Wednesday, October 29, 2008

PKFZ Redux


(Source: Malaysiakini)

In an exclusive, Malaysiakini reports today, here, that a six-member team from the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has begun auditing the controversial RM4.6 billion 'soft loan' provided by the government to Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ), according to Klang Port Authority chairman Lee Hwa Beng. The assignment is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

On why auditing has been delayed - when an announcement on this had been made in May - Lee attributed it to procedural requirements. Indeed, this is welcome news especially since for quite some time I have been trying to confirm rumours that the audit firm has not even received its appointment letter.

Transport Minister Ong Tee Kiat had entrusted Lee with appointing the auditor and to assist the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should the latter conduct a probe. Lee, however, said there has not been any follow-up on the matter by the PAC since he took over the post. This is hardly surprising since to my mind, PAC under previous chairman Shahrir Samad had failed to complete its much-hyped job when it did not summon the Attorney-General to explain the dubious PKFZ land deal.

If you recall, the Sun had reported in May that Lee has stated that PKFZ was a bad idea to start with. “People have no confidence in the ACA (Anti-Corruption Agency) or PAC (Public Accounts Committee), so this (audit) is the best option,” he also said. (Read my earlier posting on this, here).

Lets hope this wont be just another extravagant exercise in futility either.

5 comments:

  1. Hear! Hear! to the sentiments expressed by the Mariner.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LHB has been appointed not to really investigate and make anything transparent quickly, but to delay and stretch things as far as possible so the scandal will remain buried for as long as possible.

    That is the nature of all these political appointments. Top MCA leaders and MP's are implicated in this scandal and so the going will be slow like the Altantuya trial.

    If you had appointed me 5 months ago, the report would have been out by now. After all, the Auditor General & PAC have looked at it and the company must have external auditors who should be on top of things.

    No, all these time-wasting is a clear indication of a cover up in the making!!

    If I am not mistaken, LBH no longer has a role in the SJ Council and the old boy network found in him a perfect match for maximum damage control and obfuscation.
    http://donplaypuks.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. capt

    unfortunately your hope will be in vain.
    this deal stinks to high heavans. look at the personalities involved. they are no ordinary man on the street. they are from inner political circles. one even was entrusted to shepherd a group of potential defectors to far away land to study agriculture.
    With their position, you still want to think they will be exposed? no way, jose. These corrupts, while thumping their chest on protecting Malay rights, will get away scot free and continue their plundering.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Capt, Don't be surprised if the audit will come out with nobody at fault. After all audit firms are also in business and competition is fierce nowadays. Remember Anwar Ibrahim's mata lebam case? The police investigation team was unable to identify who caused Anwar's injury, whereas the royal commission did it without much of an effort. Let's watch the wayang...

    p.s. During the previous liwat case involving Anwar, the so-called victims were also charged in court for ALLOWING Anwar to ... but this time Saiful was not charged but PROTECTED instead. We are all idiots, so they thought.

    frm: not idiot

    ReplyDelete
  5. Instinctively Malaysian,
    check out http://malaysia-instinct.com,
    Malaysia's latest News Portal

    ReplyDelete

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