KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Finance Minister Yamani Hafez Musa has clarified that the company linked to him in the Pandora Papers expose is dormant.

       He said any tax involved with the British Virgin Island (BVI) company was paid by him and that local tax authorities were also aware of it.

       “I would like to take the opportunity to explain the matter as I am one of those named in the Pandora Papers.

       “The company that was mentioned is inactive or dormant, and has no funds or assets injection. There is no dividend declaration even.

       “The Inland Revenue Board also knows about the capital of the company when I was there, and all the taxes have been paid,” he told Hassan Abdul Karim (PH-Pasir Gudang) during the Question Time.

       Hassan asked whether the government was considering implementing a capital gains tax, as well as inheritance tax, to increase the government’s revenue.

       He also asked about the Pandora Papers expose, which claimed that some 1,500 Malaysians brought about RM1.8 trillion to offshore financial centres.

       According to the expose, Yamani was the director of Great Ocean Consultants in the BVI from 2013 to 2015, alongside his siblings.

       Documents show that his father, former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman, took over as sole director in 2015.

       The company held US$310,000 (RM1.2mil) in a Deutsche Bank account before it was sold the following year to an individual named Mau Kam Wai, who was once an executive director of investment holdings company Eastland Equity, alongside a Sabah businessman reportedly close to Musa, Chu Jan Tow.