A copy of the controversial Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) audit report, which was made public today, will be submitted to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

ong tee keat and pkfz report released 270509 2 Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat said he had instructed Port Klang Authority (PKA) chairperson Lee Hwa Beng to deliver the report to the commission so that an investigation could be launched into the multi-billion-ringgit scandal.

According to Ong, another copy of the report will also be sent to the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to probe any possible wrongdoings.

“We need now to seriously act on the findings of the report to make sure that the interest of the people are fully protected and that this government walks the talk,” said Ong in his latest blog posting.

He said that he had directed PKA - which oversee the troubled PKFZ project - to act on four fronts:

1) To seek legal recourse for contractual shortcomings or irregularities.

2) To seek professional advice on the restructuring of financial obligations of PKA.

3) To improve and tighten governance issues at management and board levels of PKA.

4) To further beef up the day-to-day management of PKFZ so as to strengthen operations and improve its financial returns.

He said today’s release of the PKFZ report was just “a small part of the job done”.

“My ministry is not only committed to have the report released but is also determined to ensure that we seek all possible remedies that are within our jurisdiction,” said Ong.

Lee to meet MACC officials at 8am

Lee meanwhile confirmed that he will be lodging a report with the MACC tomorrow.

lee hwa beng pkfz pc 210509 01 Speaking at a press conference in Port Klang today following the release of the much-anticipated report, Lee said that he was instructed to do so by Ong.

"The transport minister has instructed me to lodge a report with the MACC tomorrow morning at 8am," said Lee.

Malaysiakini had reported last year how the project, originally tagged at RM1.8 billion in 2002, ballooned to RM4.6 billion. This has since increased to RM7.5 billion.

The project has been mired with serious conflict-of-interest breaches between top officials of the port authority supervising the project and executives of private companies, who are in turn key politicians in the ruling BN government.

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