Port Klang Authority (PKA) chairperson Lee Hwa Beng has filed a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) against developer Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) and its top stakeholder Tiong King Sing over possible fraudulent claims.

The report, lodged with the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya, also named three others including OC Phang, the former general manager of PKA.

The other two were BTA Architect, which is the consultant appointed for the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project and Bernard Tan Seng Swee, the consultant appointed for development works.

The MACC report comes in the wake of a police report lodged on Aug 11 against Tiong and KDSB over alleged billing discrepancies ranging from between RM500 million and RM1 billion.

PKA chief lee hwa beng at macc 26082009 However, Lee (left) said there is an additional amount of RM720 million, bringing the total to RM1.4 billion in the "possible conspiracy."

In a press release distributed to the press, Lee said PKA has decided that interest charged under land agreement one (LA1) amounting to RM720 million "ought not to have been imposed".

"(This is) because the purchase price of the land was based on a special value of RM25 per square feet which had included the interest element for the deferred payment scheme".

A special task force formed by the PKA to look into the PKFZ mismanagement found irregularities in claims made by KDSB.

The task force stated that KDSB could have over-billed the PKA by between RM500 million and RM1 billion.

This was reinforced by a special task force appointed by the Transport Ministry to look into claims of financial irregularities.

Lee, who was accompanied by PKA lawyer Lim Chee Wee, said that the two-volume graft report presented to the MACC today is compiled not only from the task force but other documents that were obtained from the director's meetings and their staff.

Phang ‘failed to alert the government'

The same press release, noted that Phang, being the former PKA general manager, had committed wrongdoings that "were to the detriment of PKA which had apparently benefitted KDSB".

This includes her ‘failure' to consider whether PKA had the ability to self-finance the purchase of the land.

This was revealed when PKA was notified by the auditor-general as early as May 27, 2004 that it was not in a position to self-finance the project.

pkfz blogspot dot com facts and reality 180609 02 "However, Phang failed to alert the government of this and did not take immediate steps to alleviate the financial predicament.

"PKA then continued to enter into significant and expensive development contracts with KDSB, thus escalating further its financial liabilities," said the statement.

It also alleged that Phang "knew of the financial position of PKA but proceeded to enter into two agreements which totalled to RM1.055 billion".

For instance, added the statement, Perunding BE Sdn Bhd was appointed as the sole quantity surveyor with the knowledge that Perunding was in a position of conflict of interest for having been engaged by KDSB and/or its subcontractor for the same project.

"Generally, (she) made unilateral decisions without the approval of the members of PKA," the statement pointed out.

PKFZ blog is ‘healthy'

On a related development, Lee considered a blog implicating more big names and new allegations concerning the PKFZ fiasco as "healthy".

According to the the Star today, the blog was set up by a group describing themselves as "non-partisan Malaysians disgusted with the wrongdoings of corrupt businessmen, politicians and civil servants".

However, Lee said he has yet to look into the blog as he had only read the news in an English daily this morning.

"I think as long as it is not seditious and more things appear in the blog, the more healthy it is. This is a public issue and everyone wants to know more and they can post whatever they want," he said.

Lee however refused to comment on a question whether he had referred to the blog as it had also pointed out Phang's alleged mishandling.

"I don't want to comment on the blog because I have already made all these allegations (in this report) and we have lodged a report against her," he said.