Datuk Chew Chiaw Ann and Christopher Chung (both in their early 40s) are proxies of Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib. Titanium Management Sdn Bhd and Metro Sedia Sdn Bhd had been recipients of multi million ringgit contracts from Sarawak state government, In one of the deals, Sime Darby was not awarded the land in 2008 and 2009, despite the state government’s approval of the JV with Pelita and NCR landowners. Instead, in an adroit sleight of hand, the state government awarded the land to two companies with no track record in plantations: Nature Ambience and Vertical Drive.
Sime Darby then had to pay RM16.8 million to buy Nature Ambience and RM85 million for Vertical Drive – a total of nearly RM102 million. Former Sime Darby CEO Ahmad Zubir Murshid has been recently charged in Kuala Lumpur High Court for Criminal Breach of Trust in this dubious plantation deal.
Both Nature Ambience and Vertical Drive were effectively owned by a local businessman, Chew Chiaw Ann. He held more than 99.9 percent of the shares in both vehicles, through several layers of proxy companies.
Chew was awarded his datukship in 2009, at the age of 40. He is now the CEO of a construction company called Metro Sedia Sdn Bhd. Reliable sources stated that Chew’s company has also been smuggling diesel for many years.
Chew’s Megan Alfa Sdn Bhd was also awarded a RM6 million contract to supply solar power to rural Long Peluan, home to fewer than 400 people – a staggering cost of more than RM15,000 per resident.
Chew is a young Chinese businessman, operating in an economy professing overwhelming preference for bumiputeras, so his stellar overnight success has certainly bemused observers.