An open letter was sent to Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today calling him to clarify if any family 'strings' were pulled in the drawing up of seemingly 'loss-making' terms under the purchase agreement of a MAS' subsidiary.

Kubang Kerian MP Husam Musa said in his letter that the main terms of the privatisation agreement - said to guarantee the purchasing consortium Gubahan Saujana a profit of 80 to 85 percent for nine years - will end up creating a "loss for MAS and the country."

The deal stands to see 70 percent of the business sold off to a consortium involving Abdullah's brother Ibrahim Ahmad Badawi, reportedly for RM175 million.

Ibrahim's company, Fahim Capital owns 51 percent of Gubahan while LSG Skychefs - the catering arm of German carrier Lufthansa - takes up the rest of the 49 percent.

"If the revenue guarantee clause is true, then the contract is no longer privatisation but a profit guarantee by the government to Gubahan, where family ties exist between the main shareholder of the company and the deputy prime minister," said Husam.

Special treatment

According to Husam, MAS is scheduled to sign the agreement with Gubahan on Aug 26, guaranteeing the latter immunity against global economic insecurities that still plague the airline industry.

"For the first quarter of this year, MAS' losses widened as a result of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak," he said.

"The existence of this profit guarantee clause means that anything that happens to the airline industry...and brings a loss to MAS will not affect the profit of companies that have special treatment in running MAS Catering."

"I hope that the government will come clean on the terms of the agreement ... and will review this and other loss-making clauses," he said, adding that Abdullah's recent anti-graft speech will not materialise if the government continues to practise cronyism.

Husam reminded Abdullah that action should be taken on the matter so that the government will not be accused of once again failing to follow up on their promises.

"I still remember the deputy prime minister announcing 2003 as the war on drugs year. What happened to the announcement? Where are the programmes for the war on drugs?