I don't have billions, Taib's son tells Syariah High Court

KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawak tycoon Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib (pic) denied that he has assets worth billions as claimed by his former wife Shahnaz A. Majid, a Syariah High Court here heard.

Mahmud, 51, said ‎the details on his alleged assets were created by a criminal from Canada, Cullen Johnson who was a former policeman from Toronto in Canada.

‎He said upon his resignation as a policeman, Johnson ‎then became an investigator and based on a report by Canadian Broadcast Corporation, Johnson and his wife Elaine White offered asset tracing services to plaintiffs in divorce cases in the United States and Canada.

‎Questioned by his counsel Datuk Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar on what was the relation between Shahnaz and Johnson, Mahmud replied, "I sent an investigator to the US and later discovered that plaintiff obtained services from Johnson in 2012".

The Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad director said since 2009, it was known that Johnson created false documents by changing the names, bank account numbers and total amount of money.

"Johnson and Elaine escaped Canada in 2010 but were later nabbed in the Turks and Caicos Island in the Caribbean and ‎currently, they are jailed in the US on a charge of falsifying bank documents," he said on the first day of giving his testimony in the trial of RM100mil mutaah (conciliatory gift) claim as divorce settlement filed by Shahnaz, 51.

Earlier, the son of Sarawak governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud said ‎they were married on Jan 9, 1992 and divorced  on May 11, 2011 after he filed for divorce under Section 47 of the Islamic Family Law Enactment (Federal Territories) 1984.

Recalling his past marriage with Shahnaz, Mahmud said ‎they had a happy marriage and their son Raden Murya Abdul Taib were born on Dec 11,1993.

"‎Plaintiff's attitude towards me began to change by end of 1994 where she started to question each of my act either personally or my job such as she would inspect my body whether there were scratches as she thought that I was having an affair," he said.

Mahmud said other than that, she also objected to any of my ideas, policy and directive when she was the general manager at Sarawak Securities Sdn Bhd and our staffs found it hard to carry out their tasks due to this issue.

He said he then moved to Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and stayed at his father's house here while Shahnaz continued to live in their matrimonial house in Kuching, Sarawak until 1999.

"The same year too I obtained a RM1.5mil loan to purchase a house in Damansara for plaintiff and our son and that time the price was RM2mil but now the price is about RM7mil," he said.

Mahmud said the house was under Shahnaz's name and he paid for the loan but now the loan had since been settled.

‎He said he also bought three vehicles - Mercedes S class worth RM800,000, BMW X5 (RM600,000) and Cherokee jeep (RM500,000) - under Shahnaz or her company's names.

‎The older sister of jazz queen Datuk Sheila Majid is claiming RM400mil, of which RM300mil as matrimonial property as part of the divorce settlement.

‎Shahnaz is also claiming 50% of all assets owned by Mahmud, including luxury cars, houses in various locations, land in Sarawak and shares.

Syarie judge Muhamad Abdul Karim Wahab later adjourned the trial to June 24 where Mahmud was expected to continue to give his evidence.

Syarie counsel Dr Rafie Mohd Shafie and Akbardin Abdul Kadir acted for Shahnaz while Zainul Rijal and Saadiah Din acted for Mahmud.