Posted on by Kit

Port Klang Free Zone scandal – from RM2.3 billion under Liong Sik, RM4.6 billion under Kong Choy and now to RM8 billion under Tee Keat?

Although “Performance Now” is one of the three overarching mottos of the Najib Cabinet, it has very little real meaning to the Cabinet Ministers.

The MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat is no exception.

One of the first things he promised a year ago as Transport Minister was to “tell all” about the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) bailout scandal.

Up to now, he has told nothing!

Early this month, Ong evaded responsibility for the public release of the PriceWaterhouseCooper report on the PKFZ, saying that it now lies with the Port Klang Authority (PKA).

It is a sorry sight for the past year that Ong had not been able to answer the five questions about the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal which I posed to him immediately after his public pledge to “tell all” about PKFZ, particularly about the history of impropriety in land transactions, illegal issue of Letters of Support, Cabinet bailouts and retrospective ratification of illegal decisions by the two previous Transport Ministers, Tun Ling Liong Sik and Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy although he had all the answers without having to await the outcome of the PricewaterhouseCooper audit report.

The Edge weekly in its cover story today reported that PKFZ costs are believed to have ballooned to RM8 billion.

Malaysian taxpayers are entitled to the full details as to why the PKFZ scandal which started as a RM2.3 billion scandal under Liong Sik, became a RM4.6 billion scandal under Kong Choy has now ballooned to be a RM8 billion scandal under Tee Keat as the three successive MCA Transport Ministers?

There should be no more delay in the publication of the PWC report on the PKFZ and if Ong is not prepared to “tell all”, the Cabinet at its meeting next Wednesday should overrule Ong and direct the immediate public release of the full PWC report on the PKFZ to honour the pledge of accountability, transparency and good governance given by Datuk Seri Najib Razak when he became Prime Minister three weeks ago on April 3.

48 Replies to “Port Klang Free Zone scandal – from RM2.3 billion under Liong Sik, RM4.6 billion under Kong Choy and now to RM8 billion under Tee Keat?”

  3. this is an extract of a report by an independent journalist which shows that the Election Commission is just PRO BN! If you support this report, please cut and paste on every group in Facebook. Thank you.

    “The same views have been echoed by no less than the Election Commission (EC). Plus, the EC has openly supported proposals by some BN leaders such as Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir and Tan Keng Liang to prevent “unnecessary” elections. These include suggestions for stricter laws, and penalties for elected reps or their parties should an elected representative resign for reasons other than what’s stated in Article 48(1) of the Federal Constitution.”

    http://www.thenutgraph.com.my/funding-democracy-the-bn-way

  4. k1980

    its ling law sik.

    in cantonese, it means take,take, and makan.

    now the family owns pubs, drinking joints and distribute alcoholic products. may ling and his next next generation become great drinkers, drinking day and night.

  7. The PKFZ deal is the ultimate in Ali-Baba business in Bolehland. MCA and UMNO have never worked so hard in ensuring that the Transport Ministry and Selangor UMNO reap the rewards of the land deal. Now they have to work equally hard to prevent the truth from coming out.

    What’s 8 billion between thieves ?

  8. The Chairman of the Port Klang Authority is non other than MCA’s Lee Hwa Beng. Since he lost in the elections and had to find some other regular income, the party gave him the plum job that comes with a car and driver. Better still, the party ensured that a party loyalist control the flow of information from PKA.

  9. What’s 8 billion between thieves ?
    over RM300 each from every man, woman and child in Malaysia?

    If you say it quick enough, it even sounds cheap! Perhaps a more meaningful figure is per household. We had a discussion about this not so long ago, I think. Must be a few thousand per Malaysian household, I think.

    Is PR going to have a Truth and Reconciliation Commission? Me, I’m stockpiling matches before GE 13, I think the price is going to rocket!

  10. What’s RM 300 for every man, woman and child ? Do you think they will miss the RM 300 ? That was always the thinking of the den of thieves – take first, don’t worry too much because the rakyat normally won’t miss what’s stolen.

