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PLUS’ Mad Rush For Profits At The Expense of Corporate Social Responsibility Should Be Punished Severely By Withdrawing Its Twin Benefits Of A Tax-Exempt Status And The Waiver Of Interest Payments For The RM 1.65 Billion Government Loan To PLUS Press Statement by Lim Guan Eng (Petaling Jaya, Monday): PLUS’ mad rush for profits at the expense of corporate social responsibility as shown by the latest imposition for fines for motorists who drive too slowly or spend too much time in the highway should be punished severely. By imposing an extra RM 10 fine on motorists who spend 3 hours on a journey that normally takes one hour to complete, PLUS has shown no corporate social responsibility. Only in Malaysia can one be punished with a speeding ticket by the police for traveling too fast and by PLUS for traveling too slowly. DAP calls on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to remove the twin benefits of Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan(PLUS) tax-exempt status and the waiver of interest payments for the RM 1.65 billion government loan to PLUS. Why should PLUS seek more profits from such fines for spending too much time in the highways when the 10% toll increase from 1.1.2005 has resulted in PLUS making an additional RM 154 million in profits for 2005.  By focusing more on profits than public interests and more on responsibility to its investors than corporate social responsibility, the time has come to remove some of  PLUS’ benefits. Amongst the principal benefits that should be removed are the exemption of all tax payments for 5 years from 2002-6, traffic volume guarantees, loan guarantees for commercial loans taken out by PLUS and waiver of interest payments to the government for the RM 1.65 billion loan.  PLUS recorded a profit for RM 736 million in 2003 and is expected to make a profit for RM 760 million in 2004. Due to the 10% toll hike, PLUS’ profits in 2005 is expected to spike to M 937 million. Instead of collecting 28% of all these billion ringgits in profits as taxes, the country and 25 million Malaysians affected by the 10% toll hike will not get anything from PLUS’ increased profits as PLUS has been granted tax exemption status and waiver of payment interest for its government’s loan.   Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah has disappointed Malaysians by ignoring their protests and refusing to intervene to stop the toll hikes. The Prime Minister should try to partially redeem himself for his inaction by rolling back some of these favours granted to PLUS that are clearly not in the public or in the national interest.  Why should PLUS be granted tax exemption status when they only give lip service to the concept of corporate social responsibility? This is contrary to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir’s assertions that it is good for the country that companies make money as the country can collect 28% of the companies’ profits in taxes. With such tax exemptions to PLUS, Tun Mahathir’s reasoning is clearly flawed and false when the country would not get a single cent or benefit from PLUS’ huge profits..  PLUS 10% toll hike also proves that the previous opposition of BN MPs is a mere “sandiwara” and that they only publicly oppose what they secretly support inside BN. Further, the government‘s “zero inflation” campaign has lost all credibility when it can allow and justify the 10% toll hike. The government has no moral authority to stop price increases when it can allow a 10% toll hike to a company already making nearly RM 800 million annually. (24/1/2005) * Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General