We seem to started the year 2006 with a bang. The judgment made by the eminent justice Sri Ram managed to see through a web of deceit perpetrated by our former finance minister Daim Zainuddin and his protges Halim Saad and Anuar Othman to milk taxpayers of nearly RM764 million. It would seem that the lack of corporate governance is raring its ugly head again.

I suppose Malaysians are by now immune to this type of news. We all know about those 'corporate hotshots' of the 80s and 90s who were nothing but mere proxies for our former finance minister. Collectively they were called 'Daim's boys' and most of the companies they ran floundered while they remained filthy rich.

Only in this blessed country, I suppose, where we applaud failure can these crony companies do no wrong with government funds (read: taxpayers' hard-earned monies) being used to keep them afloat when times are bad.

Proton, Perwaja, MAS, UEM are all government-linked companies which are millstones round the country's neck as a result of dishonest former CEOs. Somehow, the guilty have not been caught and charged, their place taken by 'smaller fishes'

And now we await the government's response to the wise judgment of our eminent judge who says that two former protges of the former finance minister have committed criminal breach of trust when they siphoned of RM32 million from toll concessionaire Metramac.

Will the ACA and Securities Commission check the books of Metramac (with a fine tooth comb, please) to see whether a white-collar crime has been committed? Or will the judge's decision be just left to gather dust after the public forgets about this episode too, after some time?

Whatever it is, don't hold your breath waiting for justice to be served. With Malaysians getting more and more immune to this kind of behaviour by business and political leaders, their cronies are having a field day raiding government coffers and escaping.

'Malaysia boleh, semua boleh'.