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Media Statement (2) by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, 14th July 2009: Will Tee Keat ask Cabinet to lift “immunity” for prosecution of two former Transport Ministers for the unlawful issue of four “Letters of Support” which has landed the nation in a RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal? MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat yesterday complained about the “topsy-turvy” world of corruption where those who order e investigations into corrupt practices become the “accused” while the corrupt continue their wrongdoings scot-free with impunity from the law (Sin Chew). Instead of talking in riddles, can Ong return to his former characteristic style of direct, frank and forthright speech and explain whether he is complaining two things - the injustice of being an “accused” although he had ordered full investigations to expose the very bottom of the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal while those responsible for mega-corruption are allowed to go scot-free enjoying impunity from the law? If so, then let Ong answer two things:
I had not withheld my praises for Ong when he exposed the RM30,000 “leakage” in the renovation SJKC Kung Yu in Muar in 2006, but I will not be sparing in my criticism of Ong for spearheading a cover-up of the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal by limiting investigations to PKA and PKFZ levels – cordoning off all inquiries into the higher reaches of the decision-making process on the PKFZ scandal, especially the Cabinet level. Last month, Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff was handed a 150-year jail sentence, the maximum sentence possible and the forfeiture of his over US$170 billion in illegally obtained assets whose ruined victims lost homes, inheritances, stock portfolios and life savings in one of the biggest financial scams of all time. But in Malaysia, those responsible for the series of mega financial scandals in the past three decades, including the PKFZ “scandal of all scandals”, have all gone scot-free enjoying impunity from the law. If Ong is really serious in wanting to stand out as the first MCA Minister who takes an uncompromising stand against corruption and all forms of misuse of power, is he prepared tomorrow to ask the Cabinet to lift “immunity” for prosecution of two former Transport Ministers Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik and Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy for the unlawful issue of four “Letters of Support” which has landed the nation in a RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal? Ong is to appear before the Public Account Committee on Thursday in the PAC investigation into the PKFZ scandal. Is Ong prepared to “tell all” to the PAC about the sorry tale of the PKFZ scandal going back to its genesis a decade ago, including every decision taken by the Cabinet right from the very beginning, or is he going to tell PAC that he is bound by the Official Secrets Act and cannot divulge any information about the Cabinet decisions and discussions on the PKFZ, whether the present or the past? There is no use of Ong appearing before the PAC only to tell it that he cannot say anything about Cabinet decisions on the PKFZ scandal, going back to the very beginning. Ong should get full clearance from the Cabinet tomorrow for the declassification of all Cabinet decisions, papers and memorandum about the PKFZ so that the PAC has all the facts necessary to make its PKFZ inquiry useful and meaningful. I will decide after Ong’s appearance before the PAC on the PKFZ on Thursday whether to continue my daily questioning of Ong on the “mother of all scandals” in Malaysia! *Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary leader & MP for Ipoh Timor
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