  11. What do we expect Ong Ta Kut to say ? That a succession of MCA Transport Ministers were told by UMNO that it’s OK to join forces on a land deal so long as the necessary approvals were given by all parties ? That all parties stand to make loads of money but then UMNO made off with the bulk of the ill-gotten gains, and left the crumbs for MCA ?

    If the truth were to be told on PKFZ, we will indeed find that MCA is nothing more than a poodle led by UMNO on a leash.

  13. Godfather, good job, Sdr Lim must have taken notice of you said. But so far the impact is very limited. I think PR must relentlessly pursue this until we get some answers.

    People can provide all kinds of reasons why PR won the two Bukits. I think PR may not even know why they won. To me, Toyo’s Disneyland and Hawaii trips were enough to win election. So also is PKFZ if PR knows how to use it.

  15. YB l\Lim, we must simplyfy the extent of the damage. If you spend RM1.00 a second you will spend RM86,400 a day and RM 31.5 Million a year. In 10 years RM 315 Muillion and in 100 years RM 3.15 Billion.It will take you 250 years to spend that money. Now you get the scale of the swindel.

  16. PKFZ IS MEGA WHITE ELEPHANT CREATED BY MCA!
    ONE WHO VISITed THE LOCATION WILL HAVE A SHOCK TO FIND IT A GHOST ZONE.
    When huge money RM14.6 BILLION spent with successed project, we would not pursue the case. I praised YB LKS for persistent in this scandal. OTK would not stop this project but continue to pump RAKYAT money. Too much money to distributes among BN politician.
    What we notice of OTKeat when he took over Transport Ministry is EMPTY PROMISE! Time will proved that a third Transport Minister is marred and tarrred in PKFZ!
    Malaysians need more transparency and credible disclosure. PAC must pay more attention and persistent into MCA MEGA SCANDAL.

  18. How long can they hide ? They can give the buildings a new coat of paint, they can plant their supporters in some of these buildings to give the impression of viability, but the truth will always be in the financial numbers. Their auditors will be worried about giving the PKFZ a clean bill of health, even with favourable terms from the government loan bailout.

    We are going to constantly remind Ong Ta Kut that he promised the rakyat a “full and transparent” disclosure based on the audit by Price WaterhouseCoopers.

  19. Notice Ong Tee Keat is so silent on the following recent issues that has griped the nation:

    1) Gutter politics on Eli Wong
    2) Deputy PM’s statement on ungrateful Chinese
    3) Najib’s doing away with the 30% quota on selected sectors
    4) Crime wave in Malaysia
    5) Banning on Suara Keadilan & Harakah (and subsequent swift retraction)
    6) Indira Ghandi’s family
    7) The lovely “Bangkit Melayu” article on Utusan Malaysia

    I wonder what is his priority, shake hands or not with Dr Chua?

  21. Pingback: What’s 8 billion between thieves?The PKFZ deal is the ultimate in MCA IN Ali-Baba business . MCA and UMNO have never worked so hard in ensuring that the Transport Ministry and Selangor UMNO reap the rewards of the land deal. Now they have to work equall

  22. To my Malay brothers:

    Ask yourself this: Did the Malays benefit from this deal or did only UMNO benefitted from this deal ? To ordinary UMNO members, this is the relevant question: Did UMNO benefit from this deal or only certain UMNOputras led by Azim benefit from this deal ?

    The history of UMNO is that a succession of treasurers always would proclaim that they were doing certain things for UMNO, but would only “pass” the deals to UMNO which they could not make money on. For deals that they could make money on, those were “their” deals and not UMNO’s.

    The government bailout was because of the “letters of comfort” issued by the Ministry of Transport under Ling Liong Sik. Any legal suit brought by the bondholders would have embarrassed the Badawi administration and would have resulted in the documents being made public.

  23. This is the price OTK has to pay for operating a public project in secrecy – getting all the bashing from the Opposition.

    If OTK was clever enough, he would have immediately declared the assets and liabilities of PKFZ the moment he took over the project, and forewarned all the relevant parties that the financial position of PKFZ could deteriorate in 2009 if the government, suppliers etc failed to take this and that steps. OTK did not do the above presumably he did not want the mess in PKFZ to be exposed and drag down the name of MCA, and instead, preferred to carry the ‘PKFZ baggage’ all by himself!

