‘Offshore company linked to LCS scandal no longer active’

PETALING JAYA: Alizes Marine Ltd, the offshore company based in the tax haven of Malta – which PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli claimed had links to the littoral combat ship (LCS) scandal – is no longer active.

According to data from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ (ICIJ) Paradise Papers, which was based on the Malta Corporate Registry, the company was incorporated on April 18, 2011.

However, it has since been struck off.

The Paradise Papers is a data dump containing over 13 million confidential electronic documents related to offshore investments released in 2017.

It must be noted that there are legitimate uses of offshore companies and trusts.

The data showed that the offshore company was linked to a Malaysian woman who was named as its shareholder.

Another company, known as Intralogistics Limited, was also named as a shareholder, judicial representative, director and legal representative of the firm. Intralogistics was linked to the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Anne Louise Ellul Cachia Caruana was named as its liquidator.

While Rafizi cited information from internal investigations, official records that are currently available publicly have yet to shed light on Alizes Marine’s involvement in the scandal.

Further checks on the Malta Business Registry revealed that the company had been struck off. The company had an issued share capital of €1,250 (RM5,607 at current rates) for 1,250 units of shares.

In a statement yesterday, Rafizi claimed that an internal investigation report had revealed the woman’s name, and she was allegedly linked to an offshore company with units incorporated in tax havens such as Malta and Labuan.

Citing the investigation papers, Rafizi said the company was appointed as the spare parts supplier for the LCS project.

“The appointment was based on fake information that it had the licence from the French government to export defence spare parts (when in actuality it did not have such licences),” he said.

He claimed that RM210mil was paid to the purported company, but it was swindled to dummy corporations set up in tax haven jurisdictions.

He said the companies were also appointed as technical consultants when they did not have the expertise.

“They sent invoices for work that was not completed. A total of RM23.37mil was siphoned through this method during the early days of the project, which is from 2011 to 2014.

“My checks revealed that the misappropriation of public funds from the LCS project has been going on for years and was well planned,” he added.