SHAH ALAM: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak should stop touting his “people first…” slogan and first explain the scandals and the leaks involving billions of ringgit which have underlined decades of Umno-Barisan Nasional rule.
The missing billions, said PKR supreme council member Tan Kee Kwong were public funds and must be explained even before Najib can begin winning the rakyat’s confidence.
Tan said this while debating Najib’s speech in which the premier said BN was always “prioritising the rakyat and helping the poor and needy.”
Tan drew attention to a litany of scandals which has ripped apart the Malaysian economy, leading to its current debt-ridden state.
He recalled how in 1998 during the economic crisis, finance minister Anwar Ibrahim was sacked and replaced by Daim Zainuddin.
According to him, Daim had at the time awarded a RM5.2 billion contract to his crony company PSC Shipyard Berhad to build OPV vehicles (Patrol Pesisir).
The Public Accounts Commission (PAC) later discovered that the finance ministry had issued a check for RM1 billion before the OPV was completed.
“During the PAC meeting we were shocked to hear that RM3.8 billion had been paid out by the ministry although not a single OPV had been sent to the Navy (Royal Malaysian Navy).
“Then we questioned the defence ministry chief secretary about the missing RM600 million, he it was used to pay-off the debts of another one of his (Daim’s) projects.
“I understand the OPV contract has since been given to another company to complete the job and it has cost the BN government RM7.5 billion in total, an additional RM2.3 billion.
“Is this what Najib meant by “people first”?” asked Tan, the former deputy minister of land and cooperative development.
Major scandals over the years
Tan also questioned the setting up of the Terengganu Investment Agency (TIA) which was involved in administrating the flow of “wang ehsan” funds from Petronas to the Terengganu.
The TIA received profits of between RM600 to RM700 million a year in commissions. “I was given to understand that for a large amount like this, a three percent commission is usually paid.
"In this case the commission paid was 12.5 percent and the commission received on the balance RM3.5 billion is even higher.
“Wang Ehsan should be used to to help the poor in Terengganu, not for other activities and should in fact be used to secure bonds," said Tan.
“Why was there a need for a 12.5 percent commission payout. Is the investment in Kazakhstan safe?" he asked.
He also recalled the major scandals involving the BN government, including the RM4 billion Hong Kong BMF scandal, the RM15 billion Perwaja Steel fiasco and the RM10billion PKFZ affair.
Also the time when MAS shares which were bought at RM8 per unit when in fact its market price was only RM3.5 and the direct awards of contracts for construction of schools and computers worth RM10 billion, and the RM8 billion purchase of military tanks.
The price of the tanks was RM500 million but what the government paid out was RM30 million for each unit.
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