The BN Agriculture Minister, Mong Dagang, who demanded that a disabled man be deprived of his RM300 a month support and the PRS leader, James Masing, who supported his action, have both been caught seeking illegal kickbacks for themselves in a joint venture worth tens of millions!

They were making the money out of NCR land defrauded from their own constituents in the same area!

Ultimate depravity

No incident better sums up the shocking depravity of Taib Mahmud’s regime in Sarawak than the appalling meanness and greed, as well as extraordinary arrogance, that has now been exposed in these two key Ministers as a result of this disgusting affair.

The story began to unravel at the start of this week when disabled farmer, Frusis Lebi, at last discovered why his meagre allowance of RM300 a month had suddenly been stopped.

The money was an allocation in recognition of his deformed hands and feet, which makes it an extraordinary burden to try to scrape a living.

Embarrassed officials had finally told Frusis that the reason was that his own Sri Aman MP, Agriculture Minister Mong Dagang, had actually written a letter on headed official paper commanding them to cut off his allowance, because he had supported the opposition in the election!

They gave him a copy of the letter, which told officials to end “all forms of government assistance” to Fusis, who was identified as a disabled person by Mong Dagang.  The Minister explained his outrageous reason thus:

“This is because he has gone against government policies and openly supported the opposition candidate in the 2011 state election,” [story broken in Malaysiakini]

Arrogance

Shocked onlookers, who could scarcely believe this letter could be true, waited for Dagang to deny the document and claim forgery.  Instead, however, the Minister not only admitted he had written it, but he sought to justify his actions!

“As a man of principle, I am not going to back out,” the depraved Mong declared. “We cannot continue to give welfare assistance and subsidies because he is a strong opposition supporter!”

What kind of sham democracy does this man think he is part of in Sarawak, that he does not even bother to pretend that BN doesn’t victimise those who seek to exercise their basic rights to vote for whom they like?

And what kind of petty arrogance is in such a man, that he wishes to take such revenge on a disabled person?

And finally, how stupid can he be that he does not realise how he can only alienate more voters by such appalling and disgusting acts of intimidation?

Even more astonishing was the next development.  None other than James Masing, one of Taib’s top Ministerial allies and President of the supposed Dayak party PRS, came out in support of Mong Dangang too!

This Minister for Land Development went on record to tick off Mr Lebit by announcing ” jangan lawan towkay” [don’t fight the bosses]!

Masing smugly elaborated:

“in any organisation, including political parties, we cannot go against our boss. That is the golden rule in life which we must observe”.

Mr Masing who benefitted from an Australian university education (through which he was largely assisted by his then wife) is clearly in need of a basic political re-education.  It is the people who are the boss and he has been elected to SERVE them.

His threats against voters for the opposition are an open admission that BN do not win elections in Sarawak, they steal them by cheating, intimidation, bribing and rigging.

And today, it has been reported that this threatening intimidation and abuse of power has just been stepped up even further in this case, as the police were dragged into the matter and instructed to arrest Frusis Lebi and harass him further.

Lebi, whose painful deformities are plain to see, says that the police wanted to know which official had released the copy of Mong Dagang’s letter to him!

No guesses as to who is wanting to know that and why.

However, Mr Dagang should stop bothering to persecute whoever spilled the beans, because now a far more damaging letter, also written by him, has come into the open.

Fraudsters in a criminal regime – Fresh Expose!

Thanks to the new information and our further research, Sarawak Report can now expose just why it was that James Masing was so quick to come to the defence of Mong Dagang yesterday. It is because the two men are also joined in a fraudulent enterprise to make money out of their constituents’ lands.

Their company Noble Rewards Sdn Bhd has been taking kickbacks from the sale of plantation territories in Sri Aman.

The proof of the scam comes in yet another letter signed by Mong Dagang.  Indeed Mong Dagang’s predilection for signing letters written on headed paper has been an abiding characteristic of this scandal, making his arrogance a large part of his undoing.

The second “Private and Confidential” letter came to light today and, as the signature is now familiar to us all, Mong Dagang will be hard-put to deny it this time!  In the letter Dagang makes clear that he is seeking kickbacks from participants in a land development scheme.

The 70,000 acres in question came from NCR landowners in his own constituency!

