KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 ― Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) Inc had reportedly bought its fourth piece of Melbourne real estate at RM63 million more than its actual cost during the time of purchase in 2012, the National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW) alleged today.

Citing an internal MARA document and the price list from property consultant On The House, NOW executive director Rafizi Ramli said the property on 746 Swanston Street cost A$23.5 million (RM75.7 million) in November 2012 but MARA paid A$41.8 million.

“This means there is a difference of RM63 million from the amount approved by MARA and the amount reported by the real estate consultant.

“The question is, if MARA's RM63 million was not used to buy these units at 746 Swanston Street, where is the RM63 million that has been swindled or who gained from this property purchase scheme?” he asked at a press conference at NOW headquarters today.

Rafizi cited from MARA’s internal document that purportedly shows the property was purchased in August 2012, and noted that the date coincided with the sale of only one other unit on 746 Swanston Street, which is S5, a block of 281 apartment units parcelled together and sold in November 2012.

“Because property transactions take some time, so that's why the MARA document put August 2012 but (the transaction) only appeared in November 2012,” he explained.

He added that there were a total of six units from the 746 Swanston Street property that was sold in 2012 but none of them hit the million-dollar mark apart from the S5 block, causing him to make the connection to the unit MARA Inc had purchased.

Rafizi also noted that based on the list of transactions On the House listed from June 2011 to January 2015, the S5 block was the only sale which was in the millions, with other units costing between A$135,000 to A$266,000.

He said NOW will also be going to Melbourne to lodge a report over MARA Inc's tax evasion and money laundering.

“Malaysian authorities, if you don't want to do anything about this, then we'll take it to Australia now.

“When this A$18.3 million (RM63 million) disappeared, the Australian tax authorities will want to see what actually happened, how come there was a difference from the amount you were supposed to bring in that you claim to have been approved compared to the final amount.

“When you have a cross border transaction of money, it must be clean from end to end... Under any anti-money laundering act anywhere internationally, any amount of money which was not used or did not go to the intended party, that automatically falls under money laundering offences,” he said.

Rafizi noted that so far, MARA Inc has overpaid for all four of their Melbourne property purchases since 2012, totalling in RM129 million in “swindled” public funds.

NOW previously revealed that MARA Inc overpaid for the 51 Queen Street property and 333 Exhibition Street property by RM18 million and RM33 million respectively.

NOW has been scrutinising MARA Inc’s Melbourne purchases after Australian daily The Age ran a story on Dudley International House that exposed links connecting top MARA officials to certain businessmen connected to the ruling Barisan Nasional and had allegedly overpaid A$4.75 million for the apartment block, purportedly a form of kickbacks.

The four property purchases were suspicious, Rafizi said on Monday, as they were either bought through an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands or wired through three different companies in three different countries.

NOW also alleged on Tuesday that Mara Inc’s four property purchases in Melbourne totalled RM375.4 million, with 746 Swanston Street costing RM138.6 million, 333 Exhibition Street costing RM99.2 million, 51 Queens Street costing RM70.4 million and Dudley House costing RM67.2 million.