RM465m paid for incomplete RM256m project
By Rahmah Ghazali, Free Malaysia Today
KUALA LUMPUR: The government has paid RM465 million to a company for a RM256 million job that it has not done, according to DAP publicity chief Tony Pua.
The apparently scandalous deal was made in 1997 between the Defence Ministry and Kausar Corporation Sdn Bhd.
The project was to build an army camp in Skudai. Five years ago, the Auditor-General reported that it was 18.3 percent complete. It has not progressed a notch since, according to the latest report from the Auditor-General.
The Defence Ministry paid for the job by giving Kuasar a piece of land which the latter has mortgaged for RM465 million, indicating, according to Pua, that it could be worth more than RM600 million.
Pua, who is the MP for Petaling Jaya Utara, complained that the government had been reluctant to take action against the company and had been evading questions about it.
“The project is apparently still ongoing,” he said. “If you look at the reply (in Parliament) from the Defence Ministry, they were still issuing warnings as late as 2008, almost 10 years after the project was awarded and five years after the project didn’t move from 18.3 percent.
“Why isn’t the contract ended? Why hasn’t a single letter of demand been sent to this Kausar Corporation? Why hasn’t the company been blacklisted?”
