Nominee - Lawyer Richard Christopher Barnes was holding tens of millions of dollars in a Hong Kong bank account "in trust" for his client Musa Aman, before it was forwarded to a UBS Zurich account in the Chief Minister's own name!
SARAWAK REPORT
A multi-million US dollar account, opened in the name of Richard Christopher Barnes with the Swiss Bank UBS in Hong Kong, was operating under written instructions that the money was to be held in trust for Musa Aman, according to evidence gained from the Hong Kong authorities.
A letter, dated 25th May 2007 and now in the possession of the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), stated the account should “hold [the money] on trust for Aman”.
Investigators noted that on 31st May 2008 that account contained USD 29.6 million!
Flow chart to Musa’s own Zurich account!
A key flow chart, compiled by the ICAC, shows a money trail leading from timber kickbacks to Musa Aman’s own personal bank account with UBS in Zurich!
Barnes, a Sabah lawyer, was believed to be acting as a nominee for Musa Aman. The information on his key account relating to the Chief Minister, UBS A/C231117, forms part of a flow chart analysis, compiled by ICAC investigators, who were tracing the money flowing in and out of the Hong Kong bank accounts controlled by one of Musa’s other known side-kicks, Michael Chia (Chia Tien Foh).
"Hold on trust for Aman" - the written instruction for the money flowing in from Chia's accounts into Barnes' UBS holding account in Hong Kong.
Chia had had been arrested in the city-state while attempting to smuggle SG$16million in cash to Malaysia, sparking a major money laundering investigation.
A parallel investigation was undertaken by Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). However we have learnt that inter-country cooperation was blocked by Musa’s close family contact, the Attorney General, Abdul Gani.
The ICAC flow chart (below) illustrates how money was coming into Chia’s accounts from companies related to timber production in Sabah and flowing out to accounts being managed on behalf of Chief Minister, Musa Aman, including the one in the name of Richard Christopher Barnes.
"Hold on trust for Aman" - the written instruction for the money flowing in from Chia's accounts into Barnes' UBS holding account in Hong Kong.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission received a copy of this information and Sarawak Report now also has a copy. We also have copies of numerous bank statements that verify the information in the flow chart.
Those who claim these are forged should ask UBS and HSBC to confirm that these accounts never existed and to make a statement that there was no letter of 23.05.07, commanding that the UBS Christoper Richard Barnes account should be held “on trust for Aman”.
Likewise, doubters should ask the ICAC to deny that the flow chart information is authentic.
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