Prosecute Taib Mahmud and recover illegally obtained assets, urges Surendran

I refer to the widely publicised letter dated 13th December 2011 from NGO's based in six different countries, demanding the arrest and prosecution of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and 13 of his family members for massive fraud, theft, corruption, illegal appropriation of land and abuses of public office.

Taib and his family's immense and ill-gotten riches are a matter of public knowledge. For years, concerned individuals, organizations and the political opposition have called upon the BN government to stop Taib's plunder of Sarawak's wealth and natural resources. But successive BN government's have taken no action whatsoever against Taib and his criminal empire.

Staggering wealth

The facts revealed in this letter are simply staggering. Taib's family stake in just 14 companies amounts to over RM 4.6 billion ( US 1.46 billion). Taib's family has been identified as having interests in 332 Malaysian and 85 foreign companies. The Taib empire's illegal activities are being looked into by Australia, Germany, Switzerland, UK and Canada.

Taib family's companies have been given huge timber concessions and large state construction projects without public tender and hold monopolies on cement and timber exports. Sarawak's wealth and assets worth hundreds of millions are being smuggled out of the country in lavish property holdings held by Taib's children in Canada, England and the US.

The BN has betrayed the people of Sarawak and the rest of Malaysia. In exchange for their 'fixed-deposit' of votes, which the BN desperately needs to hold on to power, they have allowed Taib to run Sarawak like his personal fiefdom. Despite the colossal scale of the Taib family's wealth and corruption, they remain untouchable and under the protection and shield of the Barisan Nasional government.

The magnitude of the amounts involved dwarf the ongoing NFC corruption scandal, which the BN is also trying to cover up with the help of the police and A-G. The Taib empire of ill-gotten gains stretching worldwide is a shocking indictment of BN's corrupt mismanagment of this country and its resources. Immense damage has also been done to our nation's international reputation by the government's refusal to stop the plunder and prosecute Taib and his family.

Urgent action

We demand:

i) immediate formation of a Royal Commission of Enqury into the entire Taib business empire;

ii) immediate arrest and prosecution of Taib Mahmud and 13 other family members;

iii) immediate resignation of Taib Mahmud as Chief Minister and of all his family members sitting on the boards of state owned enterprises or bodies;

iv) formation of a multi-agency task-force to recover illegally obtained assets and property in Malaysia and throughout the world;

v) that the government cooperate with international law enforcement agencies and foreign states to bring Taib and his family to justice;

vi) Prime Minister Najib and the BN government to apologise to the people of Malaysia, and particularly Sarawak, for supporting and allowing Taib to operate with impunity.

N Surendran is a vice president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat