Australian served RM98.3m legal demand by Malaysian “political operative” over failed property deals

PETALING JAYA (March 8): A former Australian civil servant has received a letter of demand for over A$20 million (RM60.98 million) from a “prominent Malaysian political operative” he had “never heard of” over a A$1 billion property deal with the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) that did not materialise, reported the Canberra Times.

Former Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Community Services Directorate senior official Nic Manikis said he had met representatives from the Malaysian government — including the EPF — in 2014 to discuss a series of lucrative property deals.

Manikis, who was also a listed director for Singapore-incorporated property developer Ladylaw Securities, which was wound up last November, said the “straightforward” deal entailed compiling a list of properties worth A$1 billion, and to leverage on the Malaysian government’s funds to acquire the assets.

"There were multiple attempts at finding different ways of doing this, and in the end, it just fizzled out," he told the Canberra Times.

Manikis said the deals did not materialise and he had assumed the matter was over until he received the first legal letter at the end of 2015 seeking a A$20 million commission for “setting the whole thing up”.

"I ignored that letter. In 2017, a different law firm wrote to me. And then just a few weeks ago, I got another letter threatening legal action.

"My solicitors wrote back to say we've never heard of this bloke. I'm still dealing with it now," he said.

According to him, the man requesting the commission had the same name as a “prominent Malaysian political operative”, although the Canberra Times did not identify the person.

He also suspected that falsified documents claiming to belong to the unsuccessful deals were in circulation; however, he stressed that the people he dealt with in Malaysia had done everything “by the book”.

Manikis also said he had met the general manager of the EPF. “He will tell you that I arrived at Ramadan with my Canadian director.”

EPF had released a statement on the deals, saying: “"The involvement of Ladylaw Securities and Nic Manikis was made known to the EPF on Jan 20, 2017 and a police report was made on Jan 23, 2017 stating that the EPF has no knowledge nor was involved in any investment transaction with Ladylaw Securities nor Nic Manikis."