The press conference statement and question-and-answer session by the Selangor Mentri Besar, Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib yesterday about his arrest and being charged in a Brisbane magistrate’s court for not declaring an equivalent of RM2.4 million in mixed currency is significant for five salient aspects.
Firstly, Muhammad Taib’s double admissions that he had foreign currency the equivalent of RM2.4 million on his person when he was arrested by the Australian authorities at the Brisbane airport on December 22 and that he had violated the Australian law in not making a declaration under Section 15 of the Financial Transactions Reports Act which require anyone leaving the country with more than A$5,000 in cash to make a declaration.
This puts an end to any suggestion that Muhammad Taib had been the victim of some conspiracy, entrapment or set-up whether involving the Australian authorities or otherwise.
Secondly, the eight-day delay in an era of Information Technology of instant communications before Muhammad Taib gave a public explanation about his arrest in Australia.
Thirdly, the contradictions between what Muhammad Taib said at the press conference and what he told the Prime Minister and the Sultan of Selangor. Muhammad Taib said the RM2.4 million which he was carrying on a holiday to Australia belonged to his brothers and was for the purchase of property in the Gold Coast.
However, at a separate Press Conference a few hours earlier, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said Muhammad had told him that the money belonged to him (Mohammad).
In reply to a question by the press after officiating at the roll-out of the one millionth Proton car, Mahathir said: “Yes he did admit (it). The money is his. How can he not admit when he was detained by the (Australian) police who charged him with trying to take the money out of the country.”
Bernama also reported the Sultan of Selangor as saying that “Muhammad had explained to him that the money was for the purchase of a house for his children who will be pursuing further studies in Australia.”
It is also noteworthy that a few days earlier, there was another contradiction when the Selangor UMNO deputy chief and Minister for Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Datuk Abu Hassan Omar, said that Muhammad had told him over the telephone that the money was meant for “shopping”. However, a spokesman of the Mentri Besar’s office immediately issued a two-paragraph statement denying that Muhammad had mentioned in his telephone conversation with Abu Hassan that the money belonged to him.
Fourthly, Muhammad Taib’s evasiveness when questioned by reporters at the press conference. The following are examples:
Q. Isn’t it dangerous to bring large amounts of cash when you could use banking facilities?
A. Let me answer this in court....
Q. Several days ago, an official said the money belonged to you.
A. I think I will answer that in court...
Q. The proposed purchase of the land... do you have any share in it?
A. That I will answer in court...
Q. Does Bank Negara know about the huge amount of money moving out of the country?
A. That I will discuss in court.
In his prepared statement, Muhammad Taib said he did not want to say anything which “exceed the limits of sub judice or contempt of court because of court proceedings in Brisbane”.
Muhammad Taib has already publicly admitted to the charge on which he was arrested in the Brisbane court, and there is no question of any sub judice or contempt of court if he had replied fully and honestly to the questions he had evaded at the press conference.
As the Prime Minister has rightly pointed out yesterday, “There are two different things here...One is, what happened in Australia breached the regulation in Australia. That is one matter. The other one which is more important to Malaysian public is the fact that he was carrying a lot of money. He has to explain why he was carrying a lot of money. That has got no legal implication and he is not convicted for carrying a lot of money from Malaysia....But what the public is interested here is the possibility of some hanky-panky. So let us hear what (he has to say) before we judge.”
Now that Muhammad Taib had given his public say, it is for the public to judge. In evading the various questions at the press conference yesterday about the vast amount of cash he had with him, Muhammad Taib had clearly failed to discharge what the Prime Minister has described as the public interest as to whether there is the “possibility of some hanky-panky” and public judgment must invariably be unfavourable to him nation-wide!
Fifthly, the numerous questions which had been raised by Muhammad Taib’s brief statement and evasions to questions at his press conference yesterday.
The following are some examples.
Firstly, Muhammad Taib said that the RM2.4 million in cash was entrusted to him by his brothers to buy property in Brisbane’s Gold Coast, and he had to bring back the money to Malaysia because two of his brothers could not be present for the sale and purchase agreement.
He said: “When the deal could not be done, I had to bring the money back and then make them sign the agreement and courier it back to Australia. That was the rationale.”
It should have been obvious even before Muhammad Taib left for Australia that the property deal allegedly to be purchased by his brothers, Dato Othman, Dato Raduan and Hassan, could not be concluded in Australia as both Othman and Raduan could not be in Australia “because they had to attend to their children’s wedding preparations”. Why then bring such a vast amount of cash to Australia when Muhammad Taib should have known that the deal could not be concluded in Australia in the absence of his two brothers?
Secondly, Muhammad Taib said that he did not know that it was an offence not to declare RM2.4 million when leaving Australia. and that all he committed was a “technical offence”.
This is the statement with least credibility in a press conference studded with incredible claims. It might have some credence if this is Muhammad Taib’s first overseas trip as Selangor Mentri Besar, but Muhammad Taib has become a very seasoned traveller since he became Mentri Besar ten years ago. He should make public the number of overseas trips he had made in the past 10 years, including the number of times he had visited Australia.
Thirdly, Muhammad Taib has not explained why he had RM2.4 million cash in Australia, even assuming he had gone to Australia to buy property for his brothers. How could a Mentri Besar who wants Selangor to become an “intelligent state” with the latest state-of-the-art technology be carrying RM2.4 million on his person, when billions of ringgit could be transferred worldwide electronically in a flash with great security and secrecy?
Fourthly, Muhammad Taib said that he had gone to Australia to buy property so that he and his brothers’ children have a place to stay when they go to Australia to study. Leaving aside the question why a top Barisan Nasional leader should lack confidence in the country’s own educational system as not to want his children to study at home, a more pertinent question is why he should be buying property in Gold Coast, Brisbane unless the Selangor Mentri Besar and his brothers intend their children to receive their education in Gold Coast, Brisbane!
As Mahathir has rightly pointed out, the Malaysian public is interested in knowing whether there is possibility of some hanky-panky, and Muhammad Taib had not only failed to dispel such doubts but had raised even more questions!
Muhammad Taib should be aware that his press conference statement is totally unsatisfactory, and that it is more important for him to discharge himself before the bar of Malaysian public opinion than before the Brisbane magistrate’s court in March.
If Muhammad Taib is innocent of any wrongdoing, he should submit himself to a public inquiry into the origin and purpose of the RM2.4 million he had with him in Brisbane to dispel all questions that there is any “hanky-panky” involved, an inquiry which should include investigations into his assets, his family, as well as those of his brothers.
(31/12/96)