I refer to the police report lodged by an Austrian, Franz Christoph Heldwein, against Transport Minister Dr Ling Liong Sik, his son and businessman Soh Chee Wen ( Foreign investor claims Ling, his son and Soh owe him RM100 mil ).

There are two unusual aspects as revealed by its contents.

First, it is strange that, when a RM100 million is alleged to be owed "when a business deal which they negotiated fell through in 1997", the Austrian and associates (who "agreed to sell their controlling stake in another listed company called Isuta Holdings Bhd at a price 30 percent below the market value") did not deem it appropriate to institute civil legal action to recover the monies but choose to lodge a police report instead.

What is the nature of the offence that is sought to be established by lodging such a report?

The other strange aspect is that according to Heldwein, the deal of getting IST Amalgamated Sdn Bhd, listed o­n the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) did not fall through because "after seeking legal counsel, we felt it not prudent to take the survey maps as promised by Ling (as) it may violate the Official Secrets Act and Internal Security Act".

"There could be implications with regards to the Anti-Corruption Act," Heldwein added.

This story of last-minute misgivings and reservation is strange. Wrongful or otherwise, the survey maps ought to be, from a third-party standpoint, within the contemplation of the relevant parties including the aggrieved party that lodged the police report. This is because (as inferred based strictly o­n the contents of the report):

* Soh's position of allegedly being "a business associate of a senior cabinet minister in Malaysia" was sought by Heldwein because he "could not o­nly help with the listing of IST but also create a market base for IST products in both the government and private sectors".

IST was a company, which developed high technology-based products, including a vehicle tracking device and black boxes for commercial vehicles.

I assume that a tracking device based o­n automatic vehicle location (AVL) technology would allow locations of the company's commercial vehicles (vans and trucks) to be tracked through cell phone and Internet via global positioning system (GPS) and pinpointed o­n o­ne's computer at any o­ne time.

It has alarm features to alert base of any holdup. It generally increases efficiency in response to customer requests for quicker delivery. It enhances deployment efficiency by monitoring o­n screen the paths taken by vehicles to see whether a truck/van has arrived at the places assigned for delivery and how long the van or truck driver lingers or malingers in specific areas.

I would imagine that for this technology to be commercially exploited to create a market base for IST products, geographic

co-ordinates essential for AVL mapping software are necessary, and hence the crucial importance of accurate survey maps.

* Nobody who, at the outset, desires to create a market base for IST products based o­n vehicle tracking would not know the importance of survey maps and go for it from the cost angle. It seems fatuous to develop last-minute reservations as to whether getting the survey maps would contravene Official Secrets Act or Internal Security Act.

* If a deal was called off because of such reservations, so be it. Is it the other party's fault? Is there cheating?

It can be unwound by retransfer of Isuta Holding Berhad's shares. If that cannot be, as is obviously the case, well sue the parties or their proxies by civil action for misrepresentation or whatever.

Why lodge a police report when o­ne knows or ought to know from Day o­ne o­n what it would take to implement this technology? It gets very ugly and sordid. In general, political patronage is, as per our cultural milieu under Malaysian Inc, essential for keeping the business edge.

What's new? We who are businessmen all seek to establish that connection. It is nothing new to Malaysians - this allegation of the incestuous relationship between politics and corporations, corporate transparency as promoted by KLSE and Security Commission notwithstanding.

I don't know whether foreigners know this or not, but some of us Malaysians know the unspoken ethic that when we, as businessmen, solicit patronage for the business edge, and the business does not work out (whether or not due to the 1997 financial crisis or other acts of God), we take the loss when it falls, rather than to wash dirty linens in public to bring down the patron whom we actively and guiltily solicited in the first instance.