Mara chairperson Annuar Musa’s supposed inaction over the purchase of four properties in Melbourne, Australia, has yet again been questioned, this time by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli.

Annuar should have launched an investigation immediately after his official visit to Melbourne on May 20 last year, instead of just two months ago, Rafizi, who is the MP for Pandan, said today.

Quoting “insiders” at a briefing purportedly attended by Annuar in Melbourne, Rafizi said it was revealed that the purchase of the four properties had involved seven companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Labuan, Singapore and Australia.

These companies acted as as layers of intermediaries for Mara Incorporated Sdn Bhd, which Rafizi ( photo ) said should have aroused suspicion.

“From this information, it is clear that the property purchases were structured to hide them from public knowledge by using offshore companies in the BVI, or through layers of companies registered in different countries, to separate them from Mara Inc.

“The use of these different companies should not only arouse suspicion, for it has also chalked up large management and administrative costs to Mara,” Rafizi, who heads the NGO National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW), told a press conference.

'Fully shrouded in secrecy'

Citing presentation slides supposedly presented at the briefing, Rafizi said the Mara Inc has full ownership of one intermediary based in the BVI, through which it owns a property at 746, Swanston Street, and the student flats at Dudley International House.

"Using a BVI company means all the financial and operational procedures about the company are fully shrouded in secrecy and not available in public searches," he said.

Mara also allegedly has full ownership of another two companies based in Labuan. Each of these two companies wholly own a separate company in Singapore, and each, in turn, wholly owns an Australian company.

One of these Australian companies has direct and full ownership of the property at 333, Exhibition Street, while the other company has the same for the property at 51, Queen Street.

To a question, Rafizi told Malaysiakini after the press conference that he was provided with the information and slides by a whistleblower last week.

He said the information he was given is corroborated information that is already publically available.

Mara's properties in Melbourne have been under the spotlight over the past week after Australian newspapers reported that Mara had purchased the Dudley House property at an inflated price.

The excess money from the purchase, amounting to A$4.75 million (RM13.7 million), was then allegedly laundered out of Australia to pay Malaysian officials as kickbacks .

More to come from Rafizi

The Australian Federal Police have launched raids in Melbourne to seize evidence of the supposed corruption, while Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has promised a full investigation.

At a press conference last Wednesday, Annuar had said that Mara was not aware of any kickbacks and as far as it is concerned, it had purchased the property below market value and it is making money above projections

While pledging full cooperation with investigations, he said Mara Inc has seven days to report the Mara Council regarding the allegations.

The deadline expires in two days, and the Mara council will wait till next week to decide what to do with its investment arm and its chairperson Mohammad Lan Allani, who have been implicated in the deal.

Rafizi also  told reporters that he would be revealing more of alleged improprieties in Mara’s Melbourne property deals at another press conference tomorrow, this time focusing on whether the properties have generated sufficient returns on Mara’s investment.

When contacted later, Annuar told Malaysiakini that Rafizi's revelations were stale, and that he was sure that the investigating authorities were already aware of the situation.