PKA GM Issued Directive To Proceed With Payment, High Court Told

KUALA LUMPUR -- A former finanical manager of the Port Klang Authority (PKA) told the High Court here on Wednesday that a PKA general manager issued a directive to pay RM21 million downpayment to Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) for the purchase of land in Pulau Indah despite the absence of a letter of approval from the Cabinet.Rohasnah Othman, 55, said even though the process did not follow certain procedures, the general manager, OC Phang, was insistent on the payment.

"She said she was prepared to take full responsibility for the payment on the land purchase for the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) development project," Rohasnah said.According to Roshasnah, the process was incomplete because there was no sale and purchase agreement between KDSB and PKA, no approval from the PKA board and PKA also did not have the funds."Apart from that, to withdraw from the fixed deposit that had not matured would cause PKA a loss," she said during examination in-chief by Deputy Public Prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah.

Rohasnah is the prosecution's 10 witness in the trial of former Transport Minister Dr Ling liong Sik, who is charged with cheating the Malaysian Government by not disclosing to the Cabinet an additional interest rate of 7.5 percent per annum on the land price for the PKFZ project which had been fixed at RM1,088,456,000 by the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH) based on RM25 per sq ft inclusive of the coupon/interest rate.Dr Ling, 68, also faces two alternative charges, of cheating and intentionally hiding from the Cabinet the fact that the interest rate of 7.5 per cent per annum was an additional interest rate on the land price.

He allegedly committed the offences on the fourth floor of the Prime Minister's Office at Perdana Putra in Putrajaya, between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002.Earlier, Rohasnah had said she received a payment voucher from PKA assistant general manager (administration) Paul Seo Tet Cheng for processing but told Paul that it could not be done because of certain procedures."But Paul said the payment was on the directive of Phang and I proceeded with the payment on Nov 7, 2002 after meeting with Phang a day earlier (Nov 6, 2002) to explain the procedures that had not been followed including prospects of loss," she testified.Rohasnah said this was because a letter of approval from the Cabinet was necessary as it involved a large sum and it should normally accompany the payment voucher.

She said she also reminded Phang that PKA did not have the amount to settle the payment.

"In this case (PKFZ project), there is no budget," she said.Rohasnah said PKA nevertheless paid out 10 per cent of the total RM1,088,456,000 to KDSB for the land covering 1,000 acres in three instalments.

"The first payout was RM21,769,100 on Nov 7 2002, the second, RM65,576,500 on Dec 17, 2002 and the third, RM21.5 million on Jan 28, 2003," she said.

Former Treasury secretary-general Abdul Rahim Mokti who was called as the prosecution's 13th witness also testified that PKA did not have its own funds to implement the PKFZ project.He knew this to be so as the Transport Ministry had contacted him to obtain a loan.Abdul Rahman said the Cabinet on March 24, 1999 had agreed that PKA and the Finance Ministry were to hold negotiations on the purchase of the land concerned with terms set by the government that valuation be done through the JPPH.Meanwhile, the prosecution's third witness, former JPPH deputy director-general Mani Usilapan, who was recalled by the court, still maintained his testimony that the JPPH valued the land in Pulau Indah at RM21 oper sq ft.

He said the RM25 per sq ft value was not what the department had recommended.

Hearing continues today before justice Ahmadi Asnawi.

Source : Bernama