Annuar Musa: Mara didn’t lose money over Dudley House deal

PETALING JAYA: The apartment block of Dudley House was not valued at A$17.8mil (RM51.4mil) as reported in the media during the time of purchase, said Tan Sri Annuar Musa (pix). 

In an interview over RTM1 on Friday, the Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) chairman said that the property was valued about A$26mil (RM71.1mil) by several parties after it was offered to Mara for around A$22mil (RM63.6mil). 

"When we were offered the property, we had it valuated by a private property valuer who found it to be worth around A$26mil (RM71.1mil). 

"If we had known that it was worth around A$17.8mil (RM51.4mil) as reported by the media, we would have bargained for a lower price," he said. 

Annuar also said since 70% of the purchase was to be funded using loans from international banks, the valuation would have had to be agreed upon by them as well. 

"So as far as we know, the value of the property at the time was around A$26mil (RM71.1mil)," he said at the interview. 

Annuar added that Mara did not lose any money over the deal. 

"We are not losing money, we are making money as at the end of 2014, the property's value has increased to A$27mil (RM78mil) and it is 100% occupied," he said. 

But Annuar stressed that all allegations would be looked into as a thorough investigation involving the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and an independent external auditor was under way. 

The Age reported that Malaysians linked to Mara overpaid developers of Dudley International House by A$4.75mil (RM13.4mil) for a five-storey apartment block in the city in 2013, paying A$22.5mil (RM65mil) when the property was valued at A$17.8mil (RM51.4mil). 

It was reported that fraud was detected over the inflated price of Dudley House but Annuar said such allegations were outside Mara’s knowledge. 

He was earlier reported to have said the purchase took place before his appointment.

However, Annuar said he had “found a few things” when he visited the property in Melbourne last year and on his return, had raised a few issues with Mara.