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RM4.6 bil PKFZ bailout scandal – nobody accountable for two weeks when Kong Choy on medical leave?

When Malaysians heard or read the news about the RM4.1 billion investment from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries for the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) in Johore, their first thought would be that Malaysians themselves have this amount of money to spare if they do not have to be squandered in a bailout of the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PFZ) scandal.

Up to now, there has been no proper and full accountability as to how the PKFZ, touted as a feasible and self-financing project which would not require a single ringgit of public funds, has ended up as a RM4.6 billion burden of the taxpayers.

This is why the report today that the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy has gone on medical leave for health reasons attracted more than its usual share of attention.

His press secretary said Chan has to go abroad for a medical check-up and consultation.

I wish Chan speedy recovery, although two questions jostle for answer:

Firstly, is Chan another example of the present crop of Cabinet Ministers who have no confidence in Malaysian specialists and medical expertise that one after another has to go overseas for medical treatment and consultation. This question is particularly poignant when the Health Minister is another MCA leader, Datuk Dr. Chua Soi Lek.

Secondly, does this mean that for a fortnight, no one from the Transport Ministry need to be responsible to give full accountability for the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) bailout scandal.

Knowing that he had to go on medical leave for two weeks, Chan was being most irresponsible in failing to give a full and proper accounting of the RM4.6 billion PKFZ bailout scandal in his written answer to my question in Parliament on Tuesday.

In his answer, apart from making a bald claim that there was no fraud, irregularity or malpractice, Chan failed to address the specific issues which I had highlighted in my urgent motion on the PKFZ bailout scandal on Monday but which was rejected by the Speaker, Tan Sri Ramli Ngah as not complying withy the three prequisite requirements of being urgent, definite public importance. Continue reading “RM4.6 bil PKFZ bailout scandal – nobody accountable for two weeks when Kong Choy on medical leave?”

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RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal – Liong Sik telling the truth or a pack of lies?

I am very disappointed that my motion for an urgent debate of the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal and a government bailout has been denied, casting not only a dark shadow on the 50th Merdeka Anniversary celebrations on Friday by raising grave questions about good governance, an accountable and honest Cabinet and an effective “First-World Parliament”.

It would appear that no Barisan Nasional MP is prepared to take a principled stand demanding full parliamentary accountability of the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal and that there should be no government bail-out unless there is prior Parliamentary sanction, especially as the government had earlier been giving an assurance that the PKFZ was feasible and self-financing which would not require a single ringgit of government funding.

Although the rejection by the Speaker, Tan Sri Ramli Ngah of my urgent motion on the PKFZ is a setback in the campaign to hold the government to the National Integrity Plan launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, I will continue to demand full and proper accountability for the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal in the current budget meeting of Parliament.

Yesterday, former MCA President and Transport Minister, Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik broke his silence on the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal which was initiated when he helmed the Transport Ministry but what he said raised the question whether Ling was telling the truth or just a pack of lies.

How can Ling hide his head under the sand and claim that the PKFZ plan to “emulate Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone was a good strategic idea” when it has become a national calamity, which is the candidate for a RM4.6 billion bail-out — the biggest financial scandal for the start of any Prime Minister in the nation’s 50-year history?

Ling said yesterday that the intention of PKFZ was to copy Jebel Ali Free Zone, which had 4,500 factories supplying to the whole of the Gulf, by combining port trade with Jebel Ali and bring at least half the factories to PKFZ to supply to Asean.

After spawning the monster of a RM4.6 billion mega-financial scandal, what has PKFZ to show in terms of achieving the target of attracting 2,250 factories from Jebel Ali Free Zone to Port Klang? Has it achieved 10, five or even one per cent of this target so far? Continue reading “RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal – Liong Sik telling the truth or a pack of lies?”

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Tun Razak would have recoiled in horror at RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal and bailout

A marathon 50-hour forum was told yesterday why Malaysia’s second prime minister, the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, had called off a plan to build a swimming pool at his official residence.

