Whistleblower website Sarawak Report (SR) has revealed what it alleged were the means by which companies linked to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud earn millions for their owners over a mere span of just months without breaking sweat.

NONE In the latest of its exposes on the Taib administration, SR related how two companies belonging to Taib’s sister Raziah and her husband Robert Geneid, Miracle Harvest Sdn Bhd and Green Ace Resources, were given 20,000 ha of land by the state land registry in mid-2005.

Miraculous indeed, said SR citing documents from the Register of Companies, as the company was registered only the following month on June 15 and had not yet commenced operations!

NONE This award - no doubt expedited by virtue of Taib heading the state land custody and development agency - was furthermore given on May 25, 2005, to Miracle Harvest and Green Ace for the purpose of an oil palm plantation, at an overall premium price of just RM15 million.

"So, can one detect the Hand of God behind such amazing developments?

"Or perhaps just that of Abdul Taib Mahmud, who doubles up as the head of the state's land custody and development agency?" asked SR.

Incidentally, both Miracle Harvest and Green Ace use the business address of the Geneids’ Kumpulan Parabena Sdn Bhd, in which Taib also allegedly holds a substantial stake through his Mesti Bersatu.

NONE

According to documents published by SR, Robert Geneid is registered as the representative of Miracle Harvest in the Land Registry, with his office at Kumpulan Parabena as the contact address.

While MR15 million signifies a very poor return for taxpayers, it proved immensely profitable for the Taib-Geneid family when in 2006, publicly-listed palm oil plantation company Kwantas announced it had acquired 70 percent of Miracle Harvest shares and 70 percent of Green Ace Resources for RM17 million.

NONE “ Sarawak Report would, therefore, like to ask who Kwantas paid for the acquisition which was made several months after Miracle Harvest/Green Ace acquired the Land Titles?

“Was it Miracle Harvest, which was still not yet officially operating, according to the Company Register?  

“We also ask why it is that, although Kwantas had acquired most of the shares of the company, Miracle Harvest continues to be based at the Parabena Office and is represented by Robert Geneid?” the website asked.

NONE Adding salt to the wound is the amount that SR alleged Kwantas received when it disposed of its 70 percent shares in Green Ace, giving a good view of the actual market prices that are in play.

According to the website, while the Sarawak government received just RM5 million for the 7,000 hectares of land awarded to Green Ace Resources, Kwantas last month announced it would sell its 70 percent stake for a whopping RM 32.4 million!  

“This means that the 30 percent of the shares still held by the Geneids (RM13 mill) are worth roughly half that amount (RM32 million) – almost the same that was charged for the entire 20,000 hectares property portfolio (RM15 million) handed to them by Raziah’s brother and business partner, Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, in 2005.”

SR - led by London-based journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown and Sarawakian Dayak Peter John Jaban - have been publishing damning reports of alleged irregularities and corruption in Sarawak by the Taib administration.

NONE Armed with these and other reports that have emerged over the years, indigenous peoples’ advocacy group Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) today will hold demonstrations in Ottawa, Canada, and London, UK, calling for the ouster of Taib for the environmental and human rights abuses in the state.

The protest in Ottawa, slated for 12pm (Eastern Time, GMT -5), will be led by Mutang Urud, an indigenous leader from Sarawak who has lived in exile in Canada since the early 1990s.

The protest in London, scheduled for 9.30am GMT will be led by Brown and Jaban.