Malaysian trading company Mastek Sdn Bhd, said to be the biggest bribe-giver to the illicit oil-for-food deal involving deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, remained tightlipped today over its alleged involvement in the scam.

The company, located at Plaza Sentral in Kuala Lumpur, is owned by two in-laws of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - Noor Asiah Mahmood and Faek Ahmad Shareef. The third business partner is an Indian national, Jaya Sudhir.

Faek, an Iraqi immigrant, was married to Abdullah's sister-in-law - the sister of the premier's late wife, Endon Mahmood - but the couple had divorced. Meanwhile, Noor Asiah is another sister of Endon.

'Come back next week'

Noor Asiah - or more widely known as 'Nonni' - when met at her office this afternoon conveyed her message through an aide that she declined to comment on the matter at this stage. Noor Asiah, wearing a pink suit, bears a remarkable resemblance to the late Endon.

When malaysiakini tried to approach her as she was walking into the company's meeting room, her aide said: "She is busy with her appointment and meeting today".

When our reporter indicated that she would wait, the aide told her, "We are not ready to comment yet, please come back next week, we can make arrangement."

According to the aide, the two other directors, Faek and Jaya were also not available for comment as they are not based in the Mastek office.

However the New Straits Times today quoted Faek as saying briefly that the trading of the oil allocations was "just a business" and that it had been conducted "under UN supervision".

"There is some truth in the report, but it is not the whole truth," he said, adding that, "I helped Iraqis when millions of people were dying because of the sanctions."

Mastek operates from a modest office although the UN inquiry stated it paid a whopping US$10 million (RM38 million) to Saddam's regime for the single largest oil allocation under the UN-administered oil-for-food programme.

Apart from Mastek, the office is also shared by four other companies. They are Obata-Ambar Holding Sdn Bhd, Arab Economic & Business Group Sdn Bhd and two travel agencies, namely Lawand Tourism and Smas Travels Sdn Bhd.

While details on Obata-Ambar and the Arab Economic & Business Group are sketchy, Smas Travels, incorporated in 1980, is a premier travel service provider in the country and handles corporate travel on a worldwide scale.

The authorised capital of the company is RM5 million while its issued paid-up capital is valued at RM1.9 million. Apart from Noor Asiah, another Smas Travel's director is Haniff Mahmood, who is believed to have family ties with Noor Asiah.

Meanwhile, Lawand Tourism is an Australian inbound tour operator in the Middle East that provides land arrangements and tailor-made for the Middle Eastern markets.

Intermediary for oil trader

According to the 623-page UN report released on Thursday, Mastek had acted as the main intermediary for oil trader Vitol Group to maintain its access to Iraqi crude oil as Vitol had limited access to contracts under the programme.

Vitol had allegedly financed and 'lifted' a total of 40 million barrels of oil under Mastek contracts. During Phase 9 of the programme, Mastek's oil allocation increased dramatically as it received the single largest allocation of over 39.5 million barrels of oil.

The high volume was obtained after Mastek paid a surcharges of close to $10 million to the Saddam regime then. Such surcharges are illegal and considered as bribes.

The report also stated that Faek's oil allocations were "tied to political considerations as Iraqi officials perceived him as someone who could assist in countering the effects of sanctions by improving Iraq's ties with Malaysia".

"This perception was due in part to Mr Shareef's (Faek) family ties to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Malaysian deputy prime minister in1999 and its current prime minister, and Mr Shareef's ability to arrange for trade delegations to visit Iraq," the report added.

The report, officially titled 'Manipulation of the Oil-for-Food Programme by the Iraqi Regime', is the final report prepared by the three-person Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-For-Food Programme, chaired by former head of the United States Federal Reserves Paul Volcker.

It cleared the prime minister from involvement in the illicit deal as it found "no evidence" that Abdullah had benefitted from the programme.

The premier became embroiled in the matter when a preliminary report last October named a 'Abdullah Badawi' as one of hundred of individuals, world leaders and firms that had been bribed by Saddam in an effort to undermine UN sanctions imposed against Iraq.

Meanwhile, Transparency International Malaysia president Param Cumaraswamy when contacted said he would comment on the matter at a later time after obtaining more details on the matter.