Razak had felt that the estimated RM60,000 to be spent on the construction of the swimming pool could be better used in building three rural health clinics.

This episode from the past was related by Datuk Mohd Annuar Zaini, chairman of the Malaysian National News Agency, Bernama, at the Merdeka Forum “Sembang-Sembang Kopi `O’ Nasi Lemak” organised by the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry and the Federation of National Writers Associations of Malaysia (Gapena) in kuala Lumpur.

There can be no doubt that Razak who cancelled a plan to build the RM60,000 swimming pool at his official residence, would have recoiled in horror at the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal and any government bailout when the money could be better used for the poor of all races.

The second Prime Minister would have been utterly shocked at the mentality of the present batch of Cabinet Ministers in general and the Transport Minister in particular who clearly had no notion whatsoever about responsibility, accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance as there had been no proper explanation whether to the Malaysian public or to Parliament as to how such a RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal could have been allowed to happen when the government had been assured right from the beginning that the PKFZ was a feasible and self-financing project which would not require a single ringgit of public funding.

I have no doubt that if the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal had happened during Razak’s premiership, the then Transport Minister would have no choice but to tender his resignation, especially when it was the Transport Minister’s unlawful “letters of support” which had been used as government guarantees to induce investors to subscribe to the RM4.6 billion bonds for the PKFZ project.

A quarter of a century ago, the premiership of the fourth Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, was marred by the then biggest financial scandal, the RM2.5 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal which Mahathir admitted was “a heinous crime without criminals”.

Are Malaysians to celebrate the 50th Merdeka anniversary in an increasingly somber mood with an even bigger “heinous crime without criminals” than the RM2.5 billion BMF scandal 25 years ago – the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal?

It was reported by foreign agencies on Friday that at a meeting between the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy late last Thursday, the Prime Minister gave the green-light for a RM4.6 billion soft-loan to bailout the PKFZ. Continue reading “Tun Razak would have recoiled in horror at RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal and bailout”

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RM4.6b PKFZ scandal – Kong Choy should seriously consider resignation

The reasons why Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy chickened out from personally appearing at the Transport Ministry press conference on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) on Thursday seem to have become clearer — that he not only wanted to avoid hard and embarrassing questions about his role and responsibility in the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal, but he also wanted to evade questioning on the Transport Ministry’s five-page statement on PKFZ.

This is because more and more questions are surfacing over the accuracy and correctness of the statement, which strangely was issued anonymously, without the Transport Minister or anyone of his deputies daring to put their name on it!

Some of these questions include:

Firstly, was the Transport Ministry right in putting the whole blame of the ballooning of the cost of the PKFZ from RM1.1 billion to RM4.6 billion on Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza), the former PKFZ operator?

Was Jafza responsible for the scandalous price of RM1.8 billion or RM25 psf paid by Port Klang Authority (PKA) for the 1,000 acres for the PKFZ from Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd which had four years earlier bought it for RM95 million or RM3 psf?

The Transport Ministry has failed to explain why it insisted on paying Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd. RM25 psf in the teeth of opposition of the Finance Ministry and the Attorney-General’s chambers which proposed that the land be acquired compulsorily at the market value of RM10 psf.

The Transport Ministry said the PKA’s purchase price was reached because of work done on the site, including land reclamation, drainage, construction of access roads, installation of street lights, water services and payment to various utility agencies.

If the recommendations of the Finance Ministry and the Attorney-General’s Chambers had been followed, the price of the 1,000 acres for the PKFZ would be RM720 million instead of the exorbitant RM1.8 billion — an astronomical difference of RM1.1 billion.

Is Chan really justifying the RM1.1 billion difference in the land price on the ground of “work done on the site, including land reclamation, drainage, construction of access roads, installation of street lights, water services and payment to various utility agencies”?

Let Chan make public the costs of such “work done”, whether it was more than RM10 million or RM20 million — when the difference is the gargantuan sum of RM1.1 billion. Continue reading “RM4.6b PKFZ scandal – Kong Choy should seriously consider resignation”

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Kong Choy should own up – how many of the 4 unlawful “letters of support” for RM4.6 billion PKFZ bonds were signed by him

Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy chickened out of the special press conference yesterday on the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal, which was only attended by his press secretary.

