A Transport Ministry senior official claimed ignorance of a land valuation report to develop the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project before the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today.

Retired secretary-general Zaharaah Shaari, 62, who was with the ministry from June 1999 to July 2005, said although all correspondence with the ministry went through her, she was unaware of the valuation report dated Sept 29, 2000.

"All letters addressed to the ministry will be collected by the central registry and brought to me every day. I look through the letters, and then refer them to the relevant officer or unit."

Zaharaah insisted that unless addressed specifically to an individual or hand-delivered, the mail had to go through her.

However, she said, she was made aware of the valuation report when the police showed it to her but could not recall having seen it before that.

NONE The letter, which contains the  Valuation and Property Services Department's (JPPH) valuation of the 999.5-acre Pulau Indah plot, was stamped 'hand-delivered' to the ministry's secretary-general and to Zaharaah's deputy, Abdul Rahman Mohd Noor ( left ).

The senior official, who is the sixth witness in the corruption trial of former transport minister Dr Ling Liong Sik, also admitted that she had no knowledge of several other correspondence and memoranda on the mega transshipment hub, including the offer letter sent from her ministry to landowner Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd.

This prompted deputy public-prosecutor Adilla Ahmad, during examination-in-chief, to ask about Zaharaah's actual involvement in the matter.

"I was involved, but not since the beginning. I was only directly involved during the process of getting the land," she said.

The offer letter dated Oct 2, 2000, sought KDSB's agreement on the JPPH land valuation but Zaharaah said that she only knew about it during the meeting and was later briefed by an officer from the maritime division.

"He only said that it was a letter to KDSB and that it was binding," she said.

 No suit filed

Earlier, P Chandrasekaran, 56, a former principal assistant secretary in the ministry's maritime division, said that despite the Finance Ministry's suspicions about getting the plot from KDSB, he was not aware if there was an objection by the Port Klang Authority (PKA).

"Until December 2004, no suit was filed by PKA against KDSB on the encumbrances or fraudulent misrepresentation," Chandrasekaran said, before he was dismissed.

NONE Yesterday, he testified that a note dated Oct 29, 2002, to the cabinet, the Finance Ministry pointed out  encumbrances and the possibility of fraudulent misrepresentation by KDSB in a memorandum to the cabinet.

Prior to the purchase of the land, the Treasury, among others, had proposed to acquire the plot to develop the mega-transhipment hub under the Land Acquisition Act 1960 at RM10.16psf instead of RM25psf.

Ling ( left ) faces a charge of deceiving the government by concealing the interest rate of 7.5 percent a year. He is said to have committed the offence at the Prime Minister's Office in Putrajaya between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002.

He 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; and
  • 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, when he knew there was no such consent.

The trial resumes tomorrow with Zaharaah coninuing with her testimony.