Mara chairman Annuar Musa, in confirming this today, said: “We have to manage our properties in Australia.

“I am glad to inform that recently we decided to sell one of the properties because I wanted to clear the debts as the purchase of the building was made by borrowing money from Australian banks,” he told reporters, the Sun Daily said.

Annuar said they decided to sell one of the four properties through open tender a few months ago.

He said the sale was managed by an international firm.
He said after settling the debts to the banks, the situation was “more manageable now”.

Two years ago, Mara Inc was involved in a controversy after Australian newspaper The Age claimed it had purchased a five-storey apartment block at Dudley International House in Melbourne at a price which was above the market price.

The newspaper claimed that “a group of very rich Malaysian officers” had overpaid A$4.75 million (RM13.8 million) for the apartment block in 2013.

The property was to be used as a hostel for Mara students there.