC’s interrogation methods, Mohd Anuar Ismail said the tragedy caused problems for him and his family.

Teoh was found dead the morning after his overnight interrogation by MACC officers at their office in Shah Alam. He was political aide to Ean Yong Hian Wah, the Selangor state executive councillor the agency was investigating for alleged misappropriation of funds. His body was found on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam, the same building that houses the MACC office.

RM38,000 for snooker centre licence?

KAJANG: A businessman is crying foul after being allegedly asked to fork out RM38,000 for a licence to operate a snooker centre here.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the vexed businessman told FMT that the licence cost more than the RM30,000 capital he had spent to open the centre.

Before opening the centre some four months ago, the businessman said he had met with several MPKJ (Kajang Municipal Council) officers regarding the licence.

RAZIAH’S BLOND BOMOH ‘BEWITCHED TAIB’!

Stella - real name Kharleen Tashman at
Elia Geneid's yaght wedding last year.

Out of all the astonishing secrets that are now beginning to emerge during the dying days of Taib Mahmud’s regime, one of the most bizarre has been his reliance on a blonde female witch provided as his Bomoh by his sister Raziah!

Taib has always been notorious for his consultation of black magic practitioners and after the death of his wife Laila, according to family and close friends, Raziah moved in to consolidate her influence by introducing her own in-house female Bomoh to him.

“The person who brings the bomoh becomes the controller”

as one insider explained to Sarawak Report, pointing out the orgy of acquisitions achieved by Raziah in terms of recent contracts and land titles from the state.

Another family insider told us:

Najib and Muhyiddin came to sack Taib, but they couldn't

Show of unity, but behind the scenes there is fighting!

Sarawak Report has received privileged information from BN insiders in KL, revealing that Najib Razak and Deputy PM, Muhyiddin Yassin, came to Sarawak not to support Taib, but to make him stand down!

This was the reason for the unprecedented dual visit of both the PM and the Deputy PM at the same time.

 ”One held the pistol and the other a dagger and said ‘it’s time to stand down.  We are not going to compromise with you anymore, you have to announce your decision or that’s it!’”, recounted our source.

WE RELEASE THE LAND GRAB DATA !

Sarawak Report has made the decision to release the full database of the Land and Survey Department’s recent transactions on rural lands.  For some weeks we have been researching the confidential data, only to discover that of the more than one thousand plots of rural land that have been acquired by the state, the vast bulk have been handed on to close relatives or cronies of Taib Mahmud.

This is a national scandal and deserves full exposure.  So, we now invite readers and the press to scrutinise the land register for themselves and to identify what lands have been taken in their own areas – and by whom.  It is time that Taib stopped hiding behind the laughable excuse that “there is no proof”!

WHERE IS FAROK MAJEED AND HOW WEALTHY IS ONN MAHMUD?

Farok Majeed - Construction
Consultant, who sued Onn Mahmud
over property renovations in 2007/8.

For nine months Sarawak Report has been looking for Farok Majeed, last heard of working out of Sydney for the Chief Minister’s brother Onn Mahmud.  We have been unable to trace Mr Majeed since he disappeared in the middle of a court case in which he was suing Onn Mahmud for over $15 million Australian Dollars.  

Our previous report detailed how Farok was billing Onn Mahmud for “development and management” work on Australia’s most expensive ever penthouse deal.  The court case also detailed numerous other property dealings relating to Onn Mahmud, but the case lapsed after Majeed disappeared.

The Australian Judge, Justice Brereton, of the Supreme Court New South Wales, suspended proceedings in a ruling on January 31st 2008 on the basis that Mr Majeed had failed to appear at this and a previous hearing on December 13th 2007.  He made plain, however, that the litigant had recently been in touch with his office before that date: 

ONN MAHMUD AND AUSTRALIA’S MOST EXPENSIVE PENTHOUSE!

 A breath-taking duplex penthouse with spectacular views in a top Sydney location.  The press leaped on the story when this apartment sold for a record Aus$20 million in 2008.  But who was the ‘undisclosed prominent businessman’ who had been able to afford Australia’s most expensive flat and who had sold it?  What we can be certain of is that the deal involved a certain ‘prominent’ family from Sarawak, more particularly Onn Mahmud, the brother of the Chief Minister.

Australia's most expensive flat, who could find the money to pay $20 million on one appartment?

Do a ‘WikiLeaks’ on Taib, public urged

KUALA LUMPUR: Anti-graft watchdog Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) today urged the public to whistleblow on Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, who has been accused of numerous allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

TI-M president Paul Low called on the authorities to investigate Taib and ensure that full protection and assistance are given to whistleblowers and witnesses.

