Pakatan leaders sceptical about PKFZ arrests

The Malaysian Insider

Thursday December 10 2009

Pakatan leaders sceptical about PKFZ arrests

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 — Pakatan Rakyat national leaders were unimpressed and sceptical about today’s arrests made in connection to the RM 12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal, calling it a scapegoating exercise where the main culprits still remain free.

DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang said the arrests were a small move and had yet to prove the federal government’s will to get to the bottom of the scandal that involved bloated land valuations and double charges.

“Although we are seeing some movement, the arrest is a very small piece of a larger picture,” said the Ipoh Timur MP, who has been at the forefront of the Pakatan campaign on the PKFZ scandal.

“And unless there is a greater political will to deal with those responsible for the mother of all scandals and this only touches the surface of the problem,” he told a press conference in Parliament here.

The police, together with graft-busters MACC, today arrested former general manager of the Port Klang Authority (PKA), Datin Paduka OC Phang, along with two others. All three were later charged for criminal breach of trust (CBT) and other offences at the Klang Sessions Courts. The trio were released after posting bail.

So far it is unclear if more personalities — such as former transport minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy or Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, who controls PKFZ contractor Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) — will face any action.

PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar brahim speaking to reporters in Parliament also shared Lim’s scepticism over the arrests.

“We welcome this move albeit it being a small move but just as what had happened to Perwaja, the smaller fishes were caught while the bigger sharks escape so in the PKFZ case, I hope this is not the beginning of a cover up on the issue,” he said.

Anticipating public doubt, the Attorney-General has said that the arrests of the three will not be the end of the PKFZ probe.

He said more are expected to be arrested and charged this Monday, with one of them being a KDSB engineer.