Is this because Chan is aware that he would have to face many difficult and embarrassing questions about the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal which he would not be able to answer satisfactorily and he decided that the better of valour was to avoid the media altogether on the issue?

Chan must own up – how many of the four “Letters of Support” for Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd.’s RM4.6 billion bonds for PKFZ project was signed by him as Transport Minister and why he should not be censured in Parliament for the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal in giving such unlawful government guarantees without authority from the Finance Ministry resulting in the AAA rating from the Malaysian Rating Corporation Bhd — and now given as the main reason why the government has to undertake the bailout of the RM4.6 billion PKFZ.

Kuala Dimensi is not only the company which sold the 1,000 acres of land for the PKFZ to Port Klang Authority (PKA) at RM25 per sq ft or some 20 times the cost of its acquisition of the land four years earlier in 1999 at RM3 per sq ft but also the turnkey contractor for RM1.85 billion development of the PKFZ.

The press conference by the PKFZ business development general manager Chia Kon Leong had failed to answer the many pertinent questions concerning accountability, transparency and integrity of the RM4.6 billion PKFZ as well as its feasibility and viability.

Chia said that PKFZ aims to be self-sustaining in 2012 when it is targeted to have an 80 per cent occupancy rate, equivalent to housing between 650 to 700 companies, when it would generate RM80 million annually.

The PKFZ project was sold by Kuala Dimensi to the government on the understanding and undertaking that it would be feasible, self-financing and would not need a single ringgit of public funding from the very beginning.

At the rate of generating RM80 million revenue annually from 2012, it would take PKFZ 57.5 years to recover the RM4.6 billion investments or to be more correct “mis-investments” — i.e. till 2070! Continue reading “Kong Choy should own up – how many of the 4 unlawful “letters of support” for RM4.6 billion PKFZ bonds were signed by him”

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Urgent Monday motion – no RM4.6 bil PKFZ bailout without full parliamentary accountability and prior sanction

I have given notice to the Speaker of Parliament, Tan Sri Ramli Ngah to move an urgent motion when the Dewan Rakyat reconvenes on Monday — that there should be no bail-out of the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal unless there is full parliamentary accountability and prior Parliamentary sanction.

In my notice, I pointed out that there have so far been no proper accountability to Parliament whether by the Transport Minister or the Finance Minister about the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal despite the exposes in the public domain, such as:

  • (i) Hanky-panky in the purchase of the 1,000 acres for the PKFZ, despite objections by the Finance Ministry and the Attorney-General’s Chambers;

    (ii) mismanagement resulting in the pull-out of Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone (Jafza) from the project, which could become a “white elephant”; and

    (iii) questionable cost-overruns of the PKFZ, ballooning to RM4.63 billion from the original estimate of RM1.1 billion.

  • The unlawful and unauthorized Transport Ministry issue of four “letters of support” which were used by the turnkey contractor – Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) – to raise RM4.6 billion bonds and get an AAA rating from the Malaysia Rating Corporation Bhd. for the PKFZ project.
  • Why the government and the 26 million Malaysians must now bear responsibility if there is a RM4.6 billion PKFZ bailout despite earlier assurances that the PKFZ project would be feasible, self-financing and would not involve a single ringgit of public funds.
  • Why the Prime Minister is breaching his undertaking of no bailout of mega-billion-ringgit “white elephant” projects — set to be the biggest financial scandal at the beginning of any Prime Minister.

Continue reading “Urgent Monday motion – no RM4.6 bil PKFZ bailout without full parliamentary accountability and prior sanction”

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M4.6 billion PKFZ scandal – don’t let it stink to high heavens and mar 50th Merdeka anniversary

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should take drastic step to ensure that Malaysia does not celebrate the 50th Merdeka anniversary in nine days’ time with the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal stinking to high heavens.

