PKFZ 3

Ronnie Liu Tian KhiewJeff is right. The prime minister is passing the buck. (read Screenshots today).He should know what was going on with the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone by now as our source showed that he has met Noel Gulliver of Jafza in April this year before he was sent back to Dubai. Besides, the case was also discussed in the Cabinet recently after I made my second police report on 11 June 2007. In fact, the Chief Secretary was asked by the Cabinet to investigate why the multibillion bonds were issued by the Transport Ministry and not the Minstry of Finance.He should have summoned Chan Kong Choy for an explanation immediately after he was alerted about the wrongdoings and weaknesses of the mega project. How can he say 'I don’t know and I have to ask Chan Kong Choy'?I have just got back from Klang after making my third police report ( Klang/031416/07) a while ago. I was accompanied by Selangor DAP leaders Lau Weng San, Tee Boon Hock, Cheong Kai Cheng and Chang Pak Hong.My IO is Inspector Samsuddin of the Commercial Crimes Department. He will be taking my statement on Thursday. I had a word with his boss ASP Ahmad Faizal before I left the Klang IPD, asking him to look into the matter personally before more money of the taxpayers gone down to the sea. He could not answer me why my second report made on 11 June with his department was not being investigated. In the press conference, I said the police, ACA and the Cabinet must take the necessary actions because the implications of this scandalous white elephant are very far-reaching. It has already affected the confidence of foreign investors besides losing taxpayers’ money.Heads must roll. Those who should be stepping down must do so immediately and those who have committed crimes (corruption, abuse of power, cover-up for illegal activities, mistakes and weaknesses) must be brought to book.No more cover-up!This is my second police report in June…————————————————————————————Police report by Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew, DAP CEC Member and NGO Bureau Chief on the questionable RM1.81 billion PKA/Westports land deal and RM1.3 billion contract on Tuesday, 12 June 2007 in Klang. A. Buyer: Port Klang Authority (PKA) B. Seller: Kuala Dimensi/ Pulau Indah Malay Fishermen CooperativesC. Players: Tun Ling Liong Sik, Datuk Chan Kong Choy, Datuk Yap Pian Hon, Datuk Chor Chee Heong, Datuk Tiong King Sing, Datuk Rahman Palil, Datuk Azim Zabedi. Tan Sri Gnalingam.D. Losers: Rakyat Malaysia I was alerted by someone who has read my recent statement entitled “ Westports RM1 billion land deal: Why still no answer after police report made in December 2004?”, that the actual amount paid by Westports was not RM1 billion as reported earlier, but a whopping RM1.81 billion! The figure was found in the 2005 AG Report according to a Business Times Singapore report dated 13 August 2005. To me, RM1 billion for 1,000 acres was unreasonably high, what more if the amount was RM1.81 bullion? According to S Jayasankaran who filed the news report titled “AG highlights Port Klang’s financial dilemma”, MALAYSIA’S Port Klang Authority (PKA) cannot meet huge debt obligations of almost RM3 billion (S$1.32 billion) which will begin in 2007 without some serious government help, according to a report by the Auditor-General on the Authority’s financial statements for the year ended Dec 31, 2003. According to the AG’s report, KPA agreed to purchase 1,000 acres of land near Westport from a private company for RM1.81 billion in November 2002. The plan, which has received federal government approval, was to create a national loading centre and a regional distribution hub along the lines of a similar distri-park inDubai. Earlier, it was reported that the deal valued the land at more than RM25 per square foot, which is more than 44% higher than the market value at that time (about RM14 psf). The AG described the price as something ‘calculated on a special-value basis’. What would the AG describe if the price was RM1.81 billion? Can anyone in the PKA or the Transport Ministry now tell us what exactly was “ calculated on a special-value basis”? According to S Jayasankaran, the private company, which was unnamed in the AG’s report, is Kuala Dimensi, which is controlled by the family ofSarawak tycoon Tiong King Sing. Tiong is currently the Bintulu MP. Since 2002, it has been chaired by Azim Zabedi, who was named treasurer of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) in 2004. The AG’s report stated that KPA paid a 10 per cent down payment of RM108.5 million and agreed to pay the rest over 10 years beginning 