KUCHING, Jan 30: Activists from Sarawak will be attending a court hearing on the financial records of Sakto, an Ontario real estate group linked to Head of State Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
The precedent-setting hearing on the C$200 million real estate group is scheduled to be heard by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Feb 5 and 6.
Sakto is one of Ottawa’s leading real estate developers and is directed by Jamilah Taib Murray, the daughter of Taib, and her husband Sean Murray
The hearing is fixed following non-governmental organisation (NGO) Bruno Manser Fonds’ (BMF) legal action for a Norwich Pharmacal disclosure order which would force the Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto Dominion Bank, Manulife Financial and Deloitte to release their financial records on Sakto.
BMF said they had investigated and found that an approximated C$70 million dollars of unexplained wealth had been channelled by the Taib family into Sakto since the early 1980s.
In a press release, BMF said the Sarawak activists, led by former Baram MP and Goldman Environmental Prize winner Harrison Ngau, will also attend a series of activities to raise public awareness about the struggle of Sarawak indigenous people.
The group will travel to Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto where they will speak on the occasion of screenings of the documentary The Borneo Case (www.theborneocase.com). The delegates will also attend meetings with politicians and civil society representatives and hold a press conference at the Canadian Parliament on Feb 2.
The Sarawak activists’ Canada tour is organised by BMF and will be hosted by Canadian NGOs Inter Pares, Above Ground, Mining Watch Canada, Canadians for Tax Fairness as well as by Concordia University, Montreal, and the University of Toronto. — DayakDaily
