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Thursday, June 25, 2015

TIP OF MARA CORRUPTION ICEBERG: Exposing Najib not enough, Annuar should still be sacked

TIP OF MARA CORRUPTION ICEBERG: Exposing Najib not enough, Annuar should still be sacked
The current Dudley House scandal, in which Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) officials are said to have used the public trust council’s funds to purchase a hostel block in Melbourne at an inflated price of AUD22.5 million (RM65 million), from which AUD4.75 million (RM13.7 million) was purportedly siphoned out as kickbacks, is not the first time Mara has found itself embroiled in allegations of corruption and fund mismanagement.
Tip of the iceberg
Previous property transactions have also been controversial, including the acquisition of three properties in London, namely the Ashley Hotel near Paddington Station, student hostel Beaumont House and service apartment Atelier EC1, as well as three other buildings in Melbourne’s CBD worth about AUD63.5 million (RM183 million), reportedly purchased through offshore shelf companies.
Meanwhile, the 2013 Auditor-General’s Report highlighted discrepancies amounting to RM124.55 million in Mara’s procurement process. In the same year, two senior Mara officials, Mara Education Foundation CEO Datuk Dr Abdul Shariff Hamid, who was also a former Overseas Umno Club secretary, and programme manager Zainal Rashid Zakaria were convicted of forgery pertaining to claims amounting to RM304,650.
This year, four MARA officials were charged in the KL High Court for false travel claims amounting to tens of thousands of ringgit.
With such a blemished record, the Dudley House scandal could very well represent the tip of a very large iceberg, bearing in mind that Mara has invested about RM600 million in properties overseas.
Mara chairman is either confused or incompetent
When the current chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa took over the helm of the agency in 2013, he conceded that Mara had a tarnished reputation owing to many problems including rent-seeking, mismanagement and corruption. Consequently, Annuar pledged to set the house in order by revamping the institution in order to shed its “stigma.”
However, after two years in the top job, it would appear that nothing much has changed.
Worse, in the wake of the Dudley House scandal, Annuar seems to be making contradictory statements. On the one hand, he has been reported to have said that Mara Inc’s AUD22.5 million purchase of the hostel building was a bargain, while on the other hand, he claims to have personally highlighted serious concerns about the deal following his visit to Melbourne last year, leading to an internal investigation by Mara that apparently started two months ago.
Does Annuar even know what he is saying? If the deal had been value for money as he alleges, then what concerns did he bring up to the council, and why was an internal investigation conducted?
Furthermore, Annuar also implicated Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Razak in the Dudley House scandal by revealing that the final green light had been given by the latter as the chairman of the National Economic Council. While this is ultimately true, laying the blame at the Prime Minister’s feet sounds like nothing more than a disingenuous attempt to shirk responsibility, especially when it would never have materialised had the Mara Council, of which Annuar is chairman, had not approved the deal it in the first place.
Annuar’s oxymoronic statements clearly reveals that he is either confused or incompetent. Either way, the Ketereh MP is clearly unfit to lead a government agency entrusted with an annual budget of RM4 billion. As such, he should be sacked as chairman of Mara with immediate effect.
Steven Sim Chee Keong
Member of Parliament for Bukit Mertajam
Zairil Khir Johari
Member of Parliament for Bukit Bendera
DAP Assistant National Publicity Secretary

1 comment:

  1. Well, these are all kuchi rats! The main culprit is the finance ministry. We should sack the whole team in the FM....they're supposed to check on all expenses. What did they do....NOTHING, AND WORSE OF That, they approved it! Is there kickbacks!?

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