Friday 29 Mar 2024
By
main news image

(July 2): Majlis Amanah Rakyat's (Mara) investment arm, Mara Inc, declared a higher purchase price in its official briefings for a fourth Australian property in Melbourne, despite paying RM63 million less for it, the National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW) said today.

Its director Rafizi Ramli said that Mara had briefed its leaders about the purchase for 746 Swanston Street being at RM138 million, but in actuality, it only paid around RM75 million for the property.

Rafizi said this was based on official Mara briefings held in Melbourne in May last year, compared to a sales listing in an Australian website for the said property in 2012, when the purchase was made.

"It is highly likely that this amount was graft because all the money that was approved by Mara was not used to purchase the property," Rafizi said in a press conference.

NOW previously said that Mara Inc had also paid above market rates to purchase two other Melbourne properties from an unknown company.

The purchase was approved by Mara in August 2012 and finalised in November 2012, Rafizi said.

Mara had made the purchase for 281 units in the building, with several other units owned by individual owners.

Rafizi said that the public should know where the extra RM63 million approved by Mara had gone, if not towards the purchase.

"Where did this money go to and who is it that profited from this property scheme?" he asked.

He said that the current valuation for the property stood at only RM77 million with the current exchange rate, and Mara would lose RM62 million of the approved amount if it decided to sell it off.

Mara's Australian property purchases was first highlighted by Australian paper The Age, which said several senior officials had pocketed kickbacks after inflating the property price. – The Malaysian Insider

      Print
      Text Size
      Share