Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat today said he was still committed to his promise to bring to book all those responsible for the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

"When I gave my word that I’m committed to it, that’s it. But other than that, everyday things are happening but I will come to it," he told reporters at the parliament lobby today.

He was commenting on a news report which stated that all previous directors of the Port Klang Authority (PKA), under whose watch the nation lost more than RM12 billion in the PKFZ scandal, had been let off the hook.

According to the report, the PKA board at a meeting two weeks ago decided not to take any form of action against members of the previous boards which allowed the management of PKFZ to enter into dubious deals.

It said the 11 directors "reached a consensus" that although the previous directors failed in their duties, it was not intentional as "they did not personally gain from such breaches".

In refuting the news report today, the Transport Ministry in a statement said the PKA had instead informed the ministry that the present board had not dropped any possible plans to act against the previous board members and that the board was still receiving legal and technical advice on the matter.

As such, the ministry reiterated its commitment to getting to the bottom of the PKFZ debacle.

It said the ministry and Ong had not wavered from their pledge to bring to book those who had squandered public funds in the project.

It also pointed out that since the Super Task Force was set up by the cabinet last September to look into the PKFZ problems, several individuals had been charged for their alleged role in the scandal.

The task force headed by Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Sidek Hassan, also includes Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, Auditor-General Amrin Buang, Transport Ministry's secretary-general Long See Wool and representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Advisory Services.

"As far as the Transport Ministry is concerned, it will leave no stones unturned in the bid to bring prepetrators of the PKFZ scandal to justice," the statement said.

Following the expose of the PKFZ scandal in 2008, Ong directed PKA to appoint PwC to conduct a position review of the problem.

- Bernama