Sarawak CM’s son worth in excess of RM1 billion, says ex-wife

It is notable that there is a clear indication that politics is a particular high-risk area for corruption and so far no important integrity safeguards in place including mandatory codes of conduct for politicians, clear conflict of interest regulations and rules on disclosure of interests, assets and income.

Political parties, along with business sectors often are accused for hampering anti-corruption efforts and have been widely connected to what may be considered legal that has so far failed to address.

Public confidence in anti-corruption efforts was reduced, and felt that there are too much money poisons our politics, however, nobody wants to think they've been poisoned by money. Practical implementation is often than not found wanting by voters to sanction the malpractices and corruption.

There is growing concern among the general public about the Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud's son is worth more than RM1 billion. 

It suggests that it is time to address the issue of the wealth of the Sarawak chief minister’s family ahead of national polls.

It was reported that Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud's son is worth more than RM1 billion, his former daughter-in-law told a Syariah court  when justifying her claims for RM400 million in their divorce settlement.

Shahnaz Abdul Majid, who holds an MBA in Finance and was at one time a director of the family-owned CMSB,  was married to Taib’s son, Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Abdul Taib, is demanding RM100 million as mutaah (Islamic conciliatory payment) following their recent divorce, and a RM300 million share of joint matrimonial assets.

“He has personal accounts in Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, France, Monaco, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Switzerland,” Shahnaz was quoted by news portal Malaysiakini as saying today during the Islamic court proceeding, referring to Taib’s son Mahmud Abu Bekir.

“My claim of RM100 million in mutaah is small as he is worth in excess of RM1 billion. The RM100 million can be said to be worth 10 sen to him,” she was reported as adding.

Shahnaz, the sister of jazz queen Datuk Sheila Majid, was also reported to have said that her former husband has an estimated RM700 million deposited in 111 banking accounts worldwide.

She told the court that Mahmud Abu Bekir had squirreled away US$25 million (RM76.3 million) in two personal accounts in Luxembourg’s Edmond de Rothschild bank.

Her ex-husband also has several accounts with the same European bank in Switzerland with deposits of US$31 million, Shahnaz was reported saying.

Mahmud Abu Bekir also had several accounts with British banking giant HSBC — two in Jersey with US$34 million in deposits and one in Hong Kong with deposits of US$9.6 million in his name.

All these accounts have a combined value of US$100 million in deposits.