The London-based Sarawak Report website has reported more allegations of land grabs by cronies of Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, including his younger brother Ibrahim Mahmud and Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Department Naroden Majais.

NONE Its latest posting yesterday published land documents purported to prove that companies linked to Naroden had received a total of 27,500 ha of land from the state government.

The documents showed that no less than 19 land titles in Naroden's constituency - the Simunjan state seat - had been given to two companies, Hydroflow Sdn Bhd and Indranika Jaya Sdn Bhd, between 2003 and 2007.

These companies were registered under Naroden's ( left ) name in the 2007 records before being replaced by a Chinese name, which shows in the current records.

The documents also reveal that 5,000ha in the Baram region were given to Harta Mastira Sdn Bhd, and another 12,000ha in Gedong were given to Gedong Plantation Sdn Bhd.

baram sarawak Both the companies were registered under Naroden's name, according to the land records of 2010 and 2007 respectively.

The anti-Taib website assessed the total value of the land at over RM1 billion.

Yet, the land in Simunjan and Baram was given to Naroden at only RM5.7 million and he received an additional discount of RM500 per hectare on much of the land. This was coupled with an offer to clear the payment in five to 10 years.

The land in Gedong was given to Naroden at about RM6 million, claimed the website.

Although the Simunjan landowners hold a 30 percent share in both Hydroflow and Indranika Jaya through a 'profit-sharing' deal, the 2,877 shareholders only received a meagre RM200 dividend each last year.

 

"So, what happened to all the profit from the wood that was cut down and what happened to the profit from the sale of the land?" questioned the portal.

'RM11 million for sibling'

In an article published last Sunday, Sarawak Report alleged that Ibrahim had been given 5,000ha of land in Baram region in 2007 by the state government, which he later cashed out for RM18 million in February this year.

The purported land records obtained by the website showed that the land was given to a company named Amgreen Plantation, which is 65 percent owned by another private company called Victoria Square Plantation Sdn Bhd.

Although Victoria S NONE quare Plantation is registered under a Chinese name, it shares the same address with its sister-company Victoria Square Development Sdn Bhd, a company owned by Ibrahim.

Victoria Square Plantation is wholly owned by Network Jaya Sdn Bhd, which Ibrahim (right) owned slightly half of its shares, according to a document obtained from the Companies Commission of Malaysia.

In February this year, a public-listed company Fima Bhd purchased 80 percent of Victoria Square Plantation shares from Network Jaya at a staggering price of RM21 million.

NONE Victoria Square Plantation was described in the Fima shareholders’ prospectus as a ‘dormant’ company. Its main asset was the 65 percent share of Amgreen plantation.

As Ibrahim owned just over half of the shares in Network Jaya he would have personally pocketed just over RM11 million from the deal, claimed the website.   

However, when Amgreen Plantation was given the 5,000 ha of land in 2007, the premium that the state government received was only RM3.7 million, it added.

Taib had previously denied that he has benefited financially from land deals.