Malaysian businessmen Teen Boon Lye dodges jail in Australia for Mara deal — report

• Teen was charged in July 2020 with bribing Malaysian officials to secure the sale of Dudley House to Mara as well as four counts of false accounting related to the sale. The acquisition, along with another property in London, has been investigated by the Public Accounts Committee.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 12): Malaysian businessmen Dennis Teen avoided jail time in Australia after he was found guilty for a A$3.4 million (RM9.6 million) “kickback” as part of a property sale to Mara Inc, according to news.com.au.

Born in Malaysia as Teen Boon Lye, he was given a suspended sentence due to the “unique features of the case and Teen’s personal circumstances”, the Australian news site reported. Instead, he was handed a fully suspended 21-month jail term on a single charge of false accounting, the report said.

“This was not a victimless crime” as the people of Malaysia lost A$3.4 million, judge Michael O’Connell was cited as saying. However, the judge was persuaded by Teen’s defence that the fraudulent agreement was put to him when he was “vulnerable”, the report said.

Teen was charged in July 2020 with bribing Malaysian officials to secure the sale of Dudley House to Mara as well as four counts of false accounting related to the sale. The acquisition, along with another property in London, has been investigated by the Public Accounts Committee.

The bipartisan committee found that Mara bought the overvalued properties which were not authorised by the Ministry of Finance. Mara Inc is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mara Corp, which is supervised by the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development.

Dudley House deal

The Australian court was told that Teen partnered with acquaintances to purchase land and develop the dormitory in the late 2000s. But the project hit financial difficulties, and after months attempting to refinance, he began to look for a purchaser.

Mara Inc had agreed to purchase the development for A$17.85 million in October 2012, and Teen was “strung along by intermediates negotiating on behalf of Mara for months before” who said there was an “internal agreement” to buy the property for A$22.6 million in February 2013.

The difference of A$4.75 million was to be paid by Teen to a group of Malaysian officials, including Zach Zainal and Erwan Azizi, Sydney Morning Herald reported in 2020, citing court documents in Teen’s charge.

After the property deal settled in March 2013, Teen assisted in issuing sham invoices from Malaysian companies for non-existent services, including "professional advice" and "consultancy and advisory fees" to make the payment appear to be legitimate business expenses.

The offence of bribing a foreign public official in Australia carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment or a fine of A$1.8 million, or both.

Judge O’Connell found A$3.4 million of the money paid, or three of the four invoices, had no legitimate basis and was a “kickback” to ensure the deal went through, according to news.com.au.

Vulnerable position

Teen’s business was dealing with cashflow problems and delays to the construction, spending more than 12 months looking to solve the issue, the judge said, noting that the agreement “was put to you when you were in a vulnerable position having been strung along for many months”.

The court was also provided with 10 personal references describing Teen as a community leader, hardworking and generous, while his family remained supportive even as they were shocked by the charges, according to news.com.au.

Further, Teen’s “precarious” ill health mitigated the offence, the report said without elaborating on his health conditions.

However, the judge warned that if Teen committed any further offences over the next 21 months, he may have to serve the term of imprisonment, to which he replied “Yes, sir.”

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