Mara overpaid RM18 million for third Australian property, says watchdog

National Oversight & Whistleblowers (NOW) Director Akmal Nasir speaks during a press conference at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today. Nasir says Mara had also overpaid for a third property in Melbourne by RM18 million. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Najjua Zulkefli, July 1, 2015.

Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) also overpaid for a third Australian property in Melbourne by RM18 million, which meant it had overpaid at least RM66 million for the property purchases made Down Under thus far, the National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW) said today.

Its director Akmal Nasir said that for the 51 Queen Street property, Mara Inc paid A$22 million (RM66 million) just months after an unnamed previous buyer bought it for only A$16.65 million.

This amounted to a differential of RM18 million, on top of the RM14 million they allegedly overpaid for the Dudley House and close to the RM30 million they overpaid for 333 Exhibition Street, he said.

"The proof provided so far shows that there is a modus operandi which is systematic, and NOW is confident there are elements of criminal breach of trust here," Akmal said in a press conference today.

Australian paper The Age previously alleged that the differential for The Dudley was pocketed as kickbacks by some senior Mara officials.

The approach to buy the Queen Street property was also the same as the purchase of the Exhibition Street property, Akmal said.

Quintessential Equity, a property management company in Melbourne bought the property in 2010 before selling it off to an unnamed company, believed to be somewhere in January 2013.

Within two months, Mara Inc made the purchase – giving the unknown buyer a RM18 million gain on the property.

For Exhibition Street, similarly, an unknown buyer bought the property from Quintessential Equity in late 2012, before flipping it over to Mara Inc in less than five months for about RM30 million gains.

"Who was it that owned 51 Queen Street before Mara Inc bought it for RM18 million above the market rate?” he asked.

"We want to know where this extra RM66 million went to. It was supposed to be used for the development of the Bumiputra community," he said.

Both the 51 Queen Street and 333 Exhibition Street properties were bought using "layered" companies in three countries, NOW previously revealed.

Though different in name, both purchases had the same transaction chain – the purchase was made via a Labuan company which in turn went through a Singaporean company, and then an Australian company.

All the companies are owned by Mara Inc.

The other two purchases, for The Dudley and 746 Swanston Street, were made via an offshore company set up in the British Virgin Islands.

- TMI