Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: Two officials from Majlis Amanah Rakyat’s (Mara) investment arm, Mara Inc, have been suspended over their involvement in contentious Australian property deals.

The government agency also appointed international auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to scrutinise the acquisition of Mara Inc assets overseas.

Mara chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa said yesterday the two would be relieved of their duties pending an investigation into the property deals.

“Today’s (yesterday’s) council meeting decided to release two officers on a temporary basis, so that the investigation process can continue,” he told a press conference at Mara headquarters.

He said the suspension was decided after the agency’s board met to deliberate over Mara Inc’s report on the property deals.

Mara’s property purchases in Australia have attracted controversy after a report by Australian newspaper The Age that a “top” Mara officer, a senior official and a former politician had allegedly spent millions of government funds to buy an apartment block in Melbourne.

The report alleged that “a group of super-rich Malaysian officials” overpaid by A$4.75 million for an apartment block, called Dudley International House, in the city in 2013. — The Malaysian Insider

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 3, 2015.

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