A fourth person was charged today at the Klang Sessions Court in relation to the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

NONE Law Jenn Dong, 51, an engineer and former project manager with PKFZ turnkey contractor Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB), was charged with making 24 false claims involving a total of RM116.850 million.

He was alleged to have committed the offence together with architect Bernard Tan between June 30, 2006 and May 30, 2008.

Tan, who was one of a trio charged last Thursday, faces two other charges of making false claims with chief operating officer of Kuala Dimensi Steven Abok.

Law, wearing a pink long-sleeved shirt and khaki trousers, was brought to the court at about 10.50am. He was handcuffed and taken into a courtroom.

He then claimed trial before Sessions Judge Yong Zarida Sazali and was granted bail of RM250,000 pending mention of the case on Feb 4.

The prosecution had asked for bail to be set at RM1 million but the judge rejected the application after hearing objections by Law's lawyer, Tan Hock Chuan.

Tan told the court that Law has voluntarily subjected himself to the legal process.

azlan "He was out of Kuala Lumpur last Thursday when the others (see chart) were charged. He called the investigating officer the next day and subjected himself to the legal process," said Tan.

Deputy public prosecutors Dzulkifli Ahmad and Manoj Kurup appeared for the prosecution.

Dzulkifli, who heads the forfeiture and anti-money laundering division of the attorney-general's (AG) chambers, has led the prosecution in many cases of money laundering. However, the PKFZ case will be the most challenging yet.

He had secured the conviction of two former Tabung Haji senior managers for criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving RM200 million, and of Rural Ministry secretary-general Dr Abdul Aziz Muhammad for cheating and abetment in CBT of RM11 million from a fund for the hardcore poor. They have each been jailed for 10 years.

Thus far, the biggest fish to have been charged with offences is former Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager OC Phang, who is alleged to have committed CBT involving RM254 million.

She has claimed trial and has been released on bail of RM350,000 with one surety. The case will start on Jan 12, on which date she will be required to surrender her passport.

Abok and Tan, also on bail, will have their case mentioned on Feb 4.

The PKFZ controversy arose after the cost of developing the massive 400ha integrated cargo distribution hub spiralled from RM2 billion to RM4.6 billion.

'We delivered the project'

Kuala Dimensi chief executive officer Faizal Abdullah told reporters that Law had left KDSB about 15 months ago.

He also said he is unhappy that the company has been dragged to court over the PKFZ scandal and conceded that its reputation has been affected by the case.

NONE "Of course I'm not happy, but we have to face it. Hopefully we can get a fair trial," he said.

He said the company has delivered the project, blaming the problems on "interpretation of the law".

"It is not the case that we did nothing (by not building) even a tiang (pillar)... if that were the case, then it would have been jahat (bad),” he said.

It is learnt that no one else will be charged over the scandal this week.

Abdul Gani had said last Thursday that more people will be charged in stages as “there are lots of issues involved - legal and factual, which are not only complex but require substantial amount of evidence gathering”.

He attributed the action to date to joint efforts by the his chambers, the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over several months.