Tax evasion and money laundering reports against Mara Inc
Australian authorities urged to undertake prosecution of those linked to property purchases
KUALA LUMPUR: Three activist groups have lodged reports with Australian authorities to investigate overpriced property purchases in Melbourne by a Mara subsidiary for possible prosecution on grounds of tax evasion and money laundering.
The three groups are National Oversight and Whistleblowers, which is linked to PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, the Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia student group, and the anti-corruption group Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism.
Speaking at a forum organised by a university students group in Australia yesterday, they said reports were being made with the tax authorities, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Central Bank and the Foreign Investment Review Board.
NOW (National Oversight and Whistleblowers), Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM) and the C4 (Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism)
Akmal Nasir of National Oversight said the Australian authorities would be provided with relevant documents.
Last week, the Melbourne newspaper The Age reported that “a group of super-rich Malaysian officials” had overpaid by A$4.75 million (RM13.8 million) for the Dudley House apartment building in 2013 for use by Mara as a hostel for students on Mara scholarships studying in Melbourne.
The money was reportedly returned to Malaysia as kickbacks.
Rafizi Ramli, who is MP for Pandan, later said National Oversight had information showing that the Mara Inc subsidiary spent RM375.4 million on four properties in Melbourne in 2013, with Dudley House being the cheapest.
The others were 746 Swanston Street (RM138.6 million), 333 Exhibition Street (RM100 million) and 51 Queens Street (RM70.4 million).
Akmal said more information leaked from within Mara would be made public. Mara staff and other individuals in Malaysia and Melbourne were involved, he said.
In the wake of the reports Mara Inc chairman Mohammad Lan Allani and chief executive Abdul Halim Abdul Rahim have been suspended pending investigations.
