Taib Mahmud passes up chance to explain how he made his billions

Sarawak Governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud passed up the chance to explain his huge source of wealth when he failed to turn up at the launch of a book exposing his alleged role in the state's illegal logging trade.

Swiss-based rainforest advocacy group Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) said a chair had been reserved for the former Sarawak chief minister at a panel discussion on the book in London on Friday.

"Neither the Sarawak governor nor his London lawyers, Mishcon de Reya, turned up at the launch of Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian Timber Mafia by Lukas Straumann, a non-fiction book whose appearance Taib had in vain tried to stop," BMF said in a statement.

BMF said Straumann had challenged Taib to participate in the event and explain the sources of his wealth, after the Sarawak governor had been described by his lawyers as an "ultra high net worth individual”.

BMF added that Taib's lawyers had refused to clarify how their client had lawfully acquired his wealth during his 51 years in office.

They had said in a letter to Straumann: "The onus is on you to prove your own allegations to be true, not upon our client to disprove them”.

“Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian Timber Mafia" contains details of how Taib, who was chief minister for 33 years until he stepped down last year, allegedly amassed profits of up to US$15 billion (RM53.51 billion) with the complicity of global financial institutions.

On Friday, BMF said that Taib's lawyers had tried to stop a BBC interview with Straumann from being broadcast.

"During an interview with the BBC's World Service this afternoon, author and BMF executive director Straumann was shown a 'strictly private

and confidential' letter by Mishcon to the BBC.

"In the letter, Taib's lawyers asked the BBC not to cover the book on Taib's environmental crimes in their broadcasts," BMF said in a statement on Friday.

However, Mishcon's request was not backed by evidence on why the interview with Straumann should not be broadcast, apart from the book being "full of errors".

Taib, through his lawyers, had also attempted to stop the book from being published.

However, despite the legal threats, Swiss publisher Bergli Books and Amazon decided to publish and distribute the book globally.

The book has since been reviewed by National Geographic, The Huffington Post, The Ecologist, Malaysiakini and a number of other media.

BMF in a statement said Straumann's book told the story of those "who lost their ancient paradise to a wasteland of oil palm plantation, pollution and corruption and how they hope to get it back".

It said the book would rock "Malaysia's corridors of power" as it investigates what former British prime minister Gordon Brown has called "probably the biggest environmental crime of our times", in relation to the massive destruction of the Borneo rainforest by Malaysian loggers.

Brown's sister-in-law, Clare Rewcastle Brown, manages the Sarawak Report blog which actively campaigns against the state's deforestation and has in the past documented Taib and his family’s alleged extraordinary wealth.

Straumann had approached those who lost their homes in the forests and "criminals" who earned billions through illegal timber sales and corruption.

BMF had earlier estimated Taib's worth at US$15 billion, and said 20 of his family members had a collective wealth of US$21 billion.

An undercover investigation by international non-governmental organisation (NGO), Global Witness implicated Taib with involvement in corruption, land seizure and tax evasion.

In February last year, BMF lodged a police report against Taib's family for laundering timber proceeds in Canada.

It said the report with the Canadian police was based on "new evidence" which apparently proves a financial link between Richfold Investments Ltd in Hong Kong and Sakto Development Corporation in Ottawa, Canada.

Sakto Development Corporation is a multi-million-dollar developer run by Taib's daughter, Jamilah Taib Murray.

Six months ago, several local NGOs and opposition parties ran an unsuccessful campaign against Taib's appointment as the Yang di-Pertua, pointing out corruption allegations against him.

Taib was sworn in as Sarawak’s seventh governor on March 1 last year, taking over from Tun Datuk Patinggi Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng.

Taib became the Sarawak chief minister in 1981 at the age of 45, and was the longest serving chief minister in Malaysia. – January 18, 2015.