KUALA LUMPUR, 15 Jan: The prosecution against leakages and corruption in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) Project is just a planned farce by the BN minority government to obscure the eyes of the people, said the Terengganu KEADILAN Chairman, Azan Ismail.
He said after the release of former Transport Minister, Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy, on the charge, none of the parties were punished for causing billions of ringgit in losses in the project.
“This seems to be like a planned drama intended to convince the people that the government is serious in combating leakages. When the election was over, the accused were acquitted,” he said when contacted by Keadilan Daily.
According to Azan, the failure of convicting the individuals in the scandal shows the inability of the minority government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to address the issue of abuse of power involving public funds.
“He does not seem to be serious in overcoming the problem of leakages, and what is stranger is that not even one Umno leader dares to speak out regarding the PKFZ case. This proves that they have no integrity,” stressed Azan.
Recently, the former minister and deputy minister of MCA, Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy, escaped imprisonment after the prosecution withdrew the charges of cheating in the PKFZ case.
Chan was charged on 28 February 2011 on charges of cheating the former Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, about the trans-shipment project worth RM1.9 billion from 2004 to 2006.
In October last year, the former Transport Minister, Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, was also acquitted of the charge of cheating the Cabinet in the scandal.
It was originally to have cost RM1.1 billion after being inspired in 1997, but the sum later grew to RM4.6 billion in 2007. The total cost from taxpayers’ money is estimated at RM12.5 billion.
An audit by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2009 said that Chan and the former General Manager of the Port Klang Board and the board of directors of the port agency were not carrying out their duties with utmost attention.
