A cabinet minister and a subsidiary of the Pahang state economic corporation - Pasdec Corporation Sdn Bhd - are the two major shareholders in a highland resort which houses slot machines in the state, said PAS leader Husam Musa today.

The MP for Kubang Kerian claimed that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor has 64 million shares while Pasdec owns about 46 million shares in Bukit Tingi Resort Bhd, which has the licence to operate 250 gaming machines.

This runs in contrary to a cabinet ruling that prohibits ministers from having any business interest. Tengku Adnan ( photo ) was appointed as a full minister last November.

What is more damaging, added the PAS leader when contacted, is that the Lembaga Urusan Tabung Haji (Muslim Pilgrim Management and Fund Board) is also implicated since it has investments in Pasdec. Gambling is illegal in Islam.

Yesterday, Husam, PAS Pahang Information chief Dr Abdul Wahab Ismail and Keadilan Lunas state assembly representative Saifuddin Nasution Ismail issued a joint statement claiming that a minister and state subsidiary had interests in the resort.

They said the issuance of the gaming licence is suspicious considering the involvement of the minister and the subsidiary company.

Official documents

Meanwhile, Husam said these were not mere allegations as the information was obtained from the Companies Commission of Malaysia - a department which monitors business entities in the country.

"I conducted a search at the commission and got official documents which provided the latest information about the company," he added.

The documents, copies of which was made available to malaysiakini , was printed o­n May 20 and the information o­n it is based o­n the company's documents provided to the commission o­n Feb 10 this year.

Husam said the shares owned by Tengku Adnan and Pasdec make them the second and third largest shareholders respectively in the company.

The biggest shareholder is Berjaya Group Bhd chairperson Vincent Tan, who is a close associate of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The PAS leader reiterated his suspicion that the gaming licence was issued to help the company overcome its losses since its balance sheet indicated that it was in financial dire straits.

"It should be noted that in 2001 it suffered a loss of RM17 million as its turnover for that year was o­nly RM23 million. It's obvious that it is having financial difficulties. We suspect that the gaming licence was to help the company," he said.

MB's responsibility

Asked o­n his next course of action, Husam said he disposed his responsibility by making the matter public, especially regarding Tabung Haji's indirect involvement.

"Maybe Tabung Haji is unaware of this but now they need to immediately retract their investment as gambling is prohibited in Islam," he said.

He also said that Pahang Mentri Besar Mohd Adnan Yaakob must take full responsibility as the chairperson of the state economic corporation.

"As the chairperson of the holding company to Pasdec, he should have known about this. How can he not know? If he cannot carry out that responsibility then maybe he should resign," he added.

Last week, PAS organ Harakah claimed the government had issued a licence to the resort to open the state's second casino after Genting Highlands and criticised the action as it promoted gambling.

Mahathir denied this, saying that the resort was o­nly given a licence to operate 250 slot machines.

However, PAS officials reacted that slot machines were also instruments of gambling and this led the government to order the resort to temporarily cease its operation of these machines pending further instruction from the premier.

Meanwhile, it was reported today that the Bukit Tinggi Resort has suspended the operation of its slot machines pending clarification from the Finance Ministry o­n the terms and conditions of its operating licence ( photo ).