Petaling Jaya MP Tony Pua today accused Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha of protecting the former directors of the Port Klang Authority, who were allegedly involved in the multi-billion ringgit Port Klang Free Zone scandal, from legal action.

mca egm 130311 kong chor ha He claimed that Kong ( left ) has acted as a "stumbling block" in charging the former directors, in an apparent bid to allow the Limitation Act to take effect.

Pua explained that under the Limitation Act, civil action over economic loss does not apply to officials of statutory bodies after a six year period from the date of the alleged offence.

"The time bar will apply after Mar 31, 2011, in a week's time," he said at a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

"The failure to charge PKA directors for their breach of fiduciary duties will only give the signal that the government will refrain from taking action against directors of government-linked bodies and companies for the failure to exercise their responsibilities in a diligent manner."

Conflict of interests

Pua also put the spotlight on a news report today indicating that the incoming board of directors on the PKA will include industry players - from port terminals and freight forwarders to logistics companies and shippers - raising fears of conflicting interests.

NONE Echoing current PKA chairperson Lee Hwa Beng's concerns, Pua ( left ) questioned the inclusion of industry players on a board meant to regulate their activities.

"The minister and government appear to have completely forgotten the lessons learnt from the PKFZ fiasco.

"After the special position review by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in February 2009, the former Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat had formed several committees including a committee of corporate governance headed by Paul Low of Transparency International and Nik Mohd Hasyudeen Yusoff, president of Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

"However, it appears that the recommendations and policies adopted by the PKA since (are) now being reversed for reasons best known to the minister himself," Pua said.

Three taskforces

Pua, who is also DAP national publicity secretary, added that there has yet to be any news from the high-powered taskforces, set up by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in September 2009 to look into the PKFZ scandal.

The three taskforces, headed by the federal chief secretary, treasury secretary-general and attorney-general, were to look into misappropriation, abuse of power and illegal acts, good governance and the project's financial viability.

"However after more than 18 months, there is little to see from these high-powered committees. In fact, most importantly, the government has not, to date, present(ed) a detailed plan on how the cost of PKFZ project can be prevented from inflating to the expected RM12.5 billion, per the report by PwC.

"To date, the PKFZ project remains highly unviable with its operating profits of less than RM20 million barely able to service the project interest cost of RM180 million per annum, what more to repay its outstanding debt in excess of RM4.6 billion.

"We call upon the transport minister who appears to be lost in wonderland, to immediately inform Parliament and the public on how the government intends not only to implement policies of transparency and accountability to prevent future scandals, but also how it intends to end the agony (of) facing a RM12.5 billion bill for the project."