No coincidence Dr Mahathir's 3 sons raided by IRB on same day, says Marina

Amin Iskandar Sharon Tan Amin Iskandar, Sharon Tan Updated 6 years ago · Published on 10 Aug 2017 2:20PM · 2 Comments

Marina Mahathir says the Inland Revenue Board did not give notice of the raid as a matter of courtesy. – The Malaysian Inasight file pic, August 10, 2017.

MARINA Mahathir today questioned Malaysian tax authorities for their “routine” investigations and raids on her three brothers’ firms, saying no notice was given as a matter of courtesy.

The eldest child of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said it was no coincidence that the offices of her three brothers were raided on the same day.

“All three on the same day? Not possible for it to be a coincidence,” Marina told The Malaysian Insight.

“And why didn’t they give any notice?”

Inland Revenue Board officers yesterday raided Kencana Capital Sdn Bhd, which is owned by Dr Mahathir’s second eldest son, Mokhzani, and seized the files of 11 companies under the group, a company source told The Malaysian Insight today.

The source said Mokhzani was overseas during the raid, but that he has since returned home.

He said Kencana Capita was cooperating with the authorities, adding that of the group’s companies were audited by international auditing firms such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The IRB also raided Opcom Holdings Bhd and Crescent Capital Sdn Bhd.

Opcom deals in fibreoptic cabling. Mokhzani is the chairman of the company formed in November 1994.  Mukhriz, Dr Mahathir’s youngest son and Bersatu deputy president, is a shareholder in the company.

The third of Dr Mahathir’s sons, Mirzan, is the chief executive officer of Crescent Capital, a financial consultancy and investment company. – August 10, 2017.

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Comments

  • IRB do not give warnings on tax investigations, otherwise taxpayers can "hide" documents etc. Many Malaysian companies and SMEs have been raided over the years/decades without warnings.Even the recent seminar on tax, a tax consultant have stated that many SMEs are reluctant to go into exports in fear of tax raids.
    It is time IRB raids all types of businesses and owners instead of just targetting the SMEs.
    Like they said, if you have nothing to hide, there is nothing to worry about.

    Posted 6 years ago by Can Lim · Reply

  • Firstly and to be fair to the Tax Office no one and no one I mean is above the law or the reach of the income tax office. The pedigree of a firm like PriceWaterhouseCoopers. is no gold standard of tax compliance or a free pass from tax investigations. Their report on the PKFZ leaves a lot to be desired. There a poorly informed court and prosecution is what allowed the perpetrators of that shameful set of transactions to walk Scott free.

    The fact is that there is a more aggressive regime at the tax office today. The billions in lost revenue the result of clever though not always legal tax avoidance schemes need to be recovered. The Mahathir sons whether three or three hundred of them are natural targets for their unexplained millions. They remain a controversial family and no notice need be given for tax raids. Read the income tax laws first before criticising.

    Posted 6 years ago by Roland Fong Seng Lee Gong · Reply