Sarawak's Cowgate: Probe MP's contracts, urges PKR

Deputy minister Jacob Dungau Sagan is alleged to have received RM63mil in contracts via his family's firms.

PKR has called on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate federal deputy minister and Baram MP Jacob Dungau Sagan for alleged "abuse of power and breach of trust" over timber concessions and "lucrative contracts".

Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian was responding to allegations by Swiss-based NGO Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) that Sagan is the beneficiary of companies held by his wife and family as his "proxies".

One company, Dema Tega Sdn Bhd - owned by his wife Winnie Jolly, his brother Peter Usang Sagan and his sister-in-law Roseline Andrew Gayu - had received government contracts worth over RM63 million over the past five years, said the NGO.

BMF in a statement yesterday claimed that public contracts are the main source of revenue for the company, which has a share capital of RM750,100.

It said over half of the contracts are connected to a rural water supply system funded by the federal government and commissioned by the Sarawak Public Works Department.

Additionally, whistleblower website Sarawak Report last week also revealed two other companies held by Sagan's wife and his daughter Sharon Sagan - Milisha Holdings Sdn Bhd and Winjac Sdn Bhd - that had allegedly received licences from the Sarawak government to harvest Belian timber.

Belian is an endangered tropical hardwood that has been classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as a vulnerable species and is banned for export from Sarawak and Indonesia.

Conflict of interest

BMF, which has been actively campaigning against the Baram dam in Sagan's constituency that it said will drown out 26 villages and displace 20,000 Orang Asli, alleged that the deputy minister is a "staunch supporter" of the dam because of the said contracts and concessions.

Sagan, born in Long Anap on the banks of the Baram River, has been criticised for allowing the dam to proceed.

Bian (right), meanwhile, slammed Sagan for conflict of interest saying: "He has lost all legitimacy to continue as a member of parliament representing the people of Baram."

"The price of riches is high, and for him, the cost will be his self-respect and the respect of his constituency and indeed of the people of Malaysia.

"He should (unlike minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil) resign from his position if he has any shred of honour left in him in the light of these revelations," added the B'akelalan assemblyperson.