KUALA LUMPUR: DAP's veteran leader Lim Kit Siang asked if former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad or any of his ministers from the 2002 Cabinet would testify in court when it hears the case against former transport minister and MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik?
Ling was accused of misleading the government into approving Port Klang Authority's purchase of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) land with a 15-year repayment with compound interest instead of 10 years.
"Who were the ministers in the 2002 Cabinet. The deputy prime minister was Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Other ministers who are still ministers include Najib Tun Razak, Muhyiddin Yassin, Hishammuddin Hussein, Nazri Abdul Aziz, Rais Yatim and Bernard Dompok.
"Other ministers who are no longer in the Cabinet include Rafidah Aziz, Azmi Khalid; three MCA ministers at the time -- Chua Jui Meng, Fong Chan Onn, and Ong Ka Ting -- Lim Keng Yaik, S Samy Vellu and Law Hieng Ding," Lim said in a statement.
Still waiting for A-G to act
The Ipoh Timor MP noted that as far back as three years ago in Parliament, during the budget debate, he had focused on the main issues of the PKFZ scandal:
1. PKA's purchase of 1,000 acres of Pulau Indah land from Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd for PKFZ at RM25 psf when the Treasury and Attorney-General’s Chambers proposed acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act at RM10psf.
2. The ballooning of the PKFZ cost from RM1.1 billion to RM4.6 billion and its development costs from RM400 million to RM2.8 billion.
3. The four illegal "letters of support" by then transport ministers Ling and (former MCA deputy president) Chan Kong Choy for the RM4.6 billion bonds issued by KDSB through special purpose vehicles.
"These issues have not been adequately dealt with despite the promise by Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail last December and the country is still waiting for him to fulfil his pledge to leave no stone unturned to haul in the 'big fish' implicated in the PKFZ scandal," said Lim.
Yesterday, Ling was charged at the Sessions Court under Sections 417 and 418 of the Penal Code with cheating and could face a jail term if found guilty.
The 67-year-old medical doctor-turned-politician, who was bestowed with a Tun -- the highest honorific title in the country -- after his retirement in 2003, had pleaded not guilty.
The case, dubbed as the most high-profile corruption case in Malaysian history, would be mentioned in September.
Ling, a long-time minister and MCA's sixth president, was known to be close to Mahathir during his tenure in government.
The charge against Ling reads:
“That you, between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002, at Level 4 of the Prime Minister’s Office in Bangunan Perdana Putra, cheated the Government by deceiving the Cabinet into approving a land purchase in Pulau Indah for a Mega Distribution Hub project in Port Klang according to the terms agreed between Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd and Port Klang Authority which, among others, are:
1. The size of the land being 999.5 acres or 43,538,200 sq ft
2. The purchase price for the land being RM25 per sq ft amounting to a total of RM1,088,456,000
3. The repayment period being based on a “deferred payment” of 15 years with an interest rate of 7.5% per annum (total RM720,014,600), and thereby dishonestly hiding the fact that the valuation by the Valuation and Property Service Department on the land was RM25 per sq ft for a repayment period of 10 years or RM25.82 per sq ft for a repayment period of 15 years, including coupon/interest that could be charged for the repayment period.
And as such, you purposely induced the Cabinet to give its consent to the purchase, whereas the Cabinet would not have given its consent if the fact had been told to the Cabinet, and the fraud was committed with the knowledge that you could cause a loss to the Government, where you have an interest in the transaction pertaining to the fraud and you are bound under the law to protect it and, as such, you have committed an offence punishable under Section 418 of the Penal Code.”
COMMENT Former Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik was charged in court yesterday. It sent shocks through the MCA. MCA must now feel betrayed.
After all Ling was one of us - us being one of more important leaders of the Barisan Nsional in those halcyon days.
Indeed, Ling was PM of Malaysia for a few hours when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was partyless for the “few hours” when old Umno was deregistered and a new Umno was being formed.
What if Ling had at the time said “go and fly kite. Saya PM sekarang. You orang keluar BN”?
So, personally for Ling – this must feel like a betrayal. He must be feeling most betrayed.
There was one piece of news however that attracted my attention. It was s statement in his charge sheet.
According to the charge sheet, the Finance Ministry had already valued the land at RM25psf - inclusive of compounded interest - and this fact was withheld from the Cabinet by the accused.
(NB: Ling was charged under Section 418 of the Penal Code with misleading the Cabinet between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002, into agreeing to purchase 999.5 acres of land on Pulau Indah for a project, now known as PKFZ, at a price of RM25psf on a deferred payment basis for a 15-year period, at a 7.5 percent interest rate. The cumulative interest paid would total RM720 million at the end of the repayment period. He was also offered an alternative charge, under Section 417 of the Penal Code, for the same offence.)
Expect to be stabbed
I am not sure how a Cabinet meeting is conducted. Usually in an exco meeting for example, all papers would be prepared by the secretary to that meeting.
For a Dewan Undangan Negeri (state assembly), the papers are prepared by the MMK secretary, who is the secretary to the exco, usually a state administrative officer.
I am thinking, the principle must be the same- files and papers prepared by the Cabinet secretary.
That being the case, a copy of the file note containing the valuation price of the land must be in all the files.
Unless, the file for the PKFZ topic for that day was prepared by Ling alone and that the only information for decision that fateful day, came from Ling alone. That would be highly unusual.
Unusual because at all material time, the Finance Minister at that time, had in his possession all information about the land to be bought by PKFZ.
He would make this information available to all Cabinet members at that meeting. Or in preceding meetings.
The Finance Minister would have spotted the blatant discrepancy unless he went along with Ling. Other alert members would have spotted it too.
All Cabinet members liable too?
All Cabinet members present at that meeting at that time would now have to discover that particular document provided by whoever it was at that time, from his/her own personal files, and produce them in court. So all you SUSK (private secretaries) prepare to look for the file of that meeting for your minister.
This means everyone at that meeting on the day Ling presented his notes would have to appear before court to testify. Now everyone will stab Ling.
If the only paper informing the value of the land came from Ling, then everyone was deceived.
Or did everyone agree in unison with the facts presented by Ling. It would be interesting also to know, whether the Finance Minister then, who had the real information, went along with Ling. Or did he object?
If the entire Cabinet agreed with Ling despite having the real facts, then the entire Cabinet is vicariously liable. Ling is now feeling, most betrayed. Is there is no honour among thieving friends?
(Note: Ling is the second MCA president to be charged. The first was Tan Koon Swan)
Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz is a former state assemblyman for Pulau Manis in Pekan, Pahang. He was an elected representative from 2004-2008. His comments was first posted on his blog Sakmongkol AK47.
No comments:
Post a Comment