Where is Farok Majeed and How Wealthy is Onn Mahmud?
Sarawak Report
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:
“Although, on 15 November, Mr Majeed provided a folder filed that day containing affidavit evidence in response to the motion, and also the draft Statement of Claim to which I have referred, he has provided nothing since. Nothing has been heard of him by my chambers since then”. [Justice Brereton 31/01/08]
Onn Mahmud – Taib’s brother and former businessness partner and chief of family businesses CMS.
In the light of this non-appearance Brereton reversed a judgement that had previously been made awarding Majeed $2,212,615 in damages against Onn Mahmud for unpaid work by Majeed’s construction company Australasia Pacific.
He also required that Majeed pay Mahmud’s legal expenses pending a judgement in any future hearing. It would be nice to have evidence from Mr Mahmud that he received these payments. The case was adjourned to February 2008, but there is no evidence that Farok Majeed took his litigation any further.
The kick-back scandal and Farok’s evidence about Onn’s wealth
1902 Peach Gardens – a Singapore penthouse worth over $7 million Singapore Dollars. At 5,261 square feet and with 5 bedrooms Estate Agents rave that you “cant find such a spacious apartment anymore”
Farok Majeed’s case against Onn Mahmud came at a particularly sensitive time for the Chief Minister’s brother. Japanese newspapers had started to report that their tax authorities were prosecuting Japanese shipping companies for paying millions of dollars of undeclared timber kickbacks to a company in Hong Kong fronted by Onn’s personal secretary, Kin Kwok Shea.
The company, Regent Star, operated out of the same office as a sister Mahmud company called Richfold, of which Onn was the key Shareholder. During the period of these kickbacks Onn was acting as the Director and shareholder of the company Achipeligo, which had been given the licencing authority over all timber exports from Sarawak by Onn’s own brother, the Chief Minister Taib Mahmud. The Japanese shipping companies explained that they would encounter ‘difficulties’ in getting their export licences from Achipeligo until money had been paid to Regent Star!
The properties cited in Farok’s court depositions
Farok Majeed’s court case, originally filed in September 2006, makes plain that he had been engaged by Onn to work on a number of expensive property developments in Sydney. These are detailed in the public court documents, along with details of Onn Mahmud’s own exclusive homes apartments in Singapore and Sydney. Farok describes his attempts to deliver his court summons to Onn’s various residences, thereby providing their addresses. He also names a number of property companies owned by Onn, his wife, son and daughter.
The list of properties Majeed claims he worked on for Onn Mahmud in Australia.
Firstly, Majeed cites 1902 Peach Gardens as the Onn family flat in Singapore. This is a duplex penthouse apartment, highly spacious for the crowded city, which Sarawak Report photographed complete with its swimming pool. A next door similar apartment has been advertised for over $7 million Singapore Dollars in recent months. The estate agents boast that the guarded property:
“boasts facilities like a swimming pool, a wading pool, tennis courts, squash courts, a playground, a clubhouse, BBQ pits, 24-hour security and a covered car park”.
Luxury – looking down at the living room of one of the Peach Garden Penthouses from the upper floor.
However, the grandeur of Peach Gardens pales into insignificance compared to Onn Mahmud’s family home address at 26 Carrara Road, Vaucluse, Western Australia, where Majeed also tried to serve his summons. Put simply it is one of the smartest houses in the most expensive street in Sydney. Complete with a cliff tip swimming pool looking out over a marine reserve, the residence commands a magnificent view over Sydney Harbour. Houses in Carrara Road have consistently achieved the highest prices of any residential area in Sydney, with one mansion selling last year for $27 million Australian Dollars in the midst of the property recession.
