In what appears to be a first, Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud has put his own name to a controversial million-ringgit project that has benefited from huge injections of taxpayers’ money and state backing.

taib mahmud pc annoucement on sarawak state election 240406 Previously, Taib ( right ) had used his family members - including brothers and sisters, late wife, children, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws - to ensure that he and the family acquire and maintain shares in the state’s most lucrative businesses.

In some instances, Taib is said to have directed those family members to hold shares on his behalf by way of undated resignation letters and share transfer forms.   

In its latest expose , the whistleblower website Sarawak Report said the chief minister had in 2007 not bothered to go through the usual process of disguising his moves to deflect claims of corruption and conflicts of interest, and is said to have inked his own interest in the Royal Mulu Resort.

MESTI BERSATU Taib Mahmud ssm listing Whether due to oversight or a growing confidence that "he can do what he likes in Sarawak and get away with it", Sarawak Report said Taib’s name is found in Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) records as the owner of 400,000 shares (out of 2.3 million shares) in Mesti Bersatu Sdn Bhd.

At RM1 per share, said Sarawak Report , Taib’s shareholding represents an outlay of RM400,000.

The other shareholders are Taib’s late brother Arif’s three wives and two grown-up daughters.     

Mesti Bersatu, in turn, has a 50 percent shareholding of Kenyalang Cergas, that in turn is one of the main shareholders of Borsamulu Resorts Bhd.

Borsamulu Resorts was in 1991 handed the ownership and lucrative management contract for what was once part of the state-owned Mulu National Park but that is now a playground for the rich: the Royal Mulu Resort.

NONE This means that as chief minister, finance minister and state resources and planning minister, Taib has stood to gain personally when the state government alienated the land from the indigenous Berawan community to BRSB and Taib’s brother Arif, his sister Raziah ( far left )and her husband Robert Geneid ( above, far right ).

RM50 million a year for 50 years

In addition to the alienation of land, the state has not only injected untold amounts of taxpayers’ money and taken up an interest in the Royal Mulu Resort but, through the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), has also awarded allegedly “astronomical” management fees to the Geneids, purportedly to "develop tourism".

NONE The Royal Mulu Resort is now said to await a new lease of life in the form of a joint-development project with the US-based Marriott Hotel chain to extend the resort further.

Commenting on this, the Sarawak Report said the Marriott Hotel chain appears to have “no shame” in participating in this deal.

The big question, however, is how much the state government has already invested in this project that both the Marriott and the Taib family have direct interests in.

According to the Sarawak Report , in 2007 - the same year that Taib openly acquired shares in the company - a new contract was drawn up whereby the state was to pay RM50 million a year into the Borsamulu Resort company for 50 years.

“This means that the state of Sarawak has agreed to pay the Geneids and, indeed, the chief minister himself, RM50 million a year to manage their own investment until the day they die!”

Marriot Hotel involvement?

Turning its sights on the Marriott Hotel chain, the Sarawak Report asked whether it was this continuing support by the state government that motivated them into taking up the joint venture with the Geneids in Borsamulu Resort.

Given Taib’s role in the widespread destruction of Sarawak’s rainforests and the suppression of the rights of its indigenous communities, on what basis does the Marriott Hotel Group believe it is venturing into ‘eco-tourism’ and is not instead violating human rights?

Baru Bian Sarawak PKR-leader at Bruno Manser commemoration Given these and other questions, state PKR liaison chief Baru Bian ( right ) and several other PKR leaders yesterday lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Kuching, urging the agency to act on the allegations contained in the website.

“These are very serious allegations. As a responsible citizen of this country, it is my duty to bring this article to the attention of the MACC. It is up to them to further investigate the allegations.”

“Malaysians, Sarawakians in particular, would be interested to know if these allegations are true or not. The MACC has a public responsibility to serve the public interest,” said Bian in a statement.