news feature

The breaking point between John Soh Chee Wen and Dr Ling Liong Sik in 1998 was marked by the financial crisis the year before when the companies belonging to the MCA chief's son, Hee Leong, sank into debts.

"Hee Leong started behaving strangely. He subsequently confided in me that he suffered massive contra losses and had owed many brokers lots of money. He also requested me not to tell his parents," said Soh in a police report that his lawyers drafted in early 1998 but never lodged.

Soh claimed that he helped Hee Leong to pay for his losses for a while. But this did not help much as the financial mess in one of the major companies, Rekapacific, soon proved to be a bigger problem.

"He told me unless I assist him in clearing all his financial mess so as to prevent his parents from knowing the full extent of it, he would instigate his father to apply pressure on me by dissociating themselves from my dealings and make it appear that I am solely responsible for all the mess," said Soh.

"As I was also affected by the economic downturn, I was unable to fully accommodate Hee Leong in all his demands. This led to a deterioration in our relationship," he added.

Rekapacific was de-listed by the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) late last year when it failed to submit its quarterly reports, annual audited accounts and annual report for the period between 1999 to January 2001.

It has RM1.9 billion in accumulated losses and shareholders' funds deficit of RM1.3 billion.

Reprimanded publicly

Prior to that, the company had already been reprimanded publicly and fined RM900,000 by the KLSE for failing to issue those financial statements for the period between April 30, 1997 to July 31, 1999.

At Rekapacific's annual general meeting in January, Hee Leong decided not to run for the director's post that he has held for years, saying, "I think I can serve the company better in a different capacity".

Looking back, Soh said he had hoped that Ling would understand his difficult position, but instead the Ling family soon stood together to create problems for him.

"Hee Leong openly disclaimed any knowledge or responsibility for all of Rekapacific's deals though he was CEO of the company and had personally signed many resolutions approving those deals."

Not only that, Hee Leong also lodged several reports against Soh in connection to cheating in business deals while his father told people on different occasions that Soh had siphoned away RM750 million from Rekapacific, added Soh.

"What was a personal dispute has now been made to look like a criminal wrong on my part."

Soh said an aide of Hee Leong even called up Rekapacific's staff one day enquiring whether officers from the Securities Commission and Bukit Aman police headquarters had visited the office.

Indeed, there were later visits from the authorities, which strengthened Soh's suspicion that there was a conspiracy among the Lings to get him into trouble.

"This was to extricate Hee Leong out of his financial mess and to discredit me so as to play down their own involvement in the various business deals which would be uncomfortably compromising for Ling if they were exposed," he said.

Exchange for favours

Above all, Soh believed that Ling did not want the MCA leadership and grassroots to know that party posts were given to Soh in exchange for favours for Hee Leong and the whole family.

If true, that the Transport Ministry's office and resources were used to discuss and secure private business deals could also be politically embarrassing for Ling and the government as it was an abuse of ministerial power.

Apart from that, Ling had also instructed Soh to use Promet's funds to finance his protege Ong Ka Ting's (then deputy home minister) political activities in Sabah, such as paying RM3,000 a month to Ong's political assistant.

"Ling needed to build Ong up to hold off Chan Kong Choy (protege of Ling's deputy and arch nemesis Lim Ah Lek) in the MCA hierarchy," said Soh.

Soh ended his report urging the police to investigate all his allegations justly "without any intervention from any of Ling's men at the Home Ministry".

In 1999, Soh was charged by the Securities Commission for two charges in connection with defrauding a now defunct stockbroking firm of over RM500 million.

He left the country in the same year, just before the SC issued a warrant of arrest for him in April and later sought for Interpol's help through the Home Ministry. Rumours have since been spread around from the 'fugitive' being arrested in an African country to him being spotted in Malaysia.

All this came to an end when Soh returned to the country from Jakarta last Tuesday. He was brought before the Shah Alam sessions court immediately and claimed trial. A RM2 million bail was posted.

When approached by reporters then, Soh denied that he had negotiated terms with the authorities or that he was back to take revenge on anyone.

But a day before he came back, Soh gave an interview from overseas to a local tabloid in which he reportedly said he would "tell all" in the process of clearing his name.

Following that, Ling stressed that Soh's return will not have any impact on the MCA leadership and that the duo were not related in any business dealings.

In retaliation, Soh dismissed Ling's claim as "utter nonsense" and "total rubbish" but remained cryptic as to how much evidence there was to substantiate his claim, or more so, whether it would be made public at all.

Observers noted that the extent of Soh's expose, if any, will rely on the outcome of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's peace agenda within MCA in the next few months.

'Win-win-win' situation

Business columnist PY Chin in his article published in New Straits Times last Thursday wrote that Soh's return may ultimately create a "win-win-win" situation for all.

Any expose from the businessman at this time when the country's economy is recovering will be the last thing that the premier would want to hear. Soh is a man who knows too much about the twists and tricks of shares trading in Malaysia.

Should he be forced to resort to 'self-defence', Soh may reveal information which can either bring down many big names in the business world, or simply weaken the market's confidence in the government's commitment to corporate reforms.

Furthermore, the timing of Soh's return to face his charges may not be as coincidental as it seemed.

Four days before that, another businessman close to Soh, TA Securities Bhd executive chairperson Tony Tiah Thee Kian, was fined RM3 million after he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of allowing a false report to be furnished by his company to the KLSE.

With Tiah's admission, the prosecution had dropped its principal charge in 1999 that accused Tiah of abetting Soh in defrauding Omega Securites Sdn Bhd.

Perhaps the dramatic rise and fall of Soh did not teach him to shun from quid pro quo in politico-business after all.

It only taught him to be better at it.