The corruption of Australia rolls on at The Guardian:
A former South Sudanese army general has been thrown into the spotlight after it was revealed he paid $1.5m for a home in Melbourne’s south-east despite earning just A$60,000 a year.
The revelation comes in the first report released by The Sentry, an investigative organisation founded by the US actor George Clooney and the rights activist John Prendergast to track and analyse how armed conflict and atrocities are financed.
The report accuses senior officials on modest salaries in South Sudan of profiteering from the civil war.
In the foreword to their report, Clooney and Prendergast write that top officials in South Sudan have “managed to accumulate fortunes, despite modest government salaries” while the country is divided by a civil war.
“Meanwhile, some top officials and their family members own stakes in a broad array of companies doing business in the country – and, in some cases, these commercial engagements may be in violation of South Sudanese law.
“Members of their families often live in multimillion-dollar mansions outside the country, stay in five-star hotels, reap the benefits of what appears to be a system of nepotism and shady corporate deals, and drive around in luxury cars – all while much of their country’s population suffers from the consequences of a brutal civil war and, in many places, experiences near-famine conditions.”
The report highlights General James Hoth Mai Nguoth and his family as a case study, saying he bought a home in the Melbourne suburb of Narre Warren North under his son’s name in 2014. Hoth Mai served as the chief of staff and deputy chief of logistics of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army before being dismissed in 2014.
“The residence is situated on a one-acre lot backing up to a forested area bordering nearby Lysterfield Lake, a popular destination for sailing, canoeing and mountain biking,” the Sentry report says.
“The home boasts four bedrooms, a top-of-the-line kitchen, a two-tiered home theatre, a sauna and an infinity pool. When The Sentry visited the home in August 2016, a BMW 316 used by one of Hoth Mai’s daughters was parked in front of the house.
“The home was described by the real estate agency that sold it as ‘perfecting the balance between serenity and glamour’.
The agent who sold Hoth Mai the home, and who did not want to be named, told Guardian Australia that he thought the family “were lovely and very well-mannered and well-educated”.
According to a report in the Australian, the former owner of the home grew suspicious of the Hoth Mai family owing to difficulties with the settlement, including the family experiencing trouble getting money out of Dubai. He reported his concerns to the Foreign Investment Review Board but told the Australian the board “didn’t want a bar of it”.
Meanwhile, of course, as I noted last week at The Australian:
Foreign Investment Review Board chairman Brian Wilson has accepted a role as adviser to the $180 billion private equity giant, the Carlyle Group, potentially putting the former investment banker in conflict when it comes to giving the green light or blocking key foreign investment moves.
The US-listed, Washington-based private equity group, which has completed more than $2bn worth of deals in Australia and more than $20bn worth in Asia, yesterday said Mr Wilson would become a senior adviser to its Asian buyout team.
However, Mr Wilson, who plans to remain in his current role at FIRB, has promised to stand aside from any decision involving Carlyle, the private equity fund that has a string of investments in Australia and through Asia.
…The Sydney-based Mr Wilson will be working with Carlyle’s Asian buyout team looking for new investment opportunities in Australia and the region.
…Scott Morrison said FIRB had “strong procedures in place to manage conflict”.
For Mr Wilson to have no conflict he will have to stand aside on every single FIRB decision, given all of them will potentially give Carlysle the inside run on what competitors are doing. And what, is he never going to talk to the staff he oversees? I guess they’re in for a long lunch.
There is another potentially even more grave problem here, too. Because FIRB is the pivot point in Australia’s developing debate around what assets Chinese interests should be allowed to acquire, it gains access to the highest levels of Australian intelligence community assessments by both spy agencies and the Department of Defense. It is totally inappropriate for such “five eyes” output to inform business interests in any way.
This is a bald-faced corruption of Australia’s primary foreign investment entity, a body that will come under intense scrutiny in the years ahead as anti-globalisation pressures mount.
How can any entity undertaking due diligence on an Australian acquisition – private or public – have any faith that a fair and transparent FIRB process is underway when American private equity may have access to their private metrics? This is pure sovereign risk.
How can Any Australian have faith that this corrupted body has any integrity at all?
Brian Wilson must resign or be sacked.
