The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) has referred the Perwaja Steel scandal case to the Attorney-General's Chambers to seek the cooperation and assistance of the banking authority in Japan to facilitate its investigations.

"Japan's cooperation in evidence-gathering is being sought by the Attorney-General's Chambers under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters arrangement," its Research and Planning Division was quoted as saying by Bernama today.

On March 27 this year, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim said ACA was facing difficulty in seeking the cooperation of the Japanese banking authority in its investigation into the scandal.

"From what the government has been made to understand, the Japan side has not extended its cooperation in the on-going investigation. There are certain obstacles there that our side has been faced with as a result of their policy," he said.

Progress in Hong Kong

Meanwhile, the ACA statement said investigations into the case in Hong Kong had shown some progress while investigations in Switzerland had been completed.

It said that statements from all the witnesses in the country had already been recorded.

The agency is trying to gather evidence on the missing RM76.4 million from Perwaja funds through transactions with financial institutions in Hong Kong and Japan.

Perwaja Steel was planned as a centrepiece of Malaysia's industrialisation drive of the early 1980s but become one its most spectacular corporate disasters.

The company, which has accumulated losses and liabilities estimated by industry officials at RM10.7 billion, has been under investigation for alleged abuse of funds since 1996.

The government has blamed former Perwaja chairperson Eric Chia for the misappropriation of the billions of ringgit.

Chia was also accused of approving the transmission of the RM76.4 million to a Hong Kong-based company, which was later found to be non-existent while the missing funds were said to have been channeled to Swiss accounts.

Chia was personally appointed by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1988 to helm the national steel company and turn it into a profit-making industry.

MPAJ probe completed

In a separate matter, ACA said it has handed over the report of its investigation into the case of former Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) enforcement division director Abdul Kudus Ahmad to the commission's senior federal counsel.

The ACA investigation was conducted over allegations by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department M Kayveas that a senior MPAJ officer had been leaking information on raids to 'tonto' or informers and receiving kickbacks.

Kayveas, who was then deputy housing and local government minister, also alleged that the senior officer's appointment was invalid as he had been declared a bankrupt.