2007 in installments of between RM130 million and RM179 million. But that isn’t all. The report stated KPA signed another agreement with Kuala Dimensi to develop the land as a distribution hub for RM519 million in 2003. Subsequently, the authority signed another supplementary agreement with Kuala Dimensi to develop the land but this time for RM1.3 billion. No explanation was given for the price increase according to the Business Times Singapore report. This is simply not proper and unacceptable. We want the police to investigate on these two questionable contracts between PKA and Kuala Dimensi.I have toured the Westports Free Zone last week and taken some pictures. The 512 units of godowns were completed for a long time but yet to start operation. The only visible foreign company that set its foot here is Aker Kvaerner from Norway. It appears to me that less than 100 acres of land were being utilized for the Free Zone, leaving much of the overpriced land vacant. The high-rise motorway linking the Westports and the Free Zone currently under construction is unnecessary and highly questionable. The report noted that a similar scheme of payment would be undertaken by KPA - namely, it would pay Kuala Dimensi a down payment of RM100 million, while the rest would be paid between 2007 and 2017 on a staggered basis. But the report stated that KPA did not have that kind of money. I have made a police report on the scandalous PKA/ Westports RM1 billion land deal in December 2004, urging the police to instigate MCA leaders like Ling Liong Sik, Chan Kong Choy and Yap Pian Hon. Incidentally,Yap is now replaced by Chor Chee Heong in April this year. He was quoted by Merdekareview. Com that he has nothing to say about the questionable land deal.More than two years have passed but nothing has come out of my police report. But now we were told that both the Westports and PKA were in deep financial problems. In fact, PKA is said to have incurred some RM3 billion in debts! We also found out that Chor Chee Heong happens to sit on the board of Wijaya Global, a company linked to Wijaya, the mother company of Kuala Dimensi. This is a clear-cut case of conflict of interest! Chor has to resign either as the Chairman of PKA or relinquish his post as the deputy chairman of Wijaya Global immediately. ————————————————————————————And this my third police report made today… Third Police Report on the scandalous RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone by DAP CEC and NGO Bureau Chief Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew at the Klang District Police Department on Tuesday 14 August 2007.The RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal I made my first police report on the scandalous project December 2004 in Petaling Jaya. My second report was made on 11 June 2007 at the Klang IPD.I was not informed about any outcome about my first two police reports. I am now making my third police report on the matter and hopefully the police would act immediately without fear or favour!I am now referring to various media reports on the scandalous RM4.6 billion PKFZ.While the police has failed to act fast on the matter, the total amounts involved have jumped from RM 1 billion (Dec 2004) to RM3.1 billion (June 2007) and now RM 4.63 billion. The questions centre on:Exorbitant high costs on land and development (Corruption, leakage and wastage?) Acting outside of the jurisdiction of a statutory body (Abuse of power?) Breach of trust as cabinet ministers and government servants (Corruption?) Wrongful endorsement for bonds issued (Abuse of power and poor governance?) Misleading financial reports (Cover-up for corruption?) Political interference (Abuse of power?) Illegal amendments on minutes of meetings (Corruption?) Conflict of interest between the regulator and developer (Corruption?) Use of same lawyer for the buyer and the seller (Cover-up for corruptions?) Termination of contract without justification (Cover-up for corruptions?) Personalities allegedly involved in the scandalous project include a former MCA president, a former Transport Minister, two former chairpersons of Port Klang Authority, the current Transport Minister, the current PKA chairperson, the current General Manager of PKA, the current chairperson of PKFZ, a Member of Parliament and a Selangor State EXCO member, and last but not the least, two component parties of Barisan Nasional. The police must act before more taxpayers’ money was wasted! ——


