Designer Crooks

Hantu Laut

The purchase of a single laptop for RM42,300, a nine-inch computer monitor for RM8500 and screwdriver costing over RM200.Malaysia Boleh!

A project budgeted at RM1.1 billion snowballed to RM4.5 cost overrun and projected to snowball to over RM12.5 billion, yet the government approved such horrendous increase without due care.

To add salt to the wound, the government even approved a soft loan of over RM4 billion when logically the project should have been terminated to cut any further losses.

Project given to the same people who sold the land to the government at highly inflated price.Willing seller, willing buyer with bad intentions.

A prime minister supposedly approved project of this magnitude without approval of his cabinet.Land purchased at exorbitantly higher than market price approved by the cabinet.Board members sleeping on the job and failing in their duties to exercise fiduciary control over the PKA management giving them carte blance to do what they like.

A baffling preference for higher costs of financing, going against the advice of MOF (Ministry of Finance) to consider government-guaranteed bonds bearing lower interest rate.

Giving project of this magnitude to a single turn-key contractor when a more prudent approach should have been used by slicing the cake into different portions and giving them to different contractors.

The shroud of dishonesty and attempt to cheat the government hung in the air from the day the project was conceived.

In its investigative audit Price Waterhouse reported:

Issue 1: The proposal to purchase the Land was approved by the Cabinet.
However, subsequent development proposals were not tabled to the
Cabinet for approval

Issue 2 : PKA failed to alert the Cabinet in a timely manner of its inability to
finance the Project from its internal funds.

Issue 3: The Board did not exercise oversight and adequate governance over
the implementation of the Project.

Issue 4: Advice of the Attorney General was not sought and certain MOF
regulations were not complied with.

Issue 5 : There could be potential conflicts of interest arising from the
involvement of parties who had prior association with either the Land or
KDSB

Issue 6 : Interest on the MOF soft loan will increase the Project outlay from
RM4.947 billion to RM7.453 billion. Unless the MOF soft loan is
restructured, total outlay for the Project will increase to RM12.453 billion

Issue 7 : PKA could have reduced its funding costs had it complied with MOF’s
recommendation to issue government-guaranteed bonds and
developed the Project in phases

Issue 8 : The Land was acquired at special value which exceeded market value

Issue 9 : KDSB may have overcharged PKA for interest by between RM51
million and RM309 million in connection with the purchase of the Land.

Issue 10: DA3 was not a ‘fixed sum’ contract and did not stipulate a rate for
professional fees claimable by KDSB.

Issue 11 : PKA incurred claims of RM95.256 million for general preliminaries cost
not expressly specified in the DA.

Issue 12 : The final account for DA3 did not include any deduction for value of
work not done on three infrastructure components in the Land purchase
agreement

The whole shipload of them including Pak Lah should be hauled up to answer to the people how their money was lost to a crooked deal chiefly designed by those in power.

Does the AG need more proof to send all these vermin to the slammer.The final figure of the the cost overrun could reach MR12.5 billion, a mind-boggling more than 1100 percent increase.

Prime Minister Najib should make sure no guilty party is given protection from prosecution.All guilty party must face the music according to the severity of their crimes.

While the poor remains poor, the crooked powers that be live in sinful extravagance on money stolen from the people.