Cabinet Entrusted Rais Yatim On PKFZ

TUN DR LING LIONG SIK’S defence team attempted to demonstrate to the High Court today that the former Transport Minister had acted purely on advice from civil servants and did not act on his own accord in the controversial Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) land deal during his tenure.

Retired Ministry of Transport (MOT) Deputy Secretary-General, Datuk Abdul Rahman Mohd Noor told the court under cross-examination that his then-boss, Dr Ling, had not “overruled or reversed any decision” made by himself or the MOT Chief Secretary in any matter related to PKFZ.

“Do you agree that in this case, the accused (Dr Ling) as the minister had acted on your advice and the KSU’s?” Dr Ling’s lawyer, K.K. Wong asked.

“Generally,” Abdul Rahman replied.

Dr Ling’s graft trial was also told that the Cabinet had, during the Mahathir administration, assigned DATUK SERI RAIS YATIM, who was then-minister in charge of law, to oversee the legal dispute surrounding the decision to obtain the required land for the project through an acquisition process or by buying back the land directly from its landowners.

Rais had proposed that the government buy the land.

In one of the many government correspondences raised in court today, Wong highlighted that Rais had advised the federal government on June 27, 2002 to buy the 1,000 acres of land on Pulau Indah instead of obtaining it through acquisition.

According to the prime minister’s special economic advisor, Tan Sri Ali Abul Hassan, who had studied the viability of the project, an acquisition would have meant it would have taken longer for the deal to go through.

The ruling government was then under pressure from Dubai-based investor Jebel Ali Free Zone International (Jafzi) who questioned the lengthy delay over PKFZ.

The court was told that Jafzi had written letters to KDSB, which were ultimately passed on to the Cabinet, saying the foreign investor was seriously considering pulling out and heading to Liem Chabang in Thailand or Indonesia’s Batam.

The court was also told that the Selangor government then under the Barisan Nasional coalition did not agree to the federal government’s acquisition of the Pulau Indah land under Section 3(1)(a) of the Land Acquisition Act 1960 due to a previous land development order.

Abdul Rahman said allegations of misrepresentation from PKFZ’s main contractor, Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) had also been raised to the Cabinet on October 30, 2002 in respect to the case, and that Rais had been assigned to investigate.

“Did you know if Rais Yatim’s proposal [to buy] had helped with the legal aspects of this case?” Wong asked.

“Yes,” Abdul Rahmad replied.

KDSB and the Port Klang Authority (PKA) had inked a sales-and-purchase agreement (SPA) for the Pulau Indah land on November 12, 202, before the Cabinet approved the deal.

Abdul Rahman, now 61, who was a PKA board member until his retirement from the civil service in March 2004, told the court that no one had raised any objections to the fact that the SPA did not follow the terms and conditions prepared by government agents in the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH).

The ex-MOT officer will take the witness stand once more before High Court judge Datuk Ahmadi Asnawi at 9am tomorrow with examination back to the prosecution.

Dr Ling is charged with deceiving the government by concealing the fact that the 7.5 per cent interest rate was surplus to the purchase of Lot 67894 at RM25 psf amounting to a total of RM1,088,456,000 despite knowing that JPPH had already taken interest into account when it valued the land.

The former MCA president also faces two alternative charges of deceiving the Cabinet into believing that the purchase of Lot 67894 at RM25 psf and the 7.5 per cent interest rate were acknowledged and agreed to by the JPPH, despite knowing that there was no such agreement.

The veteran politician faces up to seven years in jail and a fine if convicted of the principal charge under section 418 of the Penal Code.

By : DEBRA CHONG (sabahkini)