——————————————————-(From theSun 14 Aug 2007 pg 2)PM asks Chan to explainLlew-Ann Phang and Terence FernandezKUALA LUMPUR (Aug 13, 2007): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has asked Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy to explain why concerns by Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) addressed to Chan over the progress of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) were not entertained. “I will get Chan to report to me about this,” Abdullah said after opening the National Asset and Facility Management (Nafam) Convention 2007 today.He was responding to theSun’s front-page report today that Jafza pulled out of the PKFZ deal because of political interference, bureaucracy and non-conformation to the manangement agreement signed between Jafza and the Port Klang Authority (PKA).Jafza executive chairman Sultan Ahmed Sulayem and its senior vice-president (international operations), Chuck Heath, wrote to Chan on March 11 and May 29 last year, respectively, but received no replies.In his letter, Sultan Ahmed had said Jafza was facing difficulties working with PKA and these issues were previously advised by Heath. Sultan Ahmed said Jafza was concerned that the zone’s reputation would be in jeopardy because of PKA’s continued interference which caused delay.He said PKA had also overruled many areas of its responsibilities, resulting in, among others, an incident in which Jafza general manager Noel Gulliver was escorted out of the office and taken to the immigration headquarters for working without a permit.Heath’s letter pointed to a “total lack of government planning … which has seen the most fundamental issues being considered and resolved only after the event rather than before”.Further, he said, transparency was non-existent and the “Malaysian political and economic landscape has too many vested interests seeking involvement and control in this project”.Heath also alleged that since the signing of the management agreement, many issues arose, contrary to the spirit of the agreement and the contractual obligations of both parties.Abdullah said: “The Jebel Ali Free Zone (is) some kind of joint venture for the development of the port site. It involves the Dubai people, so I don’t want to make any comment at this point.”He agreed that he had a meeting with Jafza officials but that it was held “a long time ago but it was not because of this”.Dubai-based Jafza had on July 18 announced it was pulling out of the agreement to manage the PKFZ for 15 years with the aim to mirror Jafza’s competitive and attractive business environment because of “strategic reasons”.The reasons it cited was that it wanted to concentrate on projects where it could retain control of equity. In PKFZ’s case, 100% equity was held by PKA.The original cost of the project ballooned from RM2 billion to RM4.6 billion because of, among others, overvalued land costs.What stands on the site are rows of unoccupied buildings, an incomplete four-star hotel and pothole-ridden roads.Documents obtained by theSunrevealed that the fallout was because of red tape, political meddling, inaccurate minutes and attempted tax evasions.Newly-appointed PKA chairman Datuk Chor Chee Heung berated the authors of the report saying it was pointless to get his comments at this stage.Asked if the report was inaccurate, Chor said he was at a meeting and would respond later.PKA general manager Datin Paduka O.C. Phang, who was accused by Jafza officials for her part in frustrating the agreement, was unavailable for comment as she was attending meetings all day.

It was brewing a few years ago yet no decisive action got underway. The BN government didnt take the appropriate measures to control the costs over-ride. Now the bail out is underway I think though the second minister was saying a ruse. It is bail out no need to hide with colorful words. As far as I see it, the sleeping beauty still dreams about billions and the taxpayers have to rescue failed project(s) again. Every privatization project fails. The people have to pay more and more. Yet the people still vote for BN blindly......it is time the focus must be for changed in the government. The rural folks in the country should wake up now. It is no use taking $200/-

while the leaders take home millions. Even Dr M had said billions would be spent to win the rural votes for this coming GE. A few GE ago I had a friend who brought along $400,000/- in his bag for the purpose to win the voters in the rural areas and then to get contracts worth millions. He said he would not lose his money because he would get it back many times over. I think time these rural folks understand the truths thought it may hurt them initially. It is better now than never when one loses everything for the next generation. Vote wisely