Mara’s A$4.74m secret uncovered

PETALING JAYA: Confidential documents and exchanges of electronic mail recovered by Australian authorities have revealed the paper trail through which A$4.75 million in secret profits and kickbacks were repatriated to Malaysia in the sale of a building to Mara Incorporated Sdn Bhd.
One of them, crucial to the investigations, is an indemnity letter signed by a Malaysian which they believe is directly linked to Dudley Street property in Melbourne which was acquired by Mara Inc two years ago.
The letter, sighted by theSun, was signed by one Mazrul Haizad Maarof and indemnified Dennis Teen Boon Lye, a director of Wanissa Properties Pte Ltd on payments to tax authorities.
Wanissa developed the property along Dudley Street in East Melbourne and subsequently sold it to Mara Inc for A$22.5 million.
Teen has been identified in bankruptcy hearing as one of the three Australian involved in the development of the property by Malaysian-owned company. The other Australians are Chris Dimitriou and Peter Mills, who once did a stint in prison for corporate fraud. The latter, at the hearing agreed that the A$4.75 million generated by inflating sale price was used "to grease palms, overseas."
At the same hearing Dimitriou stated: "To the best of my knowledge, that money went to Malaysian parties."
The Malaysian directors of Wanissa are Datuk Azizi Yom and Datuk Yusuf Ghani.
Documents seized also showed that all directors were agreeable to sell the building for A$17.8 but this was later "inflated to A$22.54 million."
Mazrul, 41, in the letter dated July 24, 2103 had undertaken to indemnify Teen against any claims by the Australian taxation office in return for a payment of A$4.75 million for "services provided" by three Malaysian companies.
The three Malaysian companies are Leuven Capital Sdn Bhd, Optimus Capital Group of Companies Sdn Bhd and TRR Heritage Sdn Bhd.
On January 17, 2013, TRR Heritage had billed Wanissa for A$725,000 for "Marketing and Professional Advise (sic)". Two weeks later, Optimus Capital submitted an invoice for A$675,000 as "advertising and promotion fee" totalling A$675,000.
On March 31, 2013, Leuven Capital submitted an invoice for A$2 million for "consultation and advisory fee" dated March 31, 2013. At the end of April, it submitted yet another invoice for "sales commission" for A$1.35 million.
Australian authorities believe these were scam invoices and their investigations showed that no such fees were payable to Malaysian companies as Wanissa had made a direct sale to Mara Inc.
It was a private sale and there were no commissions, promotions and advertising fees to be paid for.
Mazrul is a common director in all three companies and the National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW) claimed he is the brother-in-law of Umno Youth Executiove Council member, Dazma Shah Daud.