Chartered accountant Andrew Heng said today Sarawak chief minister’s son Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib Mahmud has stakes in 85 foreign companies, including Sakthi International Companies that is based in California.

However, Heng (right) admitted, the report he made for the Kuala Lumpur Syariah High Court hearing did not include the 85 companies.

Lawyer Rafie Mohd Shafie, who is acting for Mahmud's former wife Shahnaz A Majid, told the court that the companies are based in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States.

This matter, Rafie said, is for Shahnaz's joint matrimonial asset hearing, in which she is seeking a RM300 million claim that has nothing to do with the RM100 million mutaah claim in the trial before the court.

This led to syariah judge Mohamad Abdul Wahab not recording to accountant Heng’s statement on the foreign companies.

Bekir wears a face mask

However, outside the court, Bekir, who wore a face mask, denied having stakes in 85 companies.

"The 85 companies do not exist. Do you know anyone having 85 companies?" Bekir asked.

Earlier, Heng told the Syariah High Court that Bekir has stakes in 49 Malaysian companies.

Heng, 39, a partner in the firm Baker Tilly, said this was based on company searches conducted by his firm between March and July, 2013.

Responding to questions from Rafie, Heng said he was asked by the Shahnaz ( right ) to prepare an advisory report on her former husband's assets.

"The terms of engagement were to conduct searches on Malaysian companies, conduct searches at the Sarawak Land Office in respect of certain land titles and to gather sufficient supporting documents as evidence to substantiate Bekir's shareholdings.

"We also conducted an assessment of his shareholdings and prepared a report based on it.

"Through our company searches, we found that Bekir has interests in 49 companies in Malaysia and among them are Achijaya Communications Sdn Bhd," he said.

Heng is the second witness to testify in the trial in which Shahnaz is seeking RM100 million in mutaah (gift) following their divorce.

Shahnaz had previously testified that her former husband is worth in excess of RM1 billion.

‘Eighteen companies are exempted’

Heng also told the Syariah High Court that out of 49 companies, 18 have been exempted from submitting their accounts.

However, one of the companies - Ivycraft Sdn Bhd - is in the process of constructing two bungalows in Bukit Tunku, and possesses an Audi Q5 car.

"Bekir ( left ) has a 50 percent stake in the company and the two bungalows are worth RM18 million. Therefore, his stake in the company is RM9 million.

"The Audi Q5 bears the licence plate number, WAU 9. It is said to be worth RM345,000 based on an estimate in a motoring portal and his stake is 50 percent. That comes to RM172,500," Heng said.

He said he does not have details of the remaining 17 companies that are exempted from submitting their accounts.

Heng added that the valuation of Bekir’s stake was based on searches for Malaysian companies, by extracting the latest audited accounts submitted to the Companies Commission of Malaysia.

"We take the ‘net tangible asset approach’ to calculate Bekir’s worth, where we will get the net value of the company after having the company assets valued, minus its liabilities.

"Then we look at Bekir’s shares value and multiply his shareholding with the value of the company (to get his net worth)."