The control of LHDN

Some of the corrupt businessmen and criminals that Rashpal was dealing with had quite a number of issues with the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) and even with his great connections with various other enforcement agencies, he was unable to get LHDN to “solve” the problems. Now being a corporate mafia, it does not bode well if you are not able to “settle” any problems even when his clients are willing to part tens of millions of ringgit. 

Then using his usual tactic in late 2014, he lobbied to be appointed to the board of LHDN. Imagine one Punjabi money lender who had not done any good thing for the rakyat and instead who had always worked for the corrupt being appointed to the board of LHDN? Did MOF ran out of good Malay professionals to be elected to the board? Of course nothing can come close to the power Rashpal yielded. Eventually in 2015, he was appointed to the board of LHDN where he remained as a director till 2021. 

According to VJ, using his position as director of LHDN, he had abused the LHDN enforcement team to conduct investigations on various investors that were cheated by Ranjeet’s schemes ultimately forcing these victims to abort their actions against Ranjeet. Additionally, Rashpal had “solved” a number of large tax issues for a number of businessmen and avoided money laundering actions through his connection in the SC and the MACC. The amount of monies that Rashpal earned now ran into hundreds of million which his loyal dog Ranjeet quickly laundered through a chain of money changers he controlled. 

In essence, Ranjeet orchestrated the establishment of several Blind Offshore Trusts (BOT) not only for himself and Rashpal but also for various criminals. These trust structures are cleverly registered under the names of lawyers or trustees, who then provide regular payments to the designated beneficiaries, including Ranjeet, Rashpal, and their respective family members. A significant portion of these BOTs' investments are directed towards real estate ventures in Australia and the United Kingdom. 

Monies were moved from Malaysia either through seemingly legitimate business deals (which are not) or through the network of licensed money changers that Ranjet controlled. According to Ranjeet’s staff, in the last 15 years, more than RM1bil were moved only through money changers. These BOT were mainly established in offshore countries or were domiciled in Australia and New Zealand. A few of the BOT were established in Singapore and HK while 12 were established across Europe covering UK, Liechtenstein, Austria, France and Germany. The 2 BOTS established in the US ran into some issues. 

These BOTs are full proof way of how criminally obtained wealth can be and is protected for the rich and powerful such as Ranjeet and Rashpal.