Will Dr M and his 2002 crew take the stand?
(Free Malaysia Today) – DAP’s veteran leader Lim Kit Siang asked if former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad or any of his ministers from the 2002 Cabinet would testify in court when it hears the case against former transport minister and MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik?
Ling was accused of misleading the government into approving Port Klang Authority’s purchase of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) land with a 15-year repayment with compound interest instead of 10 years.
“Who were the ministers in the 2002 Cabinet. The deputy prime minister was Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Other ministers who are still ministers include Najib Tun Razak, Muhyiddin Yassin, Hishammuddin Hussein, Nazri Abdul Aziz, Rais Yatim and Bernard Dompok.
“Other ministers who are no longer in the Cabinet include Rafidah Aziz, Azmi Khalid; three MCA ministers at the time — Chua Jui Meng, Fong Chan Onn, and Ong Ka Ting — Lim Keng Yaik, S Samy Vellu and Law Hieng Ding,” Lim said in a statement.
Still waiting for A-G to act
The Ipoh Timor MP noted that as far back as three years ago in Parliament, during the budget debate, he had focused on the main issues of the PKFZ scandal:
1. PKA’s purchase of 1,000 acres of Pulau Indah land from Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd for PKFZ at RM25 psf when the Treasury and Attorney-General’s Chambers proposed acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act at RM10psf.
2. The ballooning of the PKFZ cost from RM1.1 billion to RM4.6 billion and its development costs from RM400 million to RM2.8 billion.
3. The four illegal “letters of support” by then transport ministers Ling and (former MCA deputy president) Chan Kong Choy for the RM4.6 billion bonds issued by KDSB through special purpose vehicles.
“These issues have not been adequately dealt with despite the promise by Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail last December and the country is still waiting for him to fulfil his pledge to leave no stone unturned to haul in the ‘big fish’ implicated in the PKFZ scandal,” said Lim.
Yesterday, Ling was charged at the Sessions Court under Sections 417 and 418 of the Penal Code with cheating and could face a jail term if found guilty.
The 67-year-old medical doctor-turned-politician, who was bestowed with a Tun — the highest honorific title in the country — after his retirement in 2003, had pleaded not guilty.
The case, dubbed as the most high-profile corruption case in Malaysian history, would be mentioned in September.
Ling, a long-time minister and MCA’s sixth president, was known to be close to Mahathir during his tenure in government.
The charge against Ling reads:
