Corruption and Abuse of Power – Irrefutable Evidence against Taib. Exclusive!
The information is all verifiable to the Malaysian Government and the MACC through the Register of Companies, their own official documents and ministerial announcements. The government auditors will be well-placed also to assess just how much Federal and State money has in total been poured into helping Delta Padi develop the project, in which the Chief Minister and his family hold a such a major shareholder interest.
By Sarawak Report
Certain people in high places are given to alleging that the facts which have been published in Sarawak Report may not be true. Yet, the allegations we have published have been verifiable and documented.
Likewise, available to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in the government’s own register of companies, is the following irrefutable information. The company Mesti Bersatu is a major shareholder in Delta Padi Sdn Bhd, a venture that has caused shocking devastation on the mainly Melanau island of Pulau Bruit.
Also documented and verifiable is the fact that the Sarawak government has handed large tracts of land in Sungai Lengan on Pulau Bruit at minimal cost (RM78,000 for 100 hectares) to Delta Padi Sdn Bhd to develop a rice project, for which laughable levels of compensation have been offered to the Native Customary Landowners of the area. Pristine Mangrove forests have been destroyed over the past four years and the waters of the region have been polluted. Environmentalists are concerned that the development is now illegally encroaching also on the National Park on the island.
The Chief Minister’s shareholding is stated in the Register of Companies
Mesti Bersatu, which is such a large shareholder in this enterprise, belongs to the Chief Minister of Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud and members of his family. His name is printed in black and white as a key shareholder in the Register of Companies for all to see. This means that as the Head of Government he has been handing the land and development opportunities to himself.
Mesti Bersatu’s two partners in Delta Padi are Taib’s business crony Hii Yu Peng and the organisation Pelita, which belongs to Sarawak’s Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA), of which Chief Minister Taib Mahmud is also the Chairman! This is all in black and white – there can be no argument.
It should be observed that the Sarawak Government has given these grants of valuable land to Delta Padi thanks to specific decisions by the Planning & Resources Minister and, of course, the Chairman of the LCDA. These key decision-making positions when it comes to the granting of land are both occupied by the Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud. Therefore, Taib has particularly used his position of direct authority over these departments to hand himself cheap land, which he had alienated from the native people. This is a clear case of conflict of interest, abuse of power and corruption.
Not just public land but also public money has been channelled into the Chief Minister’s company
However, it has not just land that Taib has been handing to himself through to Delta Padi Sdn Bhd. Both state and federal government money is also evidently being poured into supporting the venture, of which he and his family are such major shareholders. These resources will have been made available thanks, of course, to the decisions of Sarawak’s Finance Minister. Sarawak’s Finance Minister is also Abdul Taib Mahmud. This is another clear case of conflict of interest, abuse of power and corruption.
In an announcement to the news agency Bernama in 2004, the Minister James Masing explained the Sarawak Government’s policy towards the project – a policy that is spearheaded by the Chief Minister, Finance Minister, Land & Resources Minister and Chairman of the LCDA, who are all Abdul Taib Mahmud. The report quotes Masing:
‘“Since Sarawak is basically in its early stage of rice production, subsidy must be provided for it to succeed.” He [Masing] said his ministry would act as the main co-ordinator between the various state and federal agencies and ministries involved in order for it to succeed.
He said under Phase One of its proposed development, a sum of RM19 million was needed for its irrigation system and he hoped the Federal Ministry of Agriculture could make the fund available soon. Masing said it had been estimated that about RM75 million was needed for the granary overall development……….
On the Delta Padi Plantation, he said since its inception seven years ago, a sum of RM18 million had been spent in its development. It had also invested RM8 million on its own rice milling facility the biggest in the country …. Masing said the state government would assist Delta Padi in dealing with its main rat and bird problems and in looking for more markets for its rice. He urged the national rice board or BERNAS to lend a helping hand”. [James Masing, Bernama 18/10/2004]
No proof? The Chief Minister and his family own Mesti Bersatu
Corruption
Progress and Development? – 6 years after Taib took their land and stripped their forest these locals are left destitute.
The above information is all verifyable to the Malaysian Government and the MACC through the Register of Companies, their own official documents and ministerial announcements. The government auditors will be well-placed also to assess just how much Federal and State money has in total been poured into helping Delta Padi develop the project, in which the Chief Minister and his family hold a such a major shareholder interest.
In this context they might like to consider how little of those substantial millions have been spent in assisting the desperately poor Melanau and Iban populations of the area who have lost their fishing and hunting grounds and are suffering flooding and pollution as a result of the degradations and plantations on their Native Customary Lands?
Read more at: http://www.sarawakreport.org/2010/12/corruption-and-abuse-of-power-irrefutable-evidence-against-taib-exclusive/