    It is now difficult for OTK to give an explanation on the financial position of PKFZ as he has waited until the financial position of PKFZ took a turn for the worse.

    The Opposition and people on the street will take for granted that OTK has mismanaged the project or is involved in corruption.

  24. Godfather,
    It is also time for bondholders take some responsibility. This is the only way to instil some discipline and prudence to those who fully know what they are getting into. Have you realised that it is “head I win and tail you lose situation”. How many times must the government learn about financial prudence when the bondholders of Johore Corp were also bailed out by the Federal government years ago? It is not that all these people do not know or can not foresee. It is all about conspiracy to cheat the federal government.

    It is really beyond me one incomplete PKFZ could actually build two Penang bridges. How much baloney can we get? Even if PKFZ could produce gold, it still does not worth that much. What bloody trade services can they do in Port Klang that requires such a gigantic free zone? As far as I know, we have been talking about value added service such as repackaging, rebranding, de-bulking and cargo consolidation and re-exporting for twenty years. Just go Singapore and look at their Distripark. We really have a group of scoundrels managing and running Port Klang. It has nothing to do with lack of knowledge and skill. It has everything to do mega cheating championed by successive good for nothing spineless MOT ministers.

  26. another example of how MCA hopefuls got / become silence once they reach the top. OTK was known as a loner who spoke his mind (so I have heard)

    notice how vocal and “proactive” UMNO Youths leaders with ambition and initiative?

    we need leaders at all levels who are consistent, think before they speak, mature and responsible. we do not need chameleons especially those who make a great living out from our tax money

  29. I still have a Sun Paper cutting dated 9.04.2008 by Mr Nades _ A sea of ‘why’s’ on PKFZ stick to the wall in my room.

    Mr Nades has written extensively and you really do not need another PWC report to take action. Just walk in to Mr. Nades with clear motive to solve the problem instead of finding faults with him, am sure MACC can find a lot of things.

    This shown BN will never change and MCA also will keep kow tow.

    The stake is too high to take action.

    Today we have another PM riding the LRT and he is no the first PM riding. Our PM has too much time for the publicity and have no real intention to solve the problem. Very sad.

    Riding the LRT will only serve as publicity and nothing else. same as walking around the Petaling Street will not gather the Chinese votes. We want real action and not just show.

  30. there is always a ‘room’ for politicians.

    when they are in the wagon,they will squeeze untill the last drop,look at toyo,azlina,rafi,samy n etc,you’ll realise how ‘kiasu’ they are,infact,they want their generations to last forever ,without have to work at all,like a kingdom!

    there are no good politicians,you will only find how less evil they are.

  31. It is very simple in deed to make money.

    1. The lands was identified for the project.
    2. Acquired the and sell it cheaply to certain nominees.
    3. Enter agreement with the nominees company with certain condition that the land will be further enhanced with infrastructure. Pay huge sum to the nominee company on the pretext that the nominees has to enhanced the infra structure etc. The money pay to the nominees with be share share lah.

    This is the norm and common practices.

    The question is since the money come form the tax payers. Why not? This how the corrupt suck our tax payer money.

  32. We know from day one BN has no courage to make change. All are slogan chanting. When ever there is new head they will think of new slogan to cheat and hope people will believe in them.

    The change is hard to come as the stake was high. The one who can make changes also party involve or partners of the parties involved and they have to make decision on consensus. So how to make the change. The minister is most important than anything else. If you do not toll the BN line you will be drop the next time around. Every body was so harrap for the minister post so they just play along with the master to save the minister post.

    Never expect the MCA fellow to change any way.

  33. Ai-yah, LKS, supposed to be experienced and wise, should not and must not ask this question.

    “The PKFZ scandal which started as a RM2.3 billion scandal under Liong Sik, became a RM4.6 billion scandal under Kong Choy, and has now ballooned to be a RM8 billion scandal under Tee Keat.” Why?

    LKS jolly know very well that every new and incoming minister has a lot of new mouths and parasites to feed. If the scandal does not get bigger and bigger with fresh input of money, how to feed new mouths and parasites?

