A group of international and Malaysian NGOs have written a letter to the Malaysian authorities demanding the immediate arrest and criminal prosecution of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and his family members for the alleged illegal appropriation of public funds.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police must respond immediately to the letter and evidence furnished by the NGOs. While Taib’s wealth is not a secret, the details provided by the NGOs are shocking.
Taib and his family’s alleged interest in just 14 companies amount to RM4.6 billion. In total, Taib and his family are alleged to have interests in 332 Malaysian and 85 foreign companies.This debunks his recent official interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YK8KGX7E4A) where he stated that his family’s wealth is accumulated from business abroad and due to their talents.
Unfortunately, this allegation will continue the downward trend of Malaysia’s corruption score, making a mockery of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s transformation agenda. As Transparency International has stated, Malaysia continues to slide due to its inaction on ‘grand corruption’. In other cases, the most recent being the alleged RM250
million National Feedlot Corporation scandal involving Minister Shahrizat Jalil and her family, the authorities do nothing.
If they continue to remain silent in this grandest alleged corruption cases of them all that has now come to the world’s attention and drawn wide interest internationally, not only will our country’s image continue to deteriorate, but so will the faith of the rakyat.
Baru BianSarawak
State Chairman, Parti Keadilan Rakyat
State Assemblyman for Ba’ Kelalan
