Malaysia S Melbourne House Of Shame Makes The News Again

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It was a simple flip - buy the company that owned the property, then resell it for a quick profit and distribute the ill-gotten profits. It would have been a win-win situation where every party involved smiles all the way to the bank.
It was a simple yet ingenious way of quick money and preventing the taxman from collecting property gains tax.
But then, in Australia, one does not get away with such things, especially when they come to the attention of award-winning investigative journalist Nick McKenzie.
In 2012, we investigated payments to Malaysian intermediaries to secure a contract for Securency, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia, to print currency notes for Bank Negara.
ADSSubsequently, a former employee of a Reserve Bank subsidiary who disguised the payment of almost AU$80,000 to a Malaysian businessperson as “marketing expenses” has been spared jail after a Victorian judge found management had in fact made the decision.
Former Securency business development director Clifford John Gerathy pleaded guilty to a charge of false accounting in the Victorian Supreme Court over an AU$79,502 payment made to Abdul Kayum Syed Ahmad in 2006.
Securency agreed to pay Kayum a five percent commission in 2005 for helping facilitate banknote orders between Securency and Note Printing Australia (NPA) with Malaysia’s central bank.
Can of worms
In 2014, McKenzie asked me if we could share our resources to investigate another transaction involving several Malaysians and a government agency.
After months of work, The Age in Australia and theSun in Malaysia simultaneously published a story in June 2015 on the perpetrators, including Mara, which the former described as a “fund created to help the country’s rural poor.”
There were several roadblocks, and our official letters and emails to Mara Inc’s then-chairperson Mohd Lan Allani and the former CEO Abdul Halim Rahim went unanswered. The secretary refused to take our calls.
After the GE14 in 2018, Mara appointed a new board of directors who promptly commissioned an audit of the transactions.
The report said three Malaysians - Azizi Yom Ahmad, Abdul Ghani Yusof, and Dennis Teen (who is now domiciled in Australia), together with Australians Peter Mills and Chris Dimitriou, had set up a company - Wanissa Pte Ltd - to sell Dudley House to Mara for A$17.8 million (RM53.4 million) but inflated the selling price to AU$22.5 million (RM67.5 million).
I wrote: “Three senior Mara Inc-linked officials have been identified as central figures in an explosive report prepared for the government. It has laid bare some supposed complex and dubious deals through a maze of transactions via companies registered in the British Virgin Isles.”
Despite having all related documents that name various parties in laundering and appropriating the dirty money, only one person has been charged in Malaysia.
In October 2020, MACC chief Azam Baki said the graft busters were waiting for the right time to file charges. He assured the public that no protection would be given to the suspects.
ADSSo far, only former Mara Inc chairperson Lan has been charged with 22 counts of bribery and money laundering involving RM20.45 million linked to property deals in Melbourne, which he pleaded not guilty to.
In May 2023, Lan was again indicted with two counts of money laundering involving RM10 million at the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court, which he also claimed trial to.
The charges were made under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing, and Proceeds from Unlawful Activity Act.
‘Not a victimless crime’
Yesterday, Malaysia’s Dudley House was again in the news after Teen escaped a custodial sentence in a Melbourne county court.
Teen Boon Lye, known to the Malaysian diaspora and the business community as Dennis Teen, was handed a 21-month jail term, which was fully suspended for 21 months on a single charge of false accounting.
Judge Michael O’Connell found the unique features of the case and Teen’s circumstances justified a non-custodial sentence.
The court was told 10 personal references described Teen as a community leader who was hardworking and generous. Although shocked by the charges, the judge said his family remained supportive.
Judge O’Connell said he had been persuaded that the “unique circumstances of the case”, along with the 12 years since the offence and Teen’s precarious health, mitigated the crime.
But the judge said AU$3.4 million of the money paid - or three of the four invoices - had no legitimate basis and was a “kickback” to ensure the deal went through.
“You or your company did not receive any benefit from the inflated amount paid for by the Malaysian government. This was not a victimless crime, the people of Malaysia lost AU$3.4 million,” he remarked.
After the property was settled in March 2013, Teen assisted the intermediaries in creating fraudulent invoices to make the payment appear to be legitimate business expenses and tax deductible.
What next, Malaysia?
So, how far have investigations in Malaysia proceeded? Except for Lan, no one has been prosecuted.
According to documents, the money was laundered through a cake shop in Singapore. Those who enjoyed slices of the cake and the few who got the crumbs (pun intended) are still attending social events, playing golf, and participating in motor racing as if nothing happened.
Despite Azam saying that the Attorney-General’s Chambers has agreed in principle “to charge several parties” and “waiting for the right time to file the charges”, nothing has been shown.
Is it the usual “insufficient evidence” or “inability to get witnesses”? Or both? - Mkini
R NADESWARAN has been following the scandal since 2014, which he helped to uncover and hopes that the words can be converted to deeds. Comments: [email protected]
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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