    Also, LKS must remember there is such a thing as inflation. LLS, 2.3 billion. CKC, 4.6 billion. The difference is 2.3 billion. Sama sama saja. Inflation was not that high then. Latest, OTK, 8 billion, the difference being 3.4 billion. Factor in inflation and greater appetites, no too bad lah.

    Compare this with what other people did at the Ministry of Health and 9Bio Sdn Bhd, reasonable lah.

    People got to chiak to survive you know. The word ‘integrity’ is not in the vocabulary of Umnoputras and the BN politicians. It is also not in the vocabulary of BN-appointed civil servants, who are supposed to serve the rakyat.

    Their common vocabulary is ‘wallop’. Wallop as much as possible while they are still there.

    Even tainted people who were voted out or confirmed to chiak, chiak, chiak, are now brought back to the Umno supreme council by NR. The message is clear from the messiah!

    So, why are you bising, bising, LKS?

  34. Mega project PKFZ subscribe to inflationary pressure and caused to cost escalation. What about PKFZ progress? Does it attract any meaningful new investments?
    WHAT HAD WITNESSED AT PKFZ SO FAR IS A GHOST ZONE!

  35. MOT = LAND , SEA and AIR

    to chalk a fiqure of billions , what an amount , not many people knows how much is a billion for the matter..

    so put simply ,
    how much good can a billion RM bring us as poor tax payers….how much do we lose if we dont have it?

    For LAND …we get a railway tracks suitable for steam train, …for vehicular road transports we get traffic jam even on toll roads.

    For SEA….. where most can’t even afford a decent car but these blood suckers are talking about marinas for the public. And ferry service prone to sinking and getting aground or unable to moored at the expensive jetties.

    For Air …..we build top international class airports for self appreciation

  36. “It is also time for bondholders take some responsibility. This is the only way to instil some discipline and prudence to those who fully know what they are getting into.” Limkamput

    My understanding is that the bondholders had at least 2 legal opinions confirming that the “letters of support” constitute legal, valid and binding obligations of the government. This was the basis that MARC issued a AAA rating on the bonds. There was also the explicit acknowledgement from the Ministry of Finance about the issuance of the letters of support by the Ministry of Transport.

    Last, but not least, almost all the bonds were placed with the EPF. Under these circumstances, what more do you think the bondholders (or the EPF) could have done ?

    The more relevant questions would be (a) who cooked up this scheme (b) who sanctioned the letters of support (they go beyond Ling Liong Sik) (c) where the funds ultimately ended up (some went into the March 8 2008 elections, but not all) and (d) which individuals benefitted personally from this scheme.

    Like all schemes designed to defraud the public, we just have to follow the trail of money, and to use the threat of tax evasion to seek cooperation from the perpetrators. Of course the MACC are “compliant” enough not to “know” what to do. Put Limkamput or monsterball as commission chairman and these criminals will be leaving the country in droves.

  37. This big mouth Ong is quick to deny he is blocking the release of the report. Off course not he is getting green light how can he blocking or not blocking as all these guys are just puppet you know, they have no power lah. Kow tow fellow. so to say.

    Classified ? What classified? You mean a project dealing with business of the port is classified ? Do you mean that the port is doing some military business that all documents need to be classified? Yes all high way also classified so that Sin will not tiruan our higway technology? What a sickening way of giving excuse?

    What ever it was. Release or not release the fact is Crystal clear. All taxpayer money go to those suckers.

    So if you have not remember. Please remember to file your tax return and pay up all taxes due by 30.04.2009, other wise the suckers will died of hunger. Be good ya! pay your taxes.

    For those doing business on his own or partnership, you have until June 09 to do so.

    Happy paying and the SUCKER HAPPY LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK . And some may be consider another trip to DISNEY Beijing?

  38. ALLAN THAM Says:
    Happy paying and the SUCKER HAPPY LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK . And some may be consider another trip to DISNEY Beijing?

