Malaysiakini | Jun 21, 11
More Europe-based NGOs are plying pressure on the authorities there to freeze the assets of Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.
In a press statement today, Swiss NGO Bruno Manser Fund said that it had written to German chancellor Angela Merkel on the matter, together with two German NGOs – the Society for Threatened Peoples and Rettet den Regenwald.
They asked “the German government to clarify Deutsche Bank’s business ties with Taib and to freeze all Taib (right) assets in Germany.
“We are seriously concerned that, as a leading German financial institute, Deutsche Bank is closely cooperating with the highly corrupt and internationally discredited Taib regime.
“We feel that this cooperation cannot be in the interest of the German government, which is globally promoting the effective combating of corruption,” the NGOs wrote.
Referring to Taib as “one of South East Asia’s leading kleptocrats”, Bruno Manser Funds claims that Deutsche Bank conducts business transactions for both the Sarawak government and companies linked to Taib’s family.
Joint ventures with CMS
It stated that the Sarawak government’s transactions via Deutsche Bank in 2004 and 2005 exceeded US$700 million.
“Deutsche Bank International’s Jersey and Cayman branches are administering the Jersey-based Sogo Holdings Limited, through which several… Taib family assets in the US are held.
“In Malaysia, Deutsche Bank is running joint ventures with Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS), the Taib family’s business flagship, under the names of K&N Kenanga Holdings and Kenanga Deutsche Futures,” it said.
According to the statement, the bank has thus far ignored the Society for Threatened Peoples which wants it to explain its business ties with Taib.
Taib is currently under investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority, which is looking at the legitimacy of his assets in Swiss banks.
My umno being kicked about on countless fronts.
1. Taib sarawak front.
2. Bersih front.
3. Sabah front.
4. Yen2 front.
5. Education/scholarship front.
6. Brain drain front.
7. Ill conceived mega projects front.
8. Perkasa front.
9. Senseless dr mamak comments front.
10. Islam jenis-umno is supreme front.
11. Worsening economy front.
12. and so many more.
Arent the writings on the wall clearer this time than in 308?
The European banks are all prostitutes. I remember not too long ago, the Swiss banks made a big splash about how they were going to be transparent, and do away with un-numbered accounts and how they were going to ensure that no money laundering would take place within their portfolios. Right after that announcement, they sent a bunch of well dressed private bankers to canvass for deposits amongst all the major ex-politicians whose money deposits clearly far exceed their legal earnings during their tenure as politicians.
I also remembered an ex finance minister posting a bank guarantee from Credit Suisse for US$600 million to buy a banking licence. Nobody stopped to ask how a bank like Credit Suisse would simply issue a bank guarantee for that amount without collateral, and where could that collateral possibly come from.
Yes, the banks are indeed the ones who keep the slush funds alive and, knowingly, market to those with money with no consideration of where that money is derived from.
Shame our own government turns a blind eye on the vast assets of Taib. It has to take foreign NGOs to take the initiative to start seizure of this ill-gotten assets.
All these socalled banks are like “crocodiles”..
Where is the conscience?