How Daim, M'sia's uber-rich use S'pore to store money offshore

[The_King]

They do so through firms, trusts held in the Caribbean and set up via Singapore.

PANDORA PAPERS | When most boys boast ownership of gadgets and toys, Daim Zainudddin’s youngest sons became owners of a British Virgin Islands (BVI) firm by the ages of nine and 12.

Je Muhammed Amir Zainuddin Daim and Muhammed Amin Zainuddin Daim, born in 1995 and 1998 respectively, became shareholders of Newton Invest & Finance Limited (BVI) in 2007, which held properties in London worth £10 million at the time.

According to documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and sighted by Malaysiakini, they are joint shareholders with their mother, Naimah Abdul Khalid, who is the former finance minister’s third wife.

By 2017, when the brothers were in their early 20s, they were owners of several offshore firms set up in tax havens, including Splendid International Ltd (BVI) which held London properties worth £12 million (about RM65 million at 2017 exchange rates).

Newton Invest & Finance Limited (BVI) and Splendid International (BVI) were among a list of trusts and companies linked to Daim, which were incorporated in tax havens, revealed the Pandora Papers, a trove of documents obtained by the ICIJ and sighted by Malaysiakini.

An anonymous source shared with ICIJ 2.94 terabytes of confidential financial files, amounting to more than 11.9 million documents and other records, from 14 offshore service providers that set up and manage shell companies and trusts in tax havens around the globe.

Owning offshore accounts, companies or trusts, however, does not necessarily mean one is engaged in anything illegal, nor is it illegal to set up offshore entities.

Touted as the godfather of corporate Malaysia, who wields considerable influence in the political sphere, Daim has thus far not made it into the Forbes Malaysia’s 50 richest list.

This is perhaps because his business dealings have been largely a mystery, with corporate watchers occasionally picking up on some of his holdings by keeping a watch on activities involving his close family members or known business associates.

One of those associates is Josephine Premla Sevaretnam, a former lawyer and deputy public prosecutor, who served alongside Daim in the service before holding key positions in his various ventures.

This includes the Swiss bank ICB Banking Group, which Daim owned 74.4 percent, when it was listed on the London Alternative Investment Market in 2007.

Josephine’s name appears again in Newton Invest & Finance Limited (BVI) and Splendid International Ltd (BVI) as the business manager, based in Bryanston Square, London.

An 800-by-200-foot garden square in upmarket Marylebone, London, Bryanston Square is an address that appears multiple times in searches involving Daim’s children and property or company holdings in London.

For instance, his Swiss-based British daughter Aslinda Daim-Pan, who took on her husband’s surname, is director of the British company 8 Bryanston Square Freehold Limited, according to the UK’s Companies House. The “property management” firm, however, only has £5 in assets, according to its last filings. A 1,500 square feet three-bedroom flat at Bryanston Square, London sells for upwards of GBP 3 million, property listing shows

Besides the two BVI firms, the brothers, now in their early to mid-20s, and their mother are also shareholders in several other offshore companies which hold properties in London.

The documents sighted by Malaysiakini state that the firms were either investment companies or property management companies, with the properties earning a rental income and purchased through a loan from Barclays in Knightsbridge, London.

In the Pandora Papers alone, the companies and trusts held by Daim’s children, wife or known business associates jointly held assets worth at least £25 million (about RM141 million).

When contacted, Daim said all taxes had been fully paid in every jurisdiction where he does business and where income was earned.

He added that not all trusts linked to him in the Pandora Papers belong to him, some belong to his children, and he has no knowledge or control of them.

“I’ve retired from business for some time already, and trusts are part of estate planning,” he said.

Singapore, gateway to tax havens

Daim is just one of several rich and powerful Malaysians holding assets in tax havens like the BVI, Jersey (part of the Channel Islands of the British Isles) or the Cook Islands.

Others linked to offshore entities in these tax havens include Westport Holdings Bhd’s G Gnanalingam, who made it onto the Forbes billionaires list this year, with a net worth of US$1.7 billion (RM7.12 billion).

According to the Pandora Papers, Gnanalingam owns BVI firm Paisley Marketing Limited, which as of 2016 held assets worth US$2 million held by Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore.

When contacted, a representative of Westports told Malaysiakini the offshore company was legally set up using legitimate funds in 2008 to hold a life insurance policy and investments.

It was dissolved in 2020 after it was gifted to Gnanalingam’s daughter, Shaline, the representative said.

Tiong Ik King, the brother of timber and Chinese media tycoon Tiong Hiew King, is linked to the BVI-based Roxton Investments Ltd, with assets of US$20 million in 2017 (about RM86 million at exchange rates at the time).

A request for comment had been sent to Ik King. G Gnanalingam and daughter Shaline

One running theme between these offshore companies held by rich and powerful Malaysians is that Singapore was used as a gateway to shift assets to tax havens.

Holding property overseas or having offshore companies or accounts abroad is not illegal.

Nor are owners of offshore firms or trusts obliged to declare these firms or trusts to the Inland Revenue Board as on paper, all funds transferred to the offshore entities should have already been taxed.

In some instances, however, the practice of having offshore companies has been linked to tax evasion or avoidance. In other cases, it is an attempt to maintain secrecy for various reasons.

 

 

https://m.malaysiakini.com/news/593919

[Bigbird]

@socrates469bc

 

Confess yet? 

[socrates469bc]

45 minutes ago, Bigbird said:

@socrates469bc

 

Confess yet? 

 

this is called tax minimization, ok?????

 

my money is clean and not ill-gotten.

 

so i live with clean conscience.

 

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[Bigbird]

On 10/5/2021 at 8:40 PM, socrates469bc said:

 

this is called tax minimization, ok?????

 

my money is clean and not ill-gotten.

 

so i live with clean conscience.

 

wahahahahahahha

 

 

I want to be part of this group!

 

I xiaxuay, i kumgong, i .......

 

Share with me whatever filthy money there is, i dont care 

 

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