The individual who was involved in the events which led to the Metramac scandal has today lodged a police report.

Tan Kok Wai, the member of parliament for Cheras, headed a vigorous demonstration by residents in his constituency which forced the suspension of the toll collection in Jalan Cheras in September 1990.

The protests 16 years ago had also resulted in the brief arrest - about a week - of the MP under the Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial.

Tan and his opposition party DAP are seeking the police to investigate the RM756.7 million sandal involving toll concessionaire Metramac Corporation Sdn Bhd (Metramac) and to initiate against the ministers and Umno-linked businessmen involved.

When contacted, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the report was lodged by Tan at the Cheras district police headquarters at about 1pm.

Tan was accompanied by Lim and three other DAP parliamentarians - Tan Gan Seng Giaw, Teresa Kok and Fong Kui Lun.

Cheras district police chief Hasnan Hassan told malaysiakini later that the case has been forwarded to the city police hadquarters' commercial crime division.

In a statement yesterday, Lim said Malaysians are shocked by the scandalous state of affairs as exposed by the Court of Appeal in its decision to direct Metramac to pay Fawziah Holdings Sdn Bhd about RM65 million in compensation for loss of advertising rights.

Some of the prominent names that were mentioned in the judgment were former finance minister Daim Zainuddin and Umno-linked businessmen Halim Saad and Anuar Othman.

Scathing questions

Lim pointed out that justice Gopal Sri Ram, in his judgment, had questioned why taxpayers money were channeled into the hands of two private individuals.

The judge has also questioned why Daim had used his power to favour Anuar and Halim, he added.

Metramac, formerly known as Syarikat Teratai KG Sdn Bhd (STKG), won the tender to construct and operate the privatisation of a number of roads, including Jalan Cheras.

Because of the protests by Tan and the Cheras residents, the government through the City Hall (DBKL) had to suspend toll collections.

Daim, as finance minister, had then told the company's shareholders then that the government did not have RM764 million to compensate the company for terminating the contract on toll collections on Sept 12, 1990.

Given this, STKG faced financial ruin as it had invested RM65 million in shareholders funds and RM40 million in loan repayment.

In November 1990, UEM Bhd made an offer to purchase all the shares in STKG for RM97.5 million.

In reality, Lim said the shares were to be purchased by a company nominated by UEM, namely Metramac, whose shareholders were Halim and Anuar.

Gopal, in his judgment last week, said: "No one in his or her right mind will consider the choice of selling their shares to Metramac at RM97.5 million as a choice at all. Further, the offer by UEM to buy out STKG's shares for RM97.5 million simply did not make any commercial sense. Here you have a company that has just had its loan and shareholders capital wiped out in one stroke. It had no money in the coffers. It had huge debts.

"It had no prospects of receiving any compensation from DBKL. So why pay RM97.5 million for the shares of such a company. The answer is simple enough - Anuar and Halim had something which the plaintiff did not. And that was the patronage of Daim."

Soon after the takeover, the new owners were paid RM756 million of compensation, money which Daim had earlier said the government didn't have.

The judge had also concluded that Halim and Anuar 'siphoned' RM32.5 million from Metramac and by doing so, they could have been flirting with an aggravated form of criminal breach of trust under section 405 and 409 of the Penal Code, an offence which carries a maximum 20-year-jail term with whipping and fine upon conviction.

Immediate investigation

Lim said these were questions that require immediate investigation by both the police and the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA).

"In view of these findings, DAP will press attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail to direct both departments to carry out investigations and take necessary action to bring the culprits to court.

"This is a good opportunity for the government to prove that everyone is equal before the law whether they are high-ranking ministers or prominent businessmen," he added.

He also warned that the credibility of the country's economic management and national integrity is at stake.

Meanwhile, parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang asked if the police will immediately commence investigations into Halim and Anuar for aggravated form of CBT based on the judgment.

He also said the matter raised grave questions of integrity, which should be top agenda of the first meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity today.