Hemmelige optagelser foretaget af Global Witness afslører, hvordan medlemmer af den regerende Taib-familie i provinsen Sarawak i Malaysia systematisk udnytter regionens naturressourcer for egen vindings skyld på bekostning af oprindelige folk.
A new investigation by Global Witness reveals the systemic corruption and illegality at the heart of government in Sarawak, Malaysia’s largest state. A film, shot undercover during the investigation, shows for the first time the instruments used by the ruling Taib family and its lawyers to skirt Malaysia’s laws and taxes. It shows how they cream off huge profits at the expense of indigenous people, and hide their dirty money in Singapore.
Se filmen her: http://www.globalwitness.org/insideshadowstate/index.html
Sarawak still exports more tropical logs than South America and Africa combined, despite having just five per cent of its forests left intact after decades of industrial logging and plantation development. Sarawak’s Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud has ruled the state for over three decades and controls all land allocation and forestry licensing. He is widely understood to abuse this power to enrich his family and associates.
“This film proves for the first time what has long been suspected – that the small elite around Chief Minister Taib are systematically abusing the region’s people and natural resources to line their own pockets,” said Tom Picken, Forest Team Leader at Global Witness.
“It shows exactly how they do it and it shows the utter contempt they hold for Malaysia’s laws, people and environment.”
Global Witness går undercover som udenlandsk investor
Global Witness posed as foreign investors looking to buy land for oil palm plantations. We approached the Regional Corridor Development Authority (RECODA), the government body charged with receiving foreign investment. An official at RECODA during a meeting in March 2012 directed our investigator to certain members of Taib’s family looking to sell their company licensed to log and clear land for plantations.
Out of four land leases offered to Global Witness during 2012, members of the Chief Minister’s family were direct shareholders or beneficial owners of three of these. The fourth deal was proposed by an intermediary on the understanding that Taib would receive a multimillion dollar kickback from the selling party. The key findings of this investigation are:
KICKBACKS (Taib tjener millioner på plantage-autorisationer)
A representative of one of Sarawak’s biggest tycoons indicated that Taib would be likely to receive a multimillion dollar kickback for a plantation licence;
CORRUPT LAND DEALS (Taib-familien tildeles land gennem eget ministerium for en brøkdel af den reelle værdi)
Some members of Taib’s family are allocated (tildelt) land through directives from the Ministry of Resource Planning and Environment, headed by Taib, for a tiny fraction of its real commercial value, enabling these individuals to ‘flip’ these assets (værdier) for multimillion dollar profits;
EVASION OF MALAYSIAN TAX (skatteunddragelse)
One company, jointly owned by Taib’s first cousins, a Malaysian MP for Taib’s party and a sister-in-law of the Malaysian Prime Minister, was offered for sale through an illegal transaction in Singapore designed to evade Malaysian tax;
THE SERVICE ECONOMY OF CORRUPTION (illegale transaktioner der omgår malaysisk lov)
A well-established service economy of local lawyers routinely facilitates illegal transactions in violation of Malaysian and Sarawak law.
Eliten omkring Taib afskyr indfødte folk
Additionally, Global Witness was told by senior government officials and a timber company executive that it is standard practice in Sarawak for companies to pay a personal kickback to Taib in return for obtaining timber and plantation licences, typically amounting to 10 per cent of the commercial value of the licence.
The findings also reveal that the small elite around Taib have a deep seated contempt for Sarawak’s indigenous population, whose rights to their ancestral land are enshrined in Sarawak’s law and protected under the Malaysian constitution. Two of Taib’s first cousins repeatedly referred to indigenous communities as “naughty” people who “try to make money” through “squatting” on land that has been licensed to private companies for logging and plantations.
“The Taib family and their friends have treated Sarawak’s natural resources like a personal piggy bank for decades,” said Picken.
Taib-familien gemmer pengene i Singapore
“This investigation shows how they are willing to stash this dirty cash in jurisdictions like Singapore, which one lawyer in the film describes as “the new Switzerland”. Until Singapore and other financial service centres stop allowing corrupt politicians and criminals to shield themselves and their loot from justice back home, the likes of Taib will continue to get away with stealing from their own people.”
Læs artiklen her:
http://www.globalwitness.org/library/corruption-malaysia-laid-bare-investigation-catches-sarawak’s-ruling-elite-camera
