Father, son and Umno cronies in Mara deal

MPs highlight the shadowing hand of Umno members behind Dudley House scandal.

KUALA LUMPUR: Two MPs have linked the chain of Umno involvement in the Dudley House scandal and said that Mara was a classic example of government agencies controlled and dominated by “a sinister nexus of patrons, cronies and politicians”.

The Dudley House scandal showed such transactions were facilitated by cronies and powerful Umno politicians with access to billions in government funds, said MPs Steven Sim and Zairil Khir Johari in a statement today.

Sim is MP for Bukit Mertajam, and Zairil is MP for Bukit Bendera.

They called for the Mara Council, the decision-making body of the rural development agency, to comprise a balanced mix of bipartisan politicians, civil servants and non-partisan professionals, and for Mara to be made directly responsible to Parliament rather than the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development.

“When government agencies and their businesses are caught in such a political web, there is no doubt that decision-making will be skewed by vested interests,” they said, pointing out the Umno links in Mara and Dudley House.

Sim and Zairil pointed out that Erwan Aziz, the broker for the Dudley House deal was a director of a company chaired by Umno Youth deputy leader Khairul Azwan Harun.

Erwan, who has been described as “Porsche-loving”, was also the son of Azizi Yom Ahmad, a joint developer of Dudley House, a student hostel in Melbourne.

The Age newspaper in Melbourne had reported this week that Dudley House was bought in 2013 at a “massively” inflated price of A$22.5 million (RM65mil), when the market price was only A$17.8mil (RM51.6mil).

The difference in price of A$4.75 million was a kickback for Malaysian officials, paid out as “introduction and consultancy fees” through a Singapore shelf company, the Age quote the two Australian developers as saying.

Sim and Zairil noted that Mara Inc’s chairman is Mohammad Lan Allani, an Umno politician from Sabah and formerly state assemblyman for Sulabayan.

The minister in charge of Mara is Shafie Apdal, MP for Semporna, which encompasses the state seat of Sulabayan.

Shafie is also head of Semporna Umno, where Lan Allani was once the vice-chairman and treasurer.

The Mara Council, which is the governing body of the agency, is also Umno-controlled, the two MPs said.

The chairman is Annuar Musa, MP for Ketereh, Kelantan. Six of the 11 council members are active Umno members; the other five are civil servants.

Two directors of Mara Inc are active Umno members, while the other two are civil servants.

“The broker who facilitated the Dudley House deal, said to be “Porsche-loving” Erwan Azizi, is a director of Biosis Bhd, a company chaired by Umno Youth deputy chief Khairul Azwan Harun.

Erwan is also the son of Dato’ Azizi Yom Ahmad, a joint-developer of Dudley House.

Sim and Zairil pointed out that Mara was set up by Parliament in 1966 to bring economic and social development to the bumiputera community and rural areas.

Mara Inc was created in 2008 as an investment arm. Its overseas assets are reportedly worth RM600mil, including four properties in Melbourne and three in London.

It was not surprising that the Malaysian government had become almost synonymous with corruption when almost all government wealth funds and investment agencies are dominated by Umno-linked cronies and politicians,” the two MPs said.

They said that without decisive steps being taken towards transparency and independence of Mara and other government agencies, public corruption scandals would continue to plague the country.