KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) Inc’s property purchase in Melbourne that is under a corruption investigation by Australian police shows that corruption and cronyism go hand-in-hand, DAP lawmakers said today.

Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim and Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari pointed out that MARA Inc chairman Datuk Mohammad Lan Allani from Umno was formerly Sulabayan state assemblyman in Sabah, while minister in charge of MARA, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal who is also from Umno, is MP for Semporna, which encompasses the Sulabayan state seat.

“Corruption and the Malaysian government have become almost synonymous these days, and this is not surprising when almost all government wealth funds and investment agencies are dominated by Umno-linked cronies and politicians,” Sim and Zairil said in a joint statement.

“It is clear that there is neither transparency nor accountability in MARA’s decision-making process, despite the fact that the agency is custodian to billions of ringgit in public funds.

This is mainly due to the fact that MARA, like many other government agencies, is controlled and dominated by a sinister nexus of patrons, cronies and politicians,” the opposition MPs added.

The duo pointed out that the MARA council, which governs the government agency that was set up to foster development in rural areas, is also controlled by Umno, with six out of 11 council members being active members of the Malay ruling party.

MARA chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa is also from Umno and MP for Ketereh in Kelantan, they noted.

“As for the four directors of Mara Inc, the subsidiary embroiled in the Dudley House scandal, two of them are active Umno members while the other two are civil servants,” said Sim and Zairil.

Australian police raided a home in Melbourne Thursday in a corruption and money-laundering investigation on the purchase of an apartment in the Australian city by MARA Inc, the property investment subsidiary of MARA, at a price that was said to be inflated by A$4.75 million.

Australian paper The Age reported Tuesday that a senior MARA official and two “elite” Malay businessmen were involved in corruption related to the Malaysian government agency’s A$22.5 million (RM65.3 million) 2013 purchase of Dudley House in Melbourne.

According to The Age, an eight month-long investigation by Fairfax Media, its parent publishing house, revealed that this group of “super-rich Malaysian officials” had spent government investment funds to push up the price of the student housing block that was built for A$17.8 million, but inflated by A$4.75 million to A$22.5 million.

Sim and Zairil also noted today that the broker who facilitated the Dudley House deal, named by The Age as Erwan Azizi, has Umno links through his directorship in Biosis Bhd, a company chaired by Umno Youth deputy chief Khairul Azwan Harun.

“When government agencies and their businesses are caught in such a political web, there is no doubt that decision-making will be skewed by vested interests.

The Dudley House scandal is but a classic example of such dealings, where transactions are facilitated by cronies and powerful Umno politicians with access to billions in government funds,” the MPs said.