By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-09-28 00:32:43 | Updated at 2024-09-30 11:37:28
2 days ago
Celebration Mall had stood empty for years until new owners with grand ambitions swept in 24 years ago.
Soon, the derelict shopping centre – nestled in the Bandar Country Homes neighbourhood of Rawang, Malaysia – was reborn into a bustling business hub replete with restaurants, shops, a bakery and even a maternity clinic.
The transformation breathed new life into an area that had been losing its lustre in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. A sense of community returned. Families did too. Some sent their children for horse riding lessons at the mall’s new stables.
At the heart of this remarkable turnaround was Global Ikhwan Services and Business (GISB), a conglomerate with business interests spanning everything from farms to fast food.
But beneath the bright facade lurked a dark reality: GISB was not what it seemed, and now finds itself at the centre of Malaysia’s worst-ever child sex abuse scandal.
