Amid an MACC investigation, leaked documents reveal that Daim Zainuddin’s family members are the beneficial owners of yet another offshore trust holding assets worth hundreds of millions of ringgit.
The documents, obtained by the Investigative Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) and shared with Malaysiakini, showed the trust was set up in the names of the former finance minister’s wife Naimah Khalid and his two sons Muhammed Amir Zainuddin and Muhammed Amin Zainuddin.
The trio gave their statement to the MACC on Jan 10 as part of the MACC’s investigations into undeclared wealth held by Daim (above), following the Pandora Papers revelation by Malaysiakini and the ICIJ in 2021.
In 2021, Daim said all his wealth was obtained legally and trusts were part of legitimate estate management, while last week, Naimah said the investigation was politically motivated and is suing the MACC.
The latest leak from a service provider from the Cayman Islands showed that as late as 2020, there were assets worth some US$52.56 million (RM244.06 million) held in ZA Trust, which is owned by Naimah, Amir and Amin.
This eclipses the assets owned in offshore trusts previously linked to Daim, where limited information only pointed to a value of under £25 million (RM148.26 million).
The latest leak showed ZA Trust also received a loan of US$49 million (RM227.53 million) from Adam Zeta Trust but there are no details on what it was for or who owns Adam Zeta Trust.
The leaked documents are of Cayman provider Genesis Trust & Corporate Services Ltd, a company which provides services like company formation and administration, partnership registration and administration, trust services, directorial services, and more.
The Cayman Islands is one of several tax havens favoured by high-net-worth individuals to store their assets for a variety of reasons that are not necessarily illegal.
However, in recent years, there has been pressure for greater transparency of assets held in tax havens to combat tax evasion and money laundering.
Malaysiakini has contacted Daim and his family via their lawyers Tommy Thomas and Rajesh Nagarajan, and is awaiting a response.
The ICIJ has also contacted Genesis Trust for a response.
High-value properties in UK, US
In leaked compliance documents created by Genesis Trust, the beneficial owners of ZA Trust - Daim’s wife and sons - were deemed “high risk” due to their connection with Daim.
According to the financial statements, ZA Trust’s worth grew multiple times compared to 2019, when it received a gain on “revaluation of unquoted investments” of US$42.80 million (RM198.74 million).
These were shares in three offshore registered companies - Branworth Holdings Limited, Copperfield Investment Holdings Limited, and Straits Properties Holdings Limited.
The companies, which were not fully owned by ZA Trust, held properties in the US and the UK.
In the US, the properties are owned under multiple layers of companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Massachusetts, and Delaware. They include hotels, car parks, and commercial and residential properties.
Copperfield Investment and Straits Properties, meanwhile, own properties in central London.
This includes part of 50 St Mary’s Axe in the financial district of London, a seven-floor office building, purchased by Copperfield for £23.7 million (RM140.57 million) in 2013.
Copperfield Investment owns part of the lower floors of the building, located in the financial district and just 200m from the iconic skyscraper The Gherkin, according to the UK Land Registry.
Based on real estate listings, space in the building is rented at £59.50 (RM352.91) per sq ft.
Straits Properties, meanwhile, owns an entire office building and the land it is on in London, bought for £31.5 million (RM186.84 million) in 2014.
The eight-floor building called One Crown Court is less than 500m from the renowned St Paul’s Cathedral.
The 48,183 sq ft building is rented out for £68.50 (RM406.30) per sq ft, according to the property's real estate listing.
Layers of ownership
The three companies in which ZA Trust owns shares - Branworth, Copperfield Investment, and Straits Properties - were all incorporated in tax havens and are, in turn, owned by layers of trusts and companies incorporated in offshore jurisdictions, obscuring their actual owners.
However, at least two of those companies have links to Daim outside of the ZA Trust via an individual called Francis Donald Ventura.
The British national is listed as the beneficial owner of the BVI-incorporated Copperfield Investment and BVI company Straits Properties, in the UK company registry Companies House.
Ventura is a trustee of the UK-incorporated charity Ilham Foundation, which was founded by Naimah in 2016. Amir and Amin were made trustees in 2017.
The foundation, which declared no profit in the past three years, shares the same name as Ilham Tower, the Kuala Lumpur skyscraper the MACC seized last month over its investigation into Daim.
Both the companies owned by Ventura are also owned by two offshore trusts - including one that shares the same office building as the firm managing the Daim family trust in the Cayman Islands.
In his affidavit seeking judicial review challenging MACC’s investigations into him, Daim said the investigation into his wealth is unreasonable because his wealth can be easily justified by his business dealings since 1969.
He said among others, he holds shares or controls other major companies like SimeUEP (now Sime Darby), Guthrie, TV3, Maybank, Consplant, Cold Storage, and Nestle Malaysia.
His 10 percent stake in Nestle Malaysia alone is worth RM3 billion, he said.
Daim also noted that since the revelations about him and his family’s wealth in the Pandora Papers do not show any wrongdoing, the MACC has no grounds to investigate him based on those documents. - Mkini
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