KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 – Lim Kit Siang said today that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad should be called by the Attorney-General (A-G) to testify in Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik’s fraud trial.
The DAP parliamentary leader also said that Cabinet ministers must be brought to court as Dr Ling was charged for misleading the government.
“The prime minister at the time was Tun Dr Mahathir. Will Dr Mahathir or any of his ministers in 2002 Cabinet testify in court of being misled by Ling to approve Port Klang Authority’s purchase of PKFZ land with 15-year repayment with compound interest instead of 10 years?
“Who were the ministers in the 2002 Cabinet? The deputy prime minister was Tun Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi). Other ministers in the 2002 Cabinet who are still ministers include Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was defence minister; Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who was minister for domestic trade and consumer affairs; Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein who was then minister for youth and sports; Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz who was then entrepreneur development minister; Datuk Seri Rais Yatim and Tan Sri Bernard Dompok who were then ministers in the prime minister’s department,” he said in a press statement.
Other former Cabinet ministers who, according to Lim, should also be called include Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz; present Public Account Committee Chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid; three MCA ministers at the time, Datuk Chua Jui Meng, Tan Sri Fong Chan Onn, and Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting; Tun Lim Keng Yaik; Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu; and Tan Sri Law Hieng Ding.
Dr Ling was charged yesterday for cheating the government by misleading the Cabinet on the land acquisition for the PKFZ project in Klang.
The charges concern land valuations under the penal code with the principle charge under Section 418, with the alternative charge under Section 417.
He faces up to seven years in jail for the first charge and up to five years’ imprisonment under the alternative charge. Both carry a fine.
Dr Ling previously testified that land valuation in the PKFZ came under the Dr Mahathir’s purview.
According to the penal code, section 418 concerns “Cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may be thereby caused to a person whose interest the offender is bound to protect”, while section 417 concerns “Punishment for cheating.”
Last year, The Malaysian Insider reported that Dr Ling had told the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) probe into the scandal-ridden PKFZ that Dr Mahathir oversaw the project’s land valuation.
In the verbatim of the PAC meeting procedures, the former MCA president pointed out that the costing and valuation of the land was determined by the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) which was chaired by former prime minister and finance minister, Dr Mahathir.
“Our job in Ministry of Transport is to only state the fact that we want the land. Costings, valuations and all that, it is not the function of the Ministry of Transport. We do not have a Valuation Department.
“Costings and valuations is a question for the Treasury to deal with. They have the Valuation Department and everything is there, not in Ministry of Transport. I think [it was] Tun Dr Mahathir who chaired it, and he was the finance minister also. He saw it very clearly. That was the fact of the case,” Ling said in the verbatim.
Despite the charges brought against Dr Ling, Lim continued to question if Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail will deliver on his promise to charge the “big fishes.”
“These issues have not been adequately dealt with despite the promise by the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail last December and the country is still waiting for the Attorney-General to fulfil his pledge to leave no stone unturned to haul in the ‘big fishes’ implicated in the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal,” he said.
Dr Ling led MCA from 1986 to 2003. The PKFZ project was mooted during his tenure as transport minister and the cost of the project, initially estimated at less than RM2 billion, more than doubled to RM4.6 billion by 2007.
The total bill for the project is expected to swell to as much as RM12.5 billion due to interest costs from deferred payments, if the trans-shipment hub fails to perform.
Malaysian Insider
30/07/10
The DAP parliamentary leader also said that Cabinet ministers must be brought to court as Dr Ling was charged for misleading the government.
“The prime minister at the time was Tun Dr Mahathir. Will Dr Mahathir or any of his ministers in 2002 Cabinet testify in court of being misled by Ling to approve Port Klang Authority’s purchase of PKFZ land with 15-year repayment with compound interest instead of 10 years?
“Who were the ministers in the 2002 Cabinet? The deputy prime minister was Tun Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi). Other ministers in the 2002 Cabinet who are still ministers include Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was defence minister; Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who was minister for domestic trade and consumer affairs; Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein who was then minister for youth and sports; Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz who was then entrepreneur development minister; Datuk Seri Rais Yatim and Tan Sri Bernard Dompok who were then ministers in the prime minister’s department,” he said in a press statement.
Other former Cabinet ministers who, according to Lim, should also be called include Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz; present Public Account Committee Chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid; three MCA ministers at the time, Datuk Chua Jui Meng, Tan Sri Fong Chan Onn, and Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting; Tun Lim Keng Yaik; Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu; and Tan Sri Law Hieng Ding.
Dr Ling was charged yesterday for cheating the government by misleading the Cabinet on the land acquisition for the PKFZ project in Klang.
The charges concern land valuations under the penal code with the principle charge under Section 418, with the alternative charge under Section 417.
He faces up to seven years in jail for the first charge and up to five years’ imprisonment under the alternative charge. Both carry a fine.
Dr Ling previously testified that land valuation in the PKFZ came under the Dr Mahathir’s purview.
According to the penal code, section 418 concerns “Cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may be thereby caused to a person whose interest the offender is bound to protect”, while section 417 concerns “Punishment for cheating.”
Last year, The Malaysian Insider reported that Dr Ling had told the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) probe into the scandal-ridden PKFZ that Dr Mahathir oversaw the project’s land valuation.
In the verbatim of the PAC meeting procedures, the former MCA president pointed out that the costing and valuation of the land was determined by the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) which was chaired by former prime minister and finance minister, Dr Mahathir.
“Our job in Ministry of Transport is to only state the fact that we want the land. Costings, valuations and all that, it is not the function of the Ministry of Transport. We do not have a Valuation Department.
“Costings and valuations is a question for the Treasury to deal with. They have the Valuation Department and everything is there, not in Ministry of Transport. I think [it was] Tun Dr Mahathir who chaired it, and he was the finance minister also. He saw it very clearly. That was the fact of the case,” Ling said in the verbatim.
Despite the charges brought against Dr Ling, Lim continued to question if Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail will deliver on his promise to charge the “big fishes.”
“These issues have not been adequately dealt with despite the promise by the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail last December and the country is still waiting for the Attorney-General to fulfil his pledge to leave no stone unturned to haul in the ‘big fishes’ implicated in the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal,” he said.
Dr Ling led MCA from 1986 to 2003. The PKFZ project was mooted during his tenure as transport minister and the cost of the project, initially estimated at less than RM2 billion, more than doubled to RM4.6 billion by 2007.
The total bill for the project is expected to swell to as much as RM12.5 billion due to interest costs from deferred payments, if the trans-shipment hub fails to perform.
Malaysian Insider
30/07/10
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