Media Statement (2)
by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on
Friday, 19th December 2008:
RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal – answer five
questions and not just rehash chronology of events
Transport Minister Datuk Ong Tee Kiat should
not dilly-dally or backtrack from his repeated promises eight months ago
to “tell all” about the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ)
scandal.
For instance, the Star report of April 8,
2008 headlined “Ong to tell all on Port Klang Free Zone” quoted him as
saying:
“I wish to inform the rakyat about the true
situation – whether it was actually squandered, not squandered, and
where it has gone to, as well as the breakdown of the budget.”
Now, Ong is backpedaling from his promise, as he said yesterday that he
would announce the chronology of events in the PKFZ issue but not into
its financial aspects – allegedly because PricewaterhouseCoopers “is
still finetuning its report on the financial aspects involving PKFZ as
there are some formalities it needs to look through before concluding
the report”.
This is a most extraordinary turn of events
as more than a month ago, Ong had said publicly that the
PricewaterhouseCoopers report into the PKFZ scandal was ready to be made
public “soon”.
The Star report of Nov. 16, “Report into PKFZ
scandal to be made public soon” quoted Ong as promising that “everything
would be settled” by the fourth quarter of this year and that he would
reveal what had been compiled.
Let me tell Ong: don’t just rehash the chronology of events of the PKFZ
scandal (I doubt he would have anything new to add to what I had
revealed already in Parliament on the PKFZ chronology of events) but
just answer the five questions about the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal
which I had posed to him more than eight months ago on April 9, 2008,
viz:
1. Was it true that when the Port Klang
Authority and the Transport Ministry insisted on buying the 1,000
acres of Pulau Indah land for PKFZ at RM25 psf on a “willing buyer,
willing seller” basis, in the face of strong objection by the
Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Treasury which had recommended
that the land be acquired at RM10 psf, the Cabinet had given its
approval subject to two conditions: (i) categorical assurance by the
Transport Minister that the PKFZ proposal was feasible and
self-financing and would not require any public funding; and (ii)
that every RM100 million variation in the development costs of PKFZ
would require prior Cabinet approval.
2. In the event, the first condition was breached when the PKFZ
project ballooned from RM1.1 billion to RM4.6 billion requiring
government intervention and bailout while the second condition was
breached with the original PKFZ development costs of RM400 million
ballooning to RM2.8 billion without any prior Cabinet approval ever
sought for every RM100 million increase in development costs.
3. The Transport Minister had unlawfully issued four Letters of
Support to Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd (KDSB), the PKFZ turnkey
contractor — to raise RM4 billion bonds, which were regarded as
government guarantees by the market. The Transport Minister had no
such powers to issue financial guarantees committing the government,
as it could only be issued by the Finance Minister and only after
Cabinet approval. The first Letter of Support was issued by the
former Transport Minister, Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik on May 28, 2003,
which was Liong Sik’s last day as Transport Minister while the other
three were issued by Liong Sik’s successor, Datuk Seri Chong Kong
Choy.
4. Whether it wasn’t true that in recognition that the four unlawful
“Letters of Support” of the Transport Minister had nonetheless given
implicit government guarantee to the market that the Cabinet had in
middle of last year gave retrospective approval for the unlawful and
unauthorized four Letters of Support by the Transport Ministers in
the past four years creating RM4.6 billion liability for the
government in the bailout of PKFZ.
5. Why no action had been taken against the two previous Transport
Ministers, both Liong Sik and Kong Choy, as well as the government
officials responsible for the unlawful issue of the four “Letters of
Support” - getting the government embroiled in the RM4.6 billion
PKFZ scandal?
*
Lim
Kit Siang, DAP
Parliamentary leader & MP for Ipoh Timor
http://dapmalaysia.org