Media statement by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Sunday, 27^th June 2010: 

Would new Transport Minister Kang Cho Ha support Port Klang Authority in withholding the next payment of RM772 million to Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd the turnkey contractor for the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ)?

Would the new Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Kang Cho Ha support Port Klang Authority (PKA) in withholding the next payment of RM772 million next month to Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd. (KDSB) the turnkey contractor to Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ)?

In September 2007, I was given the schedule of repayments by PKA to KDSB for RM4.6 billion from 2007 to 2017 in connection with bonds raised by KDSB and which plunged the country into the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal.

The schedule of repayments as reported to Parliament by the then Parliamentary Secretary to the Finance Ministry, Datuk Seri Dr. Helmi bin Yahya stipulates the following repayments to KDSB:

PKA has repaid KDSB RM1.83 billion from 2007 to 2009 and is scheduled to repay the RM772 million due this year in four parts between June 30 to July 31.

As PKA had filed two civil suits against KDSB last September for overcharging for the PKFZ project, alleging that KDSB had made a false claim of RM83 million for two development works, and with the PKA studying other claims against KDSB, the new Transport Minister should declare whether he is supports the PKA withhold repayments of RM772 million to KDSB.

Transparency International Malaysia president Paul Low has suggested that an escrow account be set up to hold the funds pending the outcome of the litigation as PKA might not get its money back if it makes the payment now and wins its suits later.

In this connection, Malaysians are entitled to know what has happened to the promise made by the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail in December last year that "more" and "bigger fishes" would be prosecuted for the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal, apart from the four executives arrested and charged in court.

Abdul Gani had declared in the presence of the head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed and the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan that the prosecution of four executives were "just the tip of the iceberg", that more people were to face charges in relation to the PKFZ scandal and that there were "still several stages of investigation into this case".

This is the New Straits Times report dated 11th December 2009 on Gani’s press conference announcing the prosecution of four executives in connection with the PKFZ scandal:

"This is just the first phase of investigations and there will be more," Gani said.

He also said his office, together with MACC and the police, had been investigating the scandal for several months.

"There are lots of issues involved, legal and factual, which are not only complex, but require substantial amount of hours of evidence gathering.

"The offences investigated include commercial crime, money laundering, abuse of power as well as corruption. We have to look at so many people and identify who is conspiring with whom. If you ask me, everyone implicated is a big fish."

Gani said the agencies had to comb and sieve all available materials to establish a case against the perpetrators.

"This is certainly not the end of the matter but just the beginning."

He stressed that they must answer for their roles and actions.

"I decided to prefer charges against these individuals as I could not wait for the authorities to complete their investigations into the whole scheme as that will take a long time. Other individuals will be charged in stages."

Gani added that the agencies were "very serious" about the case and had not been influenced by any quarters.

"We are very objective. The police and the MACC have done a fine job.

"It cannot be denied that it will take us a long time to complete the probe but do not push us as this can result in an unfair investigation," he said.

After Gani's talk about "This is certainly not the end of the matter but just the beginning" and "They must answer for their roles and actions", Malaysians are entitled to know what has happened to the various phases of the MACC investigation into the PKFZ scandal and whether the thunderous silence in the past six months is because there is not going to be further action whatsoever on the PKFZ files in both the MACC and the Attorney-General's Chambers?

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