KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — The two MARA Inc executives implicated in a controversial property purchase in Melbourne must fork out the AU$4.75 million (RM13.8 million) that they allegedly received as bribes, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said today.

The DAP parliamentary leader also criticised Tan Sri Annuar Musa, chairman of government agency MARA that owns MARA Inc, for refusing to convene an emergency meeting of the MARA council, after Australian paper The Age reported Tuesday that corruption was involved in MARA Inc’s purchase of a student housing block in Melbourne for an inflated price of AU$22.5 million, AU$4.75 million higher than what it was worth at AU$17.8 million.

“For a start, Annuar should convene an emergency meeting of the MARA Council and demand that the two MARA Inc. executives implicated in the allegations, MARA Inc Chairman Mohd Lan Allani and MARA Inc CEO Halim Rahman should cough out the AU$4.75 million (RM13.8 million) bribe paid for the Dudley House apartment block in Melbourne,” Lim said in a statement.

“What is most shocking is the rather indifferent reactions of the government authorities, in particular the MARA chairman who said in a media conference yesterday that MARA will not deny the claims and allegations in the AUtralian newspaper report and was treating the media expose as ‘information’ to facilitate investigations,” the Gelang Patah MP added.

Annuar told a press conference Wednesday that he thought MARA Inc got a good deal when it paid AU$22.5 million for the apartment in the Australian city in 2013.

He also explained yesterday that the MARA property investment subsidiary accused of taking a AU$4.75 million bribe from the Australia property deal has already been audited for suspected financial mismanagement.

MARA Inc has been instructed to explain in writing the allegation made by The Age within a week from Wednesday and the MARA board is expected to deliberate on a decision three days after.

Lim also questioned today the silence from Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, who oversees MARA, over the Melbourne property purchase that is already under investigation by Australian police for corruption and money laundering.

“Was he completely in the dark about the MARA Inc property acquisition hanky-panky in Australia, which has now stained Malaysia’s international reputation?” he said.

The Age reported yesterday that AUtralian police raided a house in Melbourne in an investigation on the Dudley House deal and was targeting several other properties across the city.