    Frankly, if we don’t want to pay the tax also can. They can just issue more bonds and ask banks to create money to buy those bonds or worse still ask BNM to buy the bonds. That will be the ultimate irresponsibility and I don’t know we will come to that. Just to remind all of us the power of a sovereign government. The government can either tax you from the taxes you pay or from inflation it generates, i.e. how government can inflate away their debts through massive monetization of its debts and expenditure. USA has done this without much problem, but we have to remember Malaysia is not USA.

    Godfather,
    If Mosterball is appointed chairman of commission, his first priority is to investigate why chengho has no ball – what is the origin of this phenomenon? Can the balls be reattached? And if so, can they function normally or further medical remedies are required?

  39. My understanding is that the bondholders had at least 2 legal opinions confirming that the “letters of support” constitute legal, valid and binding obligations of the government. This was the basis that MARC issued a AAA rating on the bonds. There was also the explicit acknowledgement from the Ministry of Finance about the issuance of the letters of support by the Ministry of Transport. godfather
    ——————————————
    This is precisely my point. They can have all the letter of comfort, letter of guarantee and AAA rating we want, I say let the bonds go into default. Can you see they are doing all these monkey business precisely because the federal government is the grand uncle? There is no such thing as high return without risk. In this case the project has failed and the bondholders must take the loss. Let them sue the government if they want and we shall ask the officers/ministers who issued the letter of comfort to pay personally. How about it? No, it will not frighten away foreign investors. Instead, it will encourage them to invest more. Please don’t keep talking about the sanctity of legal agreements like the IPPs and PLUS highways before this. They are mere excuses to protect the vested interests. If constitution can be amended at will, what are legal agreements, more so if they are lopsided ones.

  40. ” There is no such thing as high return without risk. In this case the project has failed and the bondholders must take the loss. Let them sue the government if they want and we shall ask the officers/ministers who issued the letter of comfort to pay personally.” Limkamput

    This is precisely the reason why there has to be a bailout and a cover-up. What do you expect Ling Liong Sik to say or do ? He signed the letters of support. What do you expect Nor Mohamed Yakcop to do ? He gave the supporting letter from the Ministry of Finance.

    Then there are the part players like a relative of the Backbenchers Club chairman Tiong, and UMNO treasurer Azim. What would they do if the case comes to court ?

    Nah, MCA can’t say “bukan gua bikin, itu semua UMNO suruh gua bikin”. UMNO can’t say “itu duit untuk pilihanraya”. So the best option is to bailout the bondholders, avoid legal entanglements, and use the entire government machinery to help with the cover-up. Only the taxpayers get royally screwed, so what’s your complaint ?

  42. On 26/4/2009 at 00:57.14, All For The Road Says:

    PKFZ BAILOUT SCANDAL

    1. Under LLS : RM2.3 billion

    2. Under CKC : RM4.6 billion

    3. Under OTK : RM8.0 billion

    4. Under ??? : RM??? billion

    Using mathematical progression, the next figure could be at around RM16 billion!

  44. aiii ee yah…you people forget so easily

    when klia was done….costing billions of RM…and so fast forgotten including your baggage..so sorry ah
    …now what m se air do sea transport improvement for the nation you people make so much bising bising

    So now how …..already mickey mouse get cursing for the toll roads to get into traffic jams…..
    why cannot meh
    m see iar only make one port mah…and the humlan got klia it very fair wat? divide equally lah all got share
    …except poor tax payer who did not get subsidy or provilege treatment or special bond issue or all whatever special…see u GE13

  45. Uncle Kit,

    My British fren scolded me when I told him this story. He said no wonder Malaysia lawmakers cannot be first world as any regulatory report must be declassified first before making it public.

    Is it true? I want to scold him back nicely.

  46. The real reason for keeping mum: MCA’s name has been used to front UMNO’s siphoning exercise. That MCA is a pariah and like a pariah it was (and still is) being kicked about and bullied was bad enough for the party: See 308 result. Now this pariah is going another level lower. It has allowed umno to do things in its name for some promised crumbs in return as consideration. A large number of MCA members are Johoreans who well knew and understand the idea of fish and prawns. Its no wonder that without fish, prawns will do just as well, should become the root and foundation of their principles and ideals. Yap Ah Loy could be flipping in his grave looking at all these developments. He may not be pleased at all to lend his name to MCA’s glorification effort.

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