Zafrul no longer director of firm named in Pandora Papers’ leak, says aide

 

While Tengku Zafrul Aziz’s aide said he was no longer a director, he did not say when he resigned.

PETALING JAYA: An aide to finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz has explained that he is no longer a director of an offshore company unearthed as part of the Pandora Papers’ exposé, which also linked a number of other prominent Malaysians to offshore dealings.

The data leak, the largest ever of its kind, involved 2.94 terabyte of data provided anonymously to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), and was made up of nearly 12 million documents and other records from 14 offshore service providers that set up and managed shell companies and trusts in tax havens around the world.

According to Malaysiakini, which was provided with the information by ICIJ, Tengku Zafrul’s name appears as the director of Capital Investment Bank (Labuan) Ltd, a boutique bank incorporated in the offshore jurisdiction of Labuan, in a cache of documents from leading Panama law firm Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee (Algocal).

While Tengku Zafrul’s aide said he was no longer a director, he did not say when the finance minister had resigned.

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was also in the files of Algocal, who acted as agents of a firm called Breedon Ltd in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

Breedon was incorporated in September 1996 with Zahid as a director, before the company’s name was changed to Rising Resources (BVI) Ltd in November that year.

In 1999, the company had a share capital of US$50,000, but the nature of the business was not revealed.

More recent documents from Algocal showed the company had been “struck off” for being dormant several years after incorporation. There is no indication of what the business was set up for, while companies with similar names registered in Malaysia are unrelated to Zahid.

FMT has contacted Zahid on the matter.

Also in the leak are Larry Low Hock Ping and Goh Gaik Ewe, the parents of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho also known as Jho Low, who are linked to Coswell Corporation and Strategic Equities Ltd.

Coswell was incorporated by Trident Trust (BVI) Ltd in 1991, and was said to be involved in property investments in London with an asset value of US$2 million (RM8 million), while Strategic Equities was used to hold shares in Frencken Group Ltd valued at US$5 million (RM20 million), an industrial and precision machine manufacturer incorporated in Singapore.

As recently as 2017, Larry and Goh were listed as clients of Trident Trust despite links to the 1MDB scandal.

Other figures

Also listed in the report for various holdings include deputy finance minister and Sipitang MP Yamani Hafez Musa, Selayang MP William Leong and Mahmud Abu Bekir who is the son of Sarawak governor Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Others are Rimbunan Hijau Group chairperson Tiong Hiew King, Jayatiasa director Tiong Ik King, Westports Holdings executive chairperson and director G Gnanalingam and Genting Group chairperson Lim Kok Thay.

Leong said through his lawyer that the records of his and his wife’s ownership of Collister Holdings Ltd in Jersey was linked to his role from 1994 to 1997 as executive vice president and COO of the Manila-based Philippine National Steel Mill.

At the time, a financial and tax expert had advised him that the best way to manage his income as an expatriate was through Collister Holdings Ltd.

“All these were legally and rightfully conducted. There was no infringement of both the Malaysian and Philippines laws,” the lawyer said, adding that the company was no longer being used by the time Leong became an active MP.

Gnanalingam’s ownership of Paisley Marketing Ltd in the British Virgin Islands is to hold a life insurance policy and investments managed by Standard Chartered Singapore, a representative said.

According to them, the funds used to create the trust was from Gnanalingam’s income, for which all due taxes had been paid to the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).

“There is no taxable income from Paisley. If the income was taxable under Malaysian law, it would have been reported to LHDN,” the representative said, adding that the decision to set up Paisley in the British Virgin Islands was based on Standard Chartered Singapore’s recommendation.

“This was the way Standard Chartered (Singapore) had set up the programme for us. It is unclear to me why they chose to set up their trust companies in one jurisdiction over another.”

Not all the documents involved the incorporation of trusts or businesses offshore, with some naming Malaysian individuals as part of background checks.

Having offshore entities is not illegal, but in some instances the practice has been used to dodge taxes. - FMT