KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — Deputy Finance Minister Yamani Hafez Musa today said the company linked to him in the Pandora Papers exposé is dormant and he does not receive any funds from it.
Answering a question from Hassan Abdul Karim (Pasir Gudang-PH), he said any tax involved with the British Virgin Island was also paid by him.
“I am not sure with the numbers mentioned. I would like to take the opportunity to explain the matter as I am one of those who were named in the Pandora Papers.
“The company that was mentioned is inactive or dormant and has no funds injection. All taxes are in the knowledge of [Inland Revenue Board] and had been paid,” he told Dewan Rakyat during the Question Time today.
Hassan originally asked about whether the government is considering implementing a Capital Gains Tax as well as Inheritance Tax to increase the government’s revenue. He also asked about the Pandora Papers exposé, which claimed that some 1,500 Malaysians brought about RM 1.8 trillion to offshore financial centres.
According to the Pandora Papers report, Yamani was the director of Great Ocean Consultants in the British Virgin Islands from 2013 to 2015, alongside his siblings.
Documents show that his father, former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman, took over as sole director in 2015.
The company held US$310,000 (RM1.2 million) in a Deutsche Bank account before it was sold the following year to an individual named Mau Kam Wai, who was once an executive director of investment holdings company Eastland Equity, alongside a Sabah businessman reportedly close to Musa, Chu Jan Tow.
The Pandora Papers report by the Investigative Consortium of Investigative Journalists, or ICIJ, made up of 600 journalists across the world, is based on more than 11.9 million documents and other records leaked from 12 offshore service providers that help to set up and manage shell firms and trusts in tax havens worldwide, including the British Virgin Islands, or BVI, which appears to be a popular choice for wealthy Malaysians.
Other than Yamani, other politicians named by Pandora Papers include former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, current finance minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, Umno president Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as well as PKR’s Selayang MP William Leong.