KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib, son of Sarawak Governor Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, denied allegations by his ex-wife that he had assets  worth billions of ringgit stored in international banks, saying that she had obtained the information from a Canadian criminal.

Testifying at the Syariah Court here yesterday on his divorce proceedings, Mahmud Abu Bekir said statements by his former wife Shahnaz Abu Majid, sister of famous crooner Datuk Sheila Majid, were based on fraudulent documents.

He further alleged that Shahnaz had solicited the services of master forger Cullen Johnson.

“In 2009, Cullen Johnson was revealed to be forging documents. In 2010, he ran away to the Turks and Caicos Island in the Carribean,” Mahmud Abu Bekir told the court.

“He [Cullen] surreptitiously continued his illegal activities there. He [Cullen] would copy original documents with alterations made to the country, bank account numbers and the amount of money stated,” he added.

Mahmud Abu Bekir said Cullen worked with his wife Elaine White.

After being hunted down by the United States Justice Department, Cullen and his wife were arrested on the island and extradited to the United States on April 10, 2013.

Both are serving time in the United States’ federal prison.

“Plaintiff [Shahnaz] has claimed that I have US$700 million (RM2.3 billion) stashed away in Switzerland, Luxembourg and Macau. She is quoting this from fraudulent information,” Mahmud Abu Bekir said.

The hearing was stopped midway as Shahnaz’s legal team objected to the information revealed by Mahmud Abu Bekir as it was not related to the divorce.

When met outside the court, Mahmud Abu Bekir challenged Shahnaz to reveal “real” accounts from the international banks to assert her claims.

“I am talking about crooked investigators who distort and twist facts and make misrepresentations,” he said. “I am absolutely confident that these accounts do not exist,” he added.

Shahnaz had made the claims outside of court and was reported by local press. She had alleged that Mahmud Abu Bekir had some 100 accounts in international banks with a total of US$700 million.

On another matter, Mahmud Abu Bekir said he will be lodging a police report against CIMB, Malayan Banking (Maybank) and American Express for alleged violations of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 (Bafia) after details of his banking transactions were revealed in court yesterday.

Maybank officer Mursinah Manaf, 39, revealed that Mahmud Abu Bekir spent nearly RM800,000 on his American Express Platinum card over the span of six months from December 2011 to May 2012.

She said she had disclosed the information based on a subpoena letter issued to her via her immediate boss.

Shahnaz is seeking RM400 million in total from her divorce from Mahmud Abu Bakir. Out of this, she is seeking RM100 million in Islamic conciliatory gift or “mut’ah” to which Mahmud Abu Bekir has objected.

On May 5, the Syariah Court was informed by an accountant that based on his total assets, the Sarawak governor’s son had more than enough to pay the RM100 million his ex-wife was seeking.

Andrew Heng, partner in Ferrier Hodgson MH Sdn Bhd, hired by Shahnaz, reiterated his previous testimony that Mahmud Abu Bekir’s total assets were valued at between RM976 million and RM1.395 billion.

During re-examination by Shahnaz’s lawyer Akbardin Abdul Kader, he had said that Mahmud Abu Bekir’s shares in Cahaya Mata Sawarak Bhd alone were trading at RM9 currently.

Shahnaz and Mahmud Abu Bekir have a 20-year-old son Raden Murya who is studying in the United Kingdom.

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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 4, 2014.