Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang is ready to do battle when Parliament resumes its sittings on Monday and he has Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy in his sights.

"Chan ( left ) chickened out of the special press conference yesterday on the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal, which was only attended by his press secretary," thundered Lim in a press statement today.

Lim was referring to Transport Ministry's press conference where the transport minister did not show up.

"Is this because Chan is aware that he would have to face many difficult and embarrassing questions about the scandal which he would not be able to answer satisfactorily and he decided that the better of valour was to avoid the media altogether on the issue?"

The ministry's five-page statement at the press conference also failed to shed new light on the RM4.6 billion government's loan to state-owned Port Klang Authority - the operator of the ambitious free trade zone.

The soft loan, details of which are yet to be revealed, is considered one of the biggest bailouts in the nation's history.

Yesterday, the veteran opposition leader said he had given notice to Parliament speaker Ramli Ngah to move an urgent motion on the matter.

It is not clear whether Ramli would allow a debate on the scandal. Previously such motions were often rejected because the issues raised were considered "not urgent".

In a series of reports last month, malaysiakini revealed a tale of corruption, abuse of power and mismanagement involving the mega-project.

Ministry's illegal support letters

The PKFZ was mooted eight years ago by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but much of the debt incurred after his handpicked successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, took the helm.

The free trade zone aims to turn Malaysia into a cost-effective logistics and manufacturing hub that would rival China.

Jafza International, the global free trade zone operator responsible for turning Dubai's Jebel Ali Free Zone into a premier investment destination, was tapped to operate and manage the project.

But last month, Jafza walked out of the project after a series of disagreements with the free trade zone's main promoter, the state-controlled Port Klang Authority.

This included the discovery by the Dubai-based company regarding discrepancies in the minutes of some key meetings and an audit indicating that financial transactions could open Jafza to potential charges of tax evasion in Malaysia.

It has also been reported that Chan had signed four 'Letters of Support' for Kuala Dimensi - the turnkey contractor appointed by PKA for the project - without authority from the Finance Ministry.

The letters enabled the company to borrow heavily from the banks, resulting in the project to balloon to almost four times its original cost.

Kuala Dimensi also sold 1,000 acres of land for the project at apparently highly inflated price.

"I call on all MPs, including Barisan Nasional MPs, to take a common stand to support the parliamentary principle that there should not be any government bailout unless and until there is full parliamentary accountability and prior parliamentary sanction," said Lim in anticipating the debate in Parliament on Monday.

According to him, the parliamentary debate will be an 'acid test' of Abdullah's anti-corruption campaign.

"Next week will decide whether all the talk about a 'First World Parliament' in the past three years should be buried for good."