Former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim lambasted business tycoon Halim Saad over his attempt to link him to the payment of millions of ringgit to Metramac Corporation Sdn Bhd as the Cheras toll concessionaire.

Describing Halim's statement as "insinuatory and utterly mischievous", Anwar said that his name should not have been linked to the matter as it was already a done deal by the time he took over the Ministry of Finance from Daim Zainuddin who resigned on March 14, 1991.

The former deputy premier said this through his lawyer Sankara Nair who held a press conference in his office this morning to respond to Halim's statement which named Anwar as the finance minister who oversaw the February 1992 revised concession between Metramac and the Kuala Lumpur mayor.

Halim had issued the statement to deny a judicial finding made by Court of Appeal judge Gopal Sri Ram who in a ruling on Jan 14 judgment accused Halim and Anuar of siphoning RM32.5 million from Metramac, under the patronage of Daim.

"On Feb 13, 1992 the new revised concession ... signed between Metrmac and KL mayor. On that date the minister of finance was Anwar Ibrahim and the minister of works was Leo Moggie. Daim was not involved at all," Halim had stated in the statement.

Daim had also denied the allegations in a statement issued by his lawyer Cecil Abraham on Tuesday. The former minister is expected to elaborate ont the issue next week.

After careful study

At the press conference today, Sankara told reporters that Anwar has instructed him to issue a press statement after a careful study of Gopal's judgment and Halim's statement.

"Halim's statement that mentioned Anwar as the minister of finance when the Metramac deal was approved is insinuatory and utterly mischievous. This is because the court had catergorically and unequivocally named Daim as the minister who approved the same and the court also made direct reference to Halim and Anuar Othman in connection."

"The judges (of the Court of Appeal) have dealt very aptly with the facts indicating indisputably that Daim approved the deal in 1991 before Anwar assumed the position as Minister of Finance."

He said the court in the judgment had stated that the problems faced by Fawziah Holdings (who filed the action against Metramac) and the loss of the concession to Halim started actually in late 1990 when Daim was still the minister of finance.

"The evidence speaks for itself," said Sankara.

He said Anwar was of the view that these finding are "judicial findings" based on oral and documentary evidence that were presented at the High Court when the case was on trial which are far superior that an unsworn statement by Halim.

Police reports

As such, he added, Anwar urged the Attorney-General (AG) to commence an immediate investigations against all parties named in the judgement including the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and the Works Ministry.

He said his client also called upon the AG not to continue ignoring the police reports the former deputy premier had made during his incarceration between 1999 and 2000.

"I remembered accompanying Anwar to file these reports while he was still detained at the Sungai Buloh prison. The reports were complete with documentary evidence. But to date no investigation papers have been opened," Sankara said.

One of the reports was on an Umno-linked company Hatibudi Sdn Bhd involving about RM800 million in which he had specifically mentioned Halim Saad.

He also reiterated his call for the establishment of an independent public inquiry as the matter was of public interest.

"In the light of the serious challenge to the integrity of the judiciary, our client calls on the government to act immediately by instituting an independent public inquiry into the matter. This will conclusively quell all unfounded allegations and counter allegations as can now be seen in the media reports, which will surely affect public confidence."

In the judgment, Justice Gopal had ordered Metramac to pay about RM65 million to Fawziah Holdings in compensation for the loss 'of advertising rights'.

Fawziah Abdul Karim and her mother Maimon Bee, owners of Fawziah Holdings, were the former owners of Syarikat Teratai KG (STKG) Sdn Bhd, which is now known as Metramac.

In July 1986, Fawziah procured a road privatisation tender but toll collection for these roads was suspended in September 1990 following a public outcry and demonstrations at the Cheras toll plaza.

STKG had sought RM764 in compensation for the loss of toll revenue. Gopal noted that in 1990, Daim, who was then still finance minister, said the government could not afford to pay the sum.

Later, Metro Juara, of which Halim and Anuar were shareholders purchased STKG for RM97.5 million and was subsequently renamed Metramac.

Background to Metramac scandal