KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — MIC secretary-general Datuk Seri S. Vell Paari today said that it was Maika Holdings that owed him money and claimed that payments remitted to him when he was the fund’s chief executive were mere refunds.
In a statement today, the son of former MIC president and veteran politician Tun Samy Vellu, said that Maika Holdings was already “financially distressed” when he took over as the chief executive.
He said he had even funded the company occasionally, to enable it to meet its financial obligations.
“When Maika was in funds, they would refund me the monies advanced or for my account. As a matter of fact, at the time Maika was wound-up, the company was still indebted to me for a large sum of monies advanced to them and for my unpaid salaries,” Vell Paari said.
Sarawak Report (SR) had yesterday alleged that Maika Holdings passed millions of ringgit in cash and other forms of payments to companies linked to Vell Paari.
The whistleblower website claimed new documents from Maika’s liquidation proceeding suggested Vell Paari “extracted” millions from the fund in the years leading up to its collapse, with the money mostly diverted into several companies connected to the MIC leader.
It claimed twenty cash payments totaling RM1.6 million were made out by the company to Vell Paari from 2003 to 2009, some under the guise of ‘promotional finder fees’, but most without any explanation given.
In one payment, the website alleged RM33,500 was paid to a law firm, Sree Harry, for what appeared to be the settlement of bills related to Vell Paari’s mother.
The RM1.6 million accounted for just a portion of the fund Vell Paari was to have received, the website alleged.
OKA Motor Company Limited, a company owned by Paari and his family based in Perth, was also alleged to have received RM1.3 million in nine separate payments 1999-2000.
Sarawak Report said the payments were made “on the basis of an alleged ‘technology transfer’ for a ‘soft shell version of a 4X4 wheel drive army vehicle’”.
A further A$145,301 (RM420,000) was also remitted in 2002, the website alleged, after the termination of the supposed contract with Maika.
The website said whistleblowers who shared the information saw no substance in terms of outcomes for the investment.
However, in his statement Vell Paari said that the payments made to OKA Motor Company Limited and Reumech OMC in South Africa was only RM500,000, and was approved by both the company’s board of directors and those who invested in the fund, at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Vell Paari claimed that he was also blackmailed prior to the publication of SR’s expose, with the extortionists demanding payment of RM3.5 million to “resolve the subject matter of the article”.
He claimed that one of the two extortionists had made the demand, but he did not reveal their identities, saying he would only do so to the authorities.
“I further wish to state that all the shares in Maika have been sold to G Team Resources & Holding Sdn Bhd and all the documents pertaining to the matters alleged in the article are in the possession of the liquidator of Maika, one Mr Arasu A/L M. Thangaveloo, whom I believe is personally involved in a dispute as to his conduct as a liquidator with the contributors of Maika.
“Some documents were also seized by the MACC or PDRM sometime between 2005 and 2008 pursuant to investigations carried out against several parties, which have since been dismissed,” he said, referring to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the police.
“I don’t wish to make any further statements with what I regard as a scandalous and frivolous attack on me as I would be providing a platform to these irresponsible persons to attack me further,” Vell Paari added.
