'Taib should disclose the names of all the companies awarded logging licences and licences for planted forests and leases issued from 1981 until 2011.'
Taib: I have no secret Swiss bank account
Lakia: So that is what Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said. Wait and see what will unfold after this.
Let us see the links and the connections that will be revealed one by one, and I hope Taib will give an account for all of them. Those who have worked with the many companies owned or linked to Taib's family should tell us their side of the story with documentary evidence.
Maybe Taib should first explain and disclose the names of all the companies awarded logging licences, licences for planted forests and leases, including provisional leases for oil palm plantations throughout Sarawak issued by his Ministry of Planning and Resource Management from 1981 until 2011.
Anonymous_3f55: By the statement, Taib Mahmud means:
a) he has an account but it's not a secret account
b) he doesn't have an account but his wife or other family do and they are either, i) secret or
ii) not secret
Mr T: Of course, he is right. He has no assets in his name in Switzerland. It is in somebody else's name - his children, his relatives, friend or proxies. These links have been established and proven by many sources. Technically, he might be telling the truth, but Taib is still a big liar.
Martha: What about the Cayman Islands?
My-Cat-is-BB: "They (the oppositions) are barking up the wrong tree... They will have a surprise tomorrow," he told reporters on Tuesday after attending the opening of the State Legislative Assembly by Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng at Petra Jaya.
So this is the "surprise"? Is that all? That you don't have a Swiss bank account?
Realistic: That's right - force Taib to declare all his assets including those of his enlarged family members.
This is something that the BN government has failed to do since the time of Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The reason is obvious. Just go to any state in Malaysia and visit some of the BN politicians' houses. They looks like mansions, something which a public servant cannot afford with their current salary, unless of course, they were successful in business prior to becoming a politician.
Righteous: At the slightest hint, instructions would have gone out to "move house" or change "Chonker" (banker) as the Chinese would put it.
Surely the Swiss bank would have a dossier or kept a log on who is in or out, which could be accessible to the investigators. However, such trails can easily disappear, not unlike the immigration records in the Altantunya Shaariibuu case.
Anak 1Sabah: One look from Google Earth begs the question: what 70 percent of the forest is preserved is he talking about? Does he think we are blind and dumb or what?
Kit P: Switzerland is famous for its near impenetrable banking privacy rules. Up to about 10 years ago, it was possible to open ‘No Name' accounts with Swiss banks, the account holder being identified by other private means.
That's how billions of dollars of ill-gotten gains ended up in the safe hands of the Swiss. The Swiss still hold all account holder identities very, very private.
Some exceptions have been made to official inter-government requests under criminal corruption cases, but don't hold your breath on the Malaysian government making any investigation into Taib's wealth.
Chandran Sukumaran: You don't understand what Taib said. What he said was he has no 'secret' Swiss bank account. He did not say he has no Swiss account.
Fellow Malaysian: This sly old fox has survived through navigating and using his cunning and vile ways.
Bruno Manser Fonds has exposed his misdeeds and how the poor and desolate Penans living in the interiors jungles of Bintulu hinterlands were driven away from their ancestral grounds by this wily old goat in the 1980s.
Taib would be wise enough not to buy and keep assets in Switzerland. But that doesn't stop him from stacking his ingloriously-gained billions in the Swiss banks. In the name of a proxy perhaps?
It was revealed just early this week that NGOs in Germany have evidence of his 'savings' (purportedly in enormous amount) deposited in financial institutions there and the NGOs are writing to Chancellor Angela Merkel to freeze his accounts. It's a case of catch me if you can.
Henry: There is a reason why he chose to announce this in the Sarawak state assembly - his words cannot be challenged. Would he dare to repeat the same outside the House?
Deutsche Bank slammed for 'ties' with Taib assets
Pity Him: Banks are licensed Ah Longs. Customers deposit millions upon billions of ill-gotten money and they do not have to verify where the money comes from.
Lexicon: Does German Chancellor Angela Merkel support money laundering?
If European governments confiscate illegitimate assets of Eygpt's Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, why make an exception in this case?
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