The past few days have seen more skeletons of the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal coming out of the cupboards, with the Sun reporting yesterday that the government has been placed in a position of having to divert RM4.6 billion of public funds to bail out the Port Klang Free Zone because the Transport Ministry had given undertakings it was not authorised to do so.

The Sun reported that the Transport Ministry issued “letters of support” which were used by the turnkey contractor – Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) – to raise bonds and get an AAA rating from the Malaysia Rating Corporation Bhd.

The four letters were issued between 2003 and 2006 for the issuance of bonds for the RM4.6 billion cost of the project.

The question Malaysians want answer is why the Transport Ministry had illegally without sanction from the Finance Ministry issued letters of support to enable Kuala Dimensi to issue RM4.6 billion bonds to cover its cost overruns, which must now be borne by the government and the 26 million Malaysians — despite the Transport Ministry’s assurance that the PKFZ would be feasible, self-financing and would not need to involve a single ringgit of public funding.

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Datuk Shahrir Samad has called a PAC meeting on the PKFZ scandal to look into two concerns:

  • Will it involve any government bailout; and
  • Will it affect foreign investors’ confidence in other projects in Malaysia, like the Iskandar Development Region and other developments.

The Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy will be guilty of grave breach of parliamentary privilege if Parliament and the PAC are misled into thinking that the issue of the RM4.6 billion PKFZ bailout has yet to be decided by the Cabinet — if in fact, such a decision had already been made and taken by the Cabinet.

This is why Chan cannot continue to keep dumb on the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal and must come out with a clear and unequivocal statement as to whether the Cabinet had taken a policy decision on the bailout, and if so, when the decision was taken and why. Continue reading “M4.6 billion PKFZ scandal – don’t let it stink to high heavens and mar 50th Merdeka anniversary”

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Bukit Gantang carnage – Kong Choy pointing finger of blame at everybody except himself

Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy is pointing the finger of blame at everybody for the latest Bukit Gantang road carnage which killed 20 and injured nine except himself — when such horror road fatalities are not supposed to happen after the Kuala Lipis bus crash which claimed 14 lives and injured 26 people 45 months ago.

The Kuala Lipis road carnage happened in the first month of the premiership of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on 31st November 2003 and was the cause of a national hue-and-cry starting from the Prime Minister who demanded action by Chan to ensure that such tragedies do not recur.

Since then, there had not only been the road carnage at Km229 of the North-South Expressway near Bukit Gantang on Monday, but also the Nibong Tebal bus crash in July last year which left 11 dead and 35 injured among those on their way to the St. Anne’s Feast in Bukit Mertajam.

During the nation-wide hullabaloo led by the Transport Minister over the Kuala Lipis road carnage 45 months ago, I had warned the Prime Minister that his administration must learn from the expensive lessons of the past as to why the country had failed to end the road carnage on Malaysian roads which had wrought such great emotional and socio-economic havoc in terms of loss of human lives and economic costs to the community for the past 13 years.

I had expressed fears that “the latest bout of high-profile government and public concern about the high traffic accident rate and fatalities would not be another short-lived but quickly-forgotten “wonder” as had happened many times since 1990. Continue reading “Bukit Gantang carnage – Kong Choy pointing finger of blame at everybody except himself”

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RM4.6b PKFZ scandal:Why Pak Lah breaking another pledge – no mega bailouts?

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has said that he would ask the Transport Minister, Datuk Chan Kong Choy to explain why concerns by Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) addressed to Chan over the progress of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) were not entertained.

This was his response to the Sun’s front-page report yesterday that Jafza pulled out of the PKFZ deal because of political interference, bureaucracy and breaches of the management agreement signed between Jafza and the Port Klang Authority (PKA).

Jafza executive chairman Sultan Ahmad Sulayem and its senior vice president (international operations) Chuck Heath wrote to Chan on March 11 and May 29 last year respectively but received no replies.

Chan must not only explain his role in the pull-out of Zafza from PKFZ, the Transport Minister must publicly explain and account for the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal, now leading to a RM4.6 billion government bail-out of the project when the originally RM1.1 billion PKFZ had started as a “feasible and self-financing” project which would not require a single sen of public funds.

