Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang Siang in Petaling Jaya on Thursday, 21^st May 2009: 

RM12 billion PKFZ “can of worms” – Ong Tee Keat and MACC, what games are you playing?

Malaysians today are entitled to ask the MCA President/Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) - What games are you playing with regard to the RM12 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) “can of worms”?

In the latest twist to an unprecedented long catalogue of twists, Ong now says that the question of whether the PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) report on the PKFZ scandal will be made public rests with the cabinet.

This is most unbelievable! Wasn’t it Ong himself who issued a categorical, even commanding, instruction to the Port Klang Authority (PKA) on April 29 to release the PwC audit report on the PKFZ to the public “within seven days”?

Why one excuse after another since then to justify why the PwC report on the PKFZ has not yet seen the light of day, until the whole responsibility is thrown back to the Cabinet – when Malaysians had been told that the Cabinet had given Ong the greenlight to release the PwC report, which was the reason for Ong’s command on April 29 to the PKA to make public the PwC report within seven days?

There should be no need to remind Ong of the various past pledges he had made in the past 15 months to “tell all” about the PKFZ scandal, and that “paper cannot wrap embers” especially as the PKFZ scandal has become so infested to become an even bigger “can of worms”, snowballing from a RM1.8 billion scandal in 2002 under Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik as Transport Minister, more than doubling to RM4.6 billion under Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy as Transport Minister and now mushrooming into the astronomical figure of a RM12 billion scandal under Ong’s watch as Transport Minister.

In now saying that the Cabinet has to decide whether to make public the PwC audit report on the PKFZ scandal, is Ong admitting that his powers as Transport Minister has been clipped and his earlier decision for the report to be made public had been overruled by mysterious but powerful forces?

Why is Ong knuckling down to the pressures of those who do not want the PwC Report on the PKFZ scandal to be made public, by agreeing to revert back the issue to the Cabinet, when the Cabinet had earlier given him the “greenlight” to make public the PwC report?

Shouldn’t Ong take a stand that it is now for the Transport Minister to decide on whether the PwC report on the PKFZ to be made public, and not to pass the buck back to Cabinet?

This is the clear stand Malaysians want from Ong, to be stated boldly in his blog, instead of mumbling about the Najib slogan, “People First, Performance Now” which has achieved remarkable record of a new Prime Ministerial slogan discredited in the shortest period – in fact in less than seven days of its announcement!

The Star today carried the front-page headline report “MACC moves in – Commission starts probe into PKFZ project” on a team from the Putrajaya MACC starting to interview those involved in the project.

It reported:

It is learnt that a team from the Putrajaya MACC has been investigating and inquiring from those in the know about the project.

Sources familiar with the investigation said the MACC is expected to intensify its probe once it has obtained a copy of the report by accounting firm Pricewaterhouse-Coopers Advisory Services Sdn Bhd (PwC).

They said the MACC would study the report and see if there were new elements which the commission could follow up on.

The MACC is also expected to contact several people in the Port Klang Authority (PKA) as part of its investigations.

MACC director of investigations Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull confirmed investigations were in progress but declined to elaborate.

What game is the MACC playing, in giving the impression that it has suddenly sprung into action, waiting to investigate into the PKFZ scandal when the PwC report is made public?

Four reports, whether to the police or the Anti-Corruption Agency, had been made by Selangor Executive Councillor, Ronnie Liu when he was head of DAP NGO Bureau in the 18 months from December 2004 on the PKFZ scandal and there is no reason why the ACA or its present successor the MACC could not lay its hands on all the relevant information and documentation on the PKFZ scandal if it had been thorough, competent and professional in its investigations.

It is most ridiculous for the MACC to strike the stance as is it is an innocent who is getting information about the PKFZ scandal for the first time, and is awaiting the PwC report to get more information for necessary follow-up action.

There should be a full investigation into why the ACA had failed to uncover any improprieties or crimes in the PKFZ scandal despite Ronnie Liu making four ACA or police reports since December 2004 – a ACA “cover-up” which should regarded as heinous as the PKFZ scandal!

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary leader & MP for Ipoh Timor