Jailed ex-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said today that the charge brought against Perwaja Steel's former managing director Eric Chia is disproportionate to the culpability established against the tycoon by the Anti-Corruption Agency.

He said it is "ludicrous" to believe that the prosecution has only managed to book him for the embezzlement of RM76 million when Perwaja's liability to the nation is estimated to be between RM11 and RM13 billion.

"After seven years of seemingly laborious efforts involving vast expense of public funds - including several overseas travels to Hong Kong, Japan and Switzerland, and raising public expectations - the government comes out with a charge which is totally disproportionate to the actual culpability," Anwar said in a statement which was released by his lawyer Sankara Nair.

Anwar, who is currently serving a nine-year jail sentence for sodomy in the Sungai Buloh prison, was commenting on the arrest of the Perwaja's ex-boss by the ACA for criminal breach of trust last Monday.

The businessman was charged under Section 409 of the Penal Code for allegedly channeling funds worth RM76.4 million from the steel giant to a non-existent company.

If found guilty, Chia could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years, whipped and fined. He has pleaded not guilty and is currently out on a RM2 million bail.

Fuel suspicion

Anwar also said that the latest development of the Perwaja scandal does nothing but fuel suspicion that the prime minister was trying to divert the public attention from the existing rampant corruption involving high-profile businessmen and politicians.

"This leaves us with the conclusion that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is trying to pull wool over the people's eyes and deflect the insistent public demand for positive action to be taken against the rampant corruption among the country's business and political clique that is bleeding the country of its wealth and resources," he said.

He also said the charge against Chia is even more puzzling when a 1996 probe by international auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers uncovered a host of illegal and fraudulent transactions involving the management of Perwaja.

"If all the powers-that-be can come out with these acts of tokenism, it would be wishful thinking on the part of the rakyat to expect action against corrupt leaders for their corrupt practices involving the issuance of shares and licences, awarding of contracts and military procurement," he said.

Anwar was deputy premier and finance minister when he ordered an independent audit of the troubled state-owned company after it was revealed that Perwaja suffered losses totaling RM2.98 billion as of Dec 31, 1995, including bank loans amounting to about RM7 billion.

Perwaja - a plant that processed iron ore to pure iron - was to be the cornerstone of the industrialisation drive that former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad began in the early 1980s.

Anwar Ibrahim's full statement: Corruption blitz a mere hoodwink