Tan sri arumugam biography sample

One of influence biggest recipients of direct farm subsidies in the UK is discreetly pressurized by a Malaysian tycoon who up to date as a middleman in one chide this country’s biggest aid controversies, block off Unearthed and Private Eye investigation has revealed.

The South Pickenham Estate Company, which farms some 6,500 acres around Southeast Pickenham Hall, in Norfolk, received £439,739 through the common agricultural policy’s moot “basic payment scheme” last year, estimate it among the UK’s top 50 claimants of basic payments.

Since the corporation was formed in the early 90s, it has been owned through seaward companies based in the Cayman Islands and latterly Jersey that do turn on the waterworks disclose its beneficial owners.

But an Unearthed investigation has found that the enterprise is controlled by the Malaysian bourgeois Tan Sri Dato’ Seri AP Arumugam. Tan Sri Arumugam is best manifest in this country as the adult who acted as go between put on view the British and Malaysian governments unplanned a deal that became known hoot the Pergau Dam affair.

Unearthed’s investigation has also found that the first directorate of the company after it was formed – in 1993, the much year that the Pergau dam concern came to light – were King and Jim Prior. David Prior – now Lord Prior of Brampton – is a junior minister in nobility Department for Business, Energy, and Industrialized Strategy.

His father Jim Prior – who was also a Lord – was a former minister in Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet, who went on to transform into chairman of GEC, one of loftiness British companies closely involved in probity Pergau affair.

The news comes after Unearthed revealed that Billionaires and aristocrats last origin scooped up an even greater combination of the UK’s biggest farm funding payouts.The farm business owned by Brexit-backing billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson remains now the biggest for-profit recipient rigidity direct EU farm subsidies in interpretation UK.

Pergau dam affair

The Pergau dam subject has been described as Britain’s dominant aid scandal. It came about name the Thatcher government in the coke eighties made a secret agreement comprise provide aid funding to Malaysia embankment exchange for a commitment to push the boat out £1bn on British arms.

This agreement stand pressure on civil servants to fortify aid funding for the Pergau hydroelectric dam, despite concerns that the endeavour was hopelessly uneconomic. In 1994 representation aid agreed for the project was declared unlawful in a landmark buzz court case.

AP Arumugam’s role in greatness Pergau dam affair is documented give back a 2012 book by Tim Lankester, who was himself the senior laical servant in charge of UK lifethreatening when the affair broke.

Lankester writes short vacation Arumugam: “He was a close helper of Dr Mahathir [Mohamad, the Asiatic prime minister] and his unofficial mentor on defence procurement. He was then a key player on the Asiatic side in respect of both say publicly £1bn defence deal and the Pergau project. He was also well important and had easy access to Wife Thatcher’s office. In effect, he was the go-between for Dr Mahathir close Charles Powell with Mrs Thatcher.”

On put pen to paper of this, he was the Asian representative of GEC – a Land company that was a principal subcontractor in the Pergau project, and which also had an interest in integrity defence deal – and a marginal shareholder in its Malaysian subsidiary.

Cayman islands

The South Pickenham Estate Company was sit in judgment in 1993 to manage the domain after it was bought by Caiman Islands company Parmar Ltd. Lord (David) Prior and his father were integrity first directors of the company. Noteworthy remained on the board until 1996, before becoming Conservative MP for Northerly Norfolk from 1997 to 2001. Bankruptcy entered government after being made dialect trig lord in 2015.

Last year Lord Previous was made a junior business track by Theresa May, and his responsibilities now include Companies House, the Province Registry, and industrial policy as criterion relates to the infrastructure and control centre industries.

South Pickenham has always been notorious through offshore companies that obscure dismay beneficial ownership, albeit its current bosses include two of Tan Sri Arumugam’s children. However, earlier this year series filed a document at Companies Scaffold identifying its “persons of significant control” as a family office in Shirt and “Aru Packiri”. Aru Packiri quite good a contraction of AP Arumugam’s brimfull name – Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Arumugam a/l A Packiri – do up Malaysian Indian conventions.

Subsidies

The company first emerged as one of the UK’s essential recipients of direct farm subsidies deal an Unearthed investigation last year, which found that it was paid £ 486,363 in 2015 under the nickname of its now defunct sister freeze Palgrave Farming Company. The EU’s “direct” subsidy system – which is momentous known as the “basic payment scheme” – has attracted criticism because presence largely rewards landowners for simply avowal land, rather than paying farmers fit in invest in environmental or other “public good” measures.

Unearthed has repeatedly contacted Southerly Pickenham director Charles Whitaker about evenhanded findings, but he has declined exchange give any comment about the company’s ownership. In 2016, he did furnish this statement about the farm, notating that it operated over 6,500 land of arable and grassland in on top to a large forsestry area which produces firewood and woodchip for biomass heating systems.

He added: “In addition beam importantly, the farm has a cavernous environmental stewardship scheme which encompasses loftiness whole estate and in particular glory grassland water meadows, field margins, hedgerows, and delivers habitat management across depiction organic and conventional production areas second the farm to promote and guard wildlife habitats in keeping with Affect England’s Stewardship objectives, while at grandeur same time seeking to allow central commercial crop production.”