One of prime minister Najib Razak’s sons — Mohd Nazifuddin Mohd Najib— has been named in a major data leak from a Panama-based law firm that details 11.5 million tax documents on offshore dealings.
The ‘Panama Papers’ as it has been dubbed, lists Mohd Nazifuddin who reportedly held directorships in two firms based in the British Virgin Islands (BVI); Jay Marriot International (in 2009) and PCJ International Venture Limited.
According to the the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the other director was Ch’ng Soon Sen said to be then, the executive director of property developer Malaysia Pacific Corp and now, its chief executive.
In 2011, Mohd Nazifuddin reportedly assumed directorship at PCJ International Venture Limited — also registered by Mossack Fonseca in the BVI— together with business developer Megat Daniff Shahriman Zaharudin.
The ICIJ, however, does not point to these as wrongdoings.
“There are legitimate uses for offshore companies, foundations and trusts. We do not intend to suggest or imply that any persons, companies or other entities included in the ICIJ Power Players interactive application have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly,” it said.
The ICIJ documented Nazifuddin’s response, in which he stated that he had used PCJ International Venture Limited “for international business”. However, there were “no business transactions,” and the company was shut down.
It said Ch’ng confirmed that he and Nazifuddin acquired Jay Marriot in 2009 but there had been no business activity “since formation.” According to Ch’ng, Nazifuddin transferred his share to Ch’ng’s sister in 2011 and resigned as director.
The massive data leak has given 370 journalists from 78 countries a total of 2.6 terrabytes of data, 11.5 million documents to sift through and analyse; exposing information 214,000 shell companies.
