The witness in former transport minister Dr Ling Liong Sik’s corruption trial told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that he “did not inform” his boss of the surplus of RM720 million charged upon purchase of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) land.

Under cross-examination by Ling’s lawyer Wong Kian Kheong, retired Transport Ministry deputy secretary-general Abdul Rahman Mohd Noor agreed that it was his responsibility to inform Ling if there any discrepancies in agreements or minutes of meetings, among others.

Abdul Rahman accepted that a valuation report from the Finance Ministry’s Valuation and Property Service Department (JPPH) did not explicitly state that the RM25 psf value included interest payment of 7.5 percent.

The 61-year-old said that he was “made to understand” that the valuation figure, cited in the Sept 29, 2000 document, was based on the assumption that 830 acres of land would be paid for over a period of 10 years at a six percent interest per annum after putting down a five percent deposit.

“Do you have personal knowledge of how (the calculation in) P16 (the valuation report) was reached?” asked Wong, and the witness, who had served as a deputy secretary-general for six years, concurred that he was aware.

However, Abdul Rahman clarified that he did not have the “expertise, training or qualification” in land valuation.

 

The Transport Ministry under Ling, through the Port Klang Authority (PKA), purchased a 999.5 acre plot in Pulau Indah for RM25 psf in deferred payments, at an additional interest of 7.5 percent annually which resulted a staggering RM1.8 billion for the PKFZ project instead of the initial RM1.088 billion.

Wong: Did you receive any instructions from the accused (Ling) to not follow the valuation by JPPH?

Abdul Rahman: No.

Wong: Were there any instructions from the accused to hide P16 and P19 (the valuation reports)?

Abdul Rahman: No.

Ling faces a charge of deceiving the government by concealing an additional interest rate of 7.5 percent per annum to the cabinet for the purchase of 999.5 acre plot for the mega transhipment hub.

azlan He was said to have committed the offence at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002.

Ling is accused of having committed deception with the knowledge it could cause wrongful losses to the government and despite being bound by a fiduciary duty to protect the government.

Ling also faces two optional charges:

  • Cheating the government by not revealing to the cabinet the facts relating to the interest rate;
  • Cheating the cabinet into believing that the facts relating to the purchase of the land at the rate of RM25 psf and interest rate at 7.5 percent were approved and agreed to by the JPPH, an agency under the Finance Ministry, when he knew there was no such consent.

Earlier on, the prosecution established that PKA had bypassed procedures in inking the PKFZ land deal on Nov 12, 2009 even before cabinet gave its official approval .

The hearing before Judge Ahmadi Asnawi resumes tomorrow with Abdul Rahman, who has been testifying for the past five days.