MARA: More heads including that of Annuar Musa, should roll - Lim Kit Siang

More heads, including that of MARA chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa should roll over the issue of its property purchases in Australia, said DAP's Lim Kit Siang.

He also accused Annuar of being negligent in his duties as the he had been briefed about the MARA Inc purchase of the four Melbourne properties when he visited Melbourne in May last year.

The Gelang Patah MP also said the MARA purchases were another example of the failure of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in statutory mission to combat corruption.

Commenting on The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report yesterday claiming 1MDB funds were channeled to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's accounts, Lim said it had overshadowed the MARA Inc's purchases in Australia.

"The latter completely dwarfed by the former not only in terms of the quantum of monies involved, but the magnitude of the political implications and consequences," he said.

"However, this must not mean that the enormity of the corruption, moral turpitude and political chicanery in the RM100 million MARA property corruption scandal should be ignored because it pales insignificance as compared to the allegations," he added.

On Thursday, MARA Council has decided to temporarily relieve MARA Inc. chairman and CEO to facilitate investigation linked to the controversial MARA property purchase in Melbourne, Australia.

They are chairman Datuk Mohamad Llan Allani and CEO Datuk Halim Rahim.

The purchases came to light after Australian newspaper, ‘The Age’ reported that a ‘top’ MARA officer, senior official and ex-politician had allegedly spent millions of government funds to purchase an apartment block in Melbourne in a property scam.

The report alleged that several super-rich Malaysian officials overpaid by A$475 million (RM13.8 million) for Dudley International House in 2013.

After the Dudley House and the 333 Exhibition Street property purchases, MARA was also accused to have overpaid by RM18 million for the 51 Queen Street property.