“Anyone, even foreigners, can come forward with evidence that can help. Yes, even those who are working in companies allegedly linked to Taib. They can be just like WikiLeaks,” Low told FMT today.

Earlier, at a press conference here, Low said the public could hand over documents secretly to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) or call up to seek its advice.

TAIB’S BALINGIAN IS THE EPICENTRE OF HIS LAND GRAB CORRUPTION – EXCLUSIVE EXPOSE !

Taib brings 'development' to his constituency in Balingian!

Taib Mahmud promised development, but has delivered disaster in his own constituency of Balingian.  Scores of  communities are at this moment reeling from the shock of the present wave of ‘development devastation’ in areas that were in many cases Reserve Forest lands.

Now, shockingly, our research into the companies behind the destruction shows that in every case the profits can be traced directly back to Taib, his immediate family or to key business cronies and nominees (people known to act as his regular proxy).

These pictures, taken during a tour of investigation just last week, resemble the aftermath of a tsunami – but it has been a tsunami of greed unleashed by one old man and his small army of cronies upon the people in his own backyard.  His own voters! 

CASH FOR HONOURS AT ADELAIDE UNIVERSITY?

Taib and Vice-Chancellor James McWha sample the
'Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of Sarawak Court'
at Adelaide University in 2008

For some weeks Sarawak Report has been attempting to question Adelaide University about the circumstances surrounding its decision to name a large chunk of its campus after the Sarawak Chief Minister.

The ‘Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of Sarawak Court’ was designated in honour of the controversial East Malaysian politician in 2008.  It was described at the time as ”a newly landscaped social space” in publicity material, which also provides a photograph of the billionaire politician, strolling through the area with the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor James McWha.

Our requests however, have failed to receive an acknowledgement.  There has been no reply to our emails or to questions made verbally to the University’s press department.  Equally snubbed have been a number of Malaysian graduate alumni of the University, who had previously raised their own concerns about the honouring of Taib Mahmud last December, complaining in a joint letter:

MORE ANGER IN MIRI AGAINST GEORGE CHAN!

George Chan, Deputy Chief Minister and President of SUPP,
 parks his car on the yellow line!

Hot on the heels of today’s scenes in Miri where George Chan was booed and heckled by onlookers at the wet market and later at a coffee shop, we have been given a flavour of why his consituents can’t stand the man!

An angry reader from the Deputy Chief Minister’s home town has sent Sarawak Report pictures of Chan’s car and also the car of Miri’s BN Mayor, Lawrence Lai Yew Son, parked on yellow lines without any danger of a ticket he says!

The reader, who got a ticket himself in exactly the same spot, says he has seen both cars using the same position on a regular basis, which is how he got the photos so easily.

HOW MUCH IS HE WORTH?!

'Abused' - Abu Bekir's first wife is suing for a RM 400 million divorce!

Corrupt Barisan Nasional - It must have seemed a good idea at the time for young Abu Bekir to have married a lady with an MBA in Finance.  They even placed her on the Board of the family firm CMS.  However, it means Datin Sri Shahnaz Majid, who is now suing him for divorce, is particularly qualified to give an estimate of the worth of Taib’s son – and she is after him for RM400 million!

According to expert divorce lawyers consulted by Sarawak Report, a wife in her position would be entitled to aim for 30% of a couple’s wealth, which makes Abu Bekir, aged 48, a comfortable billionaire.  According to Kuching lawyer Desmond Kho:

“The RM400 million claim is by far the highest ever recorded and claimed by a Sarawakian.  This should make Bekir one of the richest men in Malaysia.  I’m sure the wife’s lawyer must have assessed Bekir’s wealth to come up with the quotation”.

RAZIAH’S LAND GRAB IN TAIB’S OWN CONSTITUENCY

Corrupt Barisan Nasional - With breath-taking arrogance Taib has handed a huge area of land to a company controlled by his sister in his own constituency!

Saradu Plantations was given 8,000 hectares in Balingian over the period 2004 – 2009.  Most of the land was grabbed from a precious remaining forest reserve, Setuan Besar Forest Reserve, in the area near Bintulu.  The rest of the land was taken from local communities in violation of their Native Customary Rights!

Managing the deal, according to the Land Registry, was none other than Taib’s own sister Raziah Mahmud /Geneid.  She was controlling the matter from the offices of the company in which both she and Taib himself hold shares, Kumpulan Parabena Sdn Bhd.