Yesterday, when addressing some 1,200 delegates including ministers, menteris besar and chief ministers attending the National Asset and Facility Management Convention, Abdullah said action should be taken against those in the public sector who were responsible for maintaining public buildings when public buildings fall apart.

Let Abdullah start off this culture of responsibility with the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal, and bring to book all public officials, from Cabinet level downwards, who were responsible for the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal — or is this going to be a repeat of a bigger RM2.5 billion Bumiputra Finance Scandal more than 20 years ago of “a heinous crime without criminals”?

If Chan as Transport Minister must bear full responsibility for the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal, then an example must be made with his resignation or removal from Cabinet — as otherwise, all the talk about public accountability and responsibility under the Abdullah administration are just hot air without credibility.

In this case of the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal, Abdullah himself must explain why he is breaking another pledge when he became Prime Minister of no mega-billion-ringgit bailouts. Continue reading “RM4.6b PKFZ scandal:Why Pak Lah breaking another pledge – no mega bailouts?”

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Port Klang Free Zone — Forlorn and pathetic air of another failed multi-billion ringgit mega-project

This morning, together with Ronnie Liu, Peter Tan, Tee Boon Hock and other DAP Klang leaders, I visited the multi-billion ringgit Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ), which has been shrouded in such secrecy despite being open to operation more than six months ago on November 1, 2006.

The PKFZ has the forlorn and pathetic air of another failed multi-billion ringgit mega project and Malaysiakini reporters Fauwaz Abdul Aziz and Sabrina Chan are right in coining the term “mega ghost-town” for it.

The PKFZ offers 512 standardised warehouse units, 260 ha of open land and four blocks of eight-storey office complexes. After seven months of opening, there are only signs of two of the 512 warehouse units being taken up but not yet utilized. The only company that has visible presence of operations is the Norwegian oil and gas company Aker Kvaerner. Otherwise, the 1,000-acre PKFZ is an expanse of empty office blocks, warehouse units and land blocks.

There is no vibration of activity or even sense of commercial life!

No wonder the authorities concerned were so upset when they received word that I was going to visit the Westports and a security detail was very rude in demanding to know what I was doing at PKFZ, inviting an earful as to why a visit by the Parliamentary Opposition Leader should be regarded as akin to trespass especially when Parliamentary sanction will have to be sought if there is to be a billion-ringgit bailout of the failed PKFZ.

Many questions swirl around the PKFZ for the past few years without answers, and it is time that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s pledge to lead an open, accountable and transparent administration be respected by his subordinates, particularly the following personalities: Continue reading “Port Klang Free Zone — Forlorn and pathetic air of another failed multi-billion ringgit mega-project”

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RM70 million for AVSS to collect traffic fines from Singaporeans – 24 years to recoup if system can last that long

RM70 million for AVSS to collect traffic fines from Singaporeans

A news report in last week’s New Sunday Times (18.3.07) caught the attention of an eagle-eyed reader, Tan Poh Soon, who has emailed about how ridiculous it was to spend RM70 million to instal a system to collect traffic fines from Singaporeans, which will take some 24 years to recoup the cost if the system could last that long:

While reading a news regarding Singaporean motorists paid a total of RM8 million in Malaysia traffic fines over the past three years, i noticed that it is also mentioned that the outstanding summon are being track down with a system known as Automated Vehicle Screening System.

According to the news, there are currently 24 unit of such system, where each unit cost RM2.9 million. The news also reported that the relevant department will add more of such unit at various places.

I’m wondering what is the rationale of installing such system which is so much expensive. Even if the system are able to track down RM8 million of unpaid summons every 3 years. It will still need at least 24 years to recoup the investment.

Do take note that this does not include the opportunity cost, interest and maintenance cost. Furthermore, i doubt that such system will be able to last 24 years. Continue reading “RM70 million for AVSS to collect traffic fines from Singaporeans – 24 years to recoup if system can last that long”