This is the text of the damning secret letter signed by Mong Dagang:

“DEWAN UNDANGAN NEGERI SARAWAK

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

18th June 1997,

Kho Chee Pheng,

Megaruma Sdn Bhd,18, Jalan Kulas,93400, Kuching

Proposed Development of Oil Palm Plantation Area of Approximately 70, 000 Acres, More or Less At Kelingkang Range, (Bukit Begunan) Sri Aman, Sarawak

As an elected representative of the area I hereby authorized Mr Kho Chee Pheng (IC NO. 540905- 13 – 5653), of No.34, Three Hills Park, Lorong 2, Jalan Foochow Road No.1, 93300, Kuching, Sarawak, to propose, organize and invite any potential investor(s) intending to established and to develop on a joint venture basis with the landowners on oil palm plantation at Kelingkang Range, (Bukit Begunan), Sri Aman, Sarawak

I the Undersigned hereby agree that the investor(s) will have to pay at least RM1000,00 per acre and after deduction of the up front to LCDA the balance will be divided 50% to the undersign and 50% to Kho Chee Pheng

I also agreed that any of the three companies, Noble Reserves Sdn Bhd, Noble Resources Sdn Bhd or Noble Rewards Sdn Bhd to be used for the joint venture with the investor)s). Together herewith I enclosed my personal and curriculum vitae and also three (3) photocopies of our nominees Identity Cards, namely Bawang Ak Dem (IC NO. 660424-13-5886), Leyta Kupa (IC NO. 651120-13-5532) and Henry Yan Masing (IC NO. KP553094) for you to register into any of the three companies

If you need any assistance please do contact me,

Sekian, Terima Kasih,

(YB Mong Ak Dagang)

AHLI DEWAN UNDANGAN NEGERI N.22 BUKIT BEGUNAN

Kickback is worth at least RM 70 million !

The kickback referred to in this letter by Dangang adds up to at least RM 70 million!

He is demanding “at least” RM1,000 per acre of the 70,000 acres of land that is being developed into plantations, minus whatever paltry premium was requested by the Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA), which is itself controlled by this band of political conspirators!

Our company research (above) has now confirmed that the main shareholders of the company Noble Rewards Sdn Bhd, to be used for the ‘joint venture’ proposed in this crooked scheme are Bawang Anak Deru, Mong Dagang’s own wife; Henry Masing, James Masing’s brother and Leyta Kupa, wife of James Masing’s private secretary Wilson Ugak.

Sarawak Report asks what right does Mong Dagang think he has “as an elected representative of my area” to “authorise such a kickback fraud?

And how can he have been so blatantly and stupidly arrogant as to demand that it is then paid to his own nominees in this letter written in 1997?

Law case

According to native rights lawyer and PKR Assemblyman, the See Chee How, this area of Sri Aman is already subject to a law case brought against the joint venture partners in this scheme and the LCDA by native landowners who had rejected first the logging and then the plantation of their area.

Mr See Chee How explains that over 50% had rejected the plantation and many had also rejected the paltry RM1,000 per family that had been offered for the area’s valuable timber by these politician thieves.

Nevertheless the project was pushed through by Land Development Minister Masing and local YB Mong Dagang on the basis that the local people would benefit.

It surely comes as little surprise that the native land owners were yet to receive any dividends from the enterprise after the first 6 years!

“This qualifies as fraud”, See Chee How explains, because the local elected representative, Mong Dagang and Land Development Minister, Masing, had been trying to convince people they would be able to take a 30% share of the joint venture and share the profits in return for their land:

 “They tell the people ‘let the LCDA develop your land and you will get 30% of the joint venture and profit’.  However the people were not told about this huge kickback.  Under the joint venture that money should have been shared among the people, not paid to nominees of the very politicians who were talking them into the scheme!”[See Chee How]

No surprise

Consider the shocking nature of this situation.  The same two politicians, who took revenge on a disabled man for flying an opposition flag during the last election by taking away his RM300 a month, have been stealing tens of millions of ringgit in secret backhanders for Native Customary Land in the same region.

Think how many poor and disabled people could have been helped by that RM70 million, which was taken from the people to whom the land had rightfully belonged.

Why should the people of Sri Aman want to vote for a representative who has forced them to surrender their lands (even though more than 50% had objected) so that in the process  they can defraud them of millions of ringgit in backhanders?

How dare such Dirty Datuks stand up and have the cheek to lecture and patronise the people of Sri Aman, whose land and wealth they have stolen, and tell them “who is boss”?

Yet See Chee How says to him it is no surprise:

“I can only say this is very typical of BN.  All the BN political representatives are depriving the local natives of their lands for their own benefit”, he told Sarawak Report

Sarawak Report looks forward to the court case.  Under genuine justice these politician thieves would have to repay their people millions of ringgit and face a criminal trial as well.