A damning report on the Taib family’s company ownerships followed an exposé by the Bruno Manser Fund blacklisting various companies in Europe, North America and Australia on Canadian Saturday night global news program 16X9. This is one of the first time the Taib’s corrupt practises regarding deforestation and land grabs in Sarawak have been addressed publicly in North America, this comes shortly after the Chief Minister’s corruption was mentioned in European Parliament and moves have been made by various groups to freeze his assets abroad.
For more information on the Taib family in Borneo, please visit: http://borneoproject.org/our-work/ongoing-campaigns/stop-timber-corruption-in-sarawak.
*****
Richer Than The Queen! Top TV Coverage In Canada, As Taibs’ Wealth is Exposed
Posted Sunday, December 4th, 2011
This post is also available in: Chinese (Simplified), Iban, Malay
Prime Time TV – Global News Canada 7.30pm Saturday
The campaign to expose the corruption behind the deforestation and land grabs in Sarawak has received a top TV billing on Canada’s Global News station.
During a prime-time slot aired on Saturday night’s 16X9 programme, investigative reporter Sean O’Shea focused on the massive property portfolio that has been developed in Ottawa, London and the US under the name of Jamilah Taib, the Chief Minister’s oldest daughter [see Stop Timber Corruption Report lays out extensive research into the Taib family’s company ownerships in Sarawak, Malaysia and elsewhere.
It establishes that Taib and his immediate family (his children, siblings and cousin Hamed Sepawi) have beneficial shares in more than 330 companies in Malaysia alone. In many of these companies they also act as the controlling directors.
The Taibs also have a further 80 companies in 25 countries across the world including Australia, the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand, Jersey, Hong Kong, British Virgin Islands, Fiji, Cayman Islands, Indonesia, India, Jersey, Saudi Arabia, Labuan, Cambodia, Brunei, China, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam !
Richer than the Queen – assets of at least one and a half billion US dollars !
BMF’s ‘Stop Timber Corruption’ campaign is cornering Taib with allegations he has proved unable to anwer to a growing body of international critics
BMF acknowledges that this research only covers publicly available information from Malaysia’s Register of Companies and other official company registers.
This means it is likely to represent just a fraction of the Taibs’ actual wealth.
However, by calculating just the share values of 14 of the major companies on this list, they have estimated a total worth of one and a half billion US dollars (4.6 billion Malaysian ringgit).
Not counting their more hidden wealth, this puts the Taib family firmly into the category of one of the richest families in the world and makes them far richer than the Queen of England (whose assets are a mere half billion pounds).
Proceeds of corruption
Given that it can be clearly demonstrated that the majority of these Taib family companies have made their wealth from the receipt of contracts from the Sarawak State Government and land grants from the Sarawak State Government, it is impossible to deny that this wealth has come from the proceeds of corruption by Taib, who is Chief Minister, Finance Minister and Planning Minister of the Sarawak State Government!
My family only do business outside the country!
Business women or just beneficiaries? – Taib’s oldest daughter Jamilah (who has interests in over 84 companies in Sarawak) and youngest sister Raziah (who has oil palm concessions greater than the size of Singapore).
All this from a man who had the brass-necked cheek to declare in a recorded interview just a short while ago that his family only does businessoutside the country, to avoid “being hounded” by accusations of using his political influence to enrich himself!
[
What rubies! – Taib’s latest dependent, his new bride, decked in priceless rubies