Mara was ‘scammed’ of A$18.3 million (RM62.9 million) when its investment arm Mara Inc purchased the student flats at 746, Swanston Street in Melbourne, Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli says.

Although purportedly leaked documents from Mara Inc show that it had acquired the property for A$41.8 million (RM138.6 million), Rafizi said, reports from Australian property consultants, based on state records, recorded a transaction of only A$23.5 million (RM67.7 million) at the address at that time.

He said this means the total sum ‘swindled’ out of Mara through its four purchases of Melbourne properties amount to RM129 million, based on exchange rates at the time of the transactions in 2012 and 2013.

As such, the breakdown of the alleged misappropriation are: RM15.2 million for Dudley International House, RM33 million for 333, Exhibition Street, RM18 million for 51, Queen Street and RM62.9 million for 746 Swanston Street.

Expressing a lack of confidence in the Malaysian authorities, Rafizi, who is also the director of the group National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW), announced that another NOW director, Akmal Nasir ( photo ), would be lodging reports with the Australian authorities next week.

“In all the scandals that we have exposed, we are the ones who end up in the lock-up and not the persons we implicated. This is a cause for concern for those involved - in Malaysia while you may escape this, the law is different in Australia.

“In transaction like this, where the amount is different or lower than the amount that is reported elsewhere, or approved, or some amount of money that is meant for a particular transaction in Australia did not go into that, it can be investigated for tax evasion and also money laundering,” Rafizi told a press conference today.

Akmal to lodge reports

Akmal will be in Melbourne, in the state of Victoria in south-eastern Australia, from July 10 to 14 to lodge reports with Australian authorities on Mara Inc’s four property purchases in the city.

Malaysiakini has contacted Mara chairperson Annuar Musa ( photo ) and is waiting for a response. He is also scheduled to hold a press conference on the Melbourne property scandal this evening.

For today’s press conference, Rafizi based his allegations from a record of all property transactions involving units at 746, Swanston Street as provided by the property consultant OnTheHouse.

Of the 15 pages of records, he said the one recorded as S5/746 Swanston Street that was sold in November 2012 must be Mara Inc’s purchase because it was the only large purchase in 2012.

The other transactions at 746 Swanston Street in 2012 and the years since were below A$225,000, compared to S5/746 Swanston Street’s A$23.5 million.

According to the purportedly leaked documents from Mara Inc, the Mara Council had approved the purchase of 281 units at the student flats on Aug 9, 2012 and the property was acquired on Aug 28, 2012.

“We have confirmed and enquired that S5 is considered as one block because there is one owner. We have also checked why there was a slight discrepancy – November 2012 in the report compared to late-August 2012 in Mara’s internal document.

“(It is) because in property transactions, there is a lag between when it is finalised and signed, and when the news reaches the market.

“So it was completed at the end of August, but the news about the acquisition by Mara only got out to the market and was therefore picked up by this property consultant one or two months later. That is why it is reported as November 2012,” he explained.

Weakening of the Australian dollar

Rafizi also clarified that Mara Inc did not buy the entire student hostel at 746 Swanston Street, but only 281 of the available units there.

He added that OnTheHouse estimates that S5/746 Swanston Street is now worth between A$23.59 million and A$26.60 million.

With the weakening of the Australian dollar since the purchase, he said this means Mara stands to lose about RM62 million even if it sold the property now.

To a question, Rafizi said it is unlikely that OnTheHouse would have missed Mara Inc’s purchase from its records because it was able to keep track of much smaller transactions at 746 Swanston Street.

Responding to another question, he also dismissed the possibility that the transaction had occurred behind the scenes through an intermediary, and hence wouln’t be reflected in state records that OnTheHouse’s report is based on.

“For your proposition that there has been an existing BVI (British Virgin Islands) company that has held this property all along and the (change of) ownership only took place at the top without actual transfer of titles on the ground, that is impossible.

“(This is) because the BVI company was incorporated around 2012, in and around when the purchases were made by Mara,” Rafizi ( photo ) told reporters.

He also stood by the veracity of the documents about the Melbourne properties purportedly leaked to him last week by Mara officials, on which he has been basing his allegations against Mara on his series of press conferences since Monday.

He said if the documents were fake, Mara and various ministers would have called him out earlier and there would be many police reports lodged against him.

“Mara, nor any minister, nor any authority has denied the authenticity and veracity of this document. When asked, Annuar merely said all documents and information have already been handed over (to investigators).

“That means, indirectly, Mara has confirmed that these documents are (authentic),” he claimed.