Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat got more brickbats than bouquets for his disappointing 'tell-all' session over the weekend on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ).

ong tee keat interview 230810 04 At an hour-long press conference on Saturday, he lauded PKFZ's success over the past few months in terms of expanding employment, attracting investments and occupants towards “80 percent total occupancy within five years”.

He also said independent auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers would reveal the more technical aspects of PKFZ - the cost of which is said to have topped RM5 billion.

But a former PKFZ official, who declined to be named, pointed out that the press conference was little more than whitewash.

"Since the issue first hit the headlines, we have been waiting for him to answer several questions," said the official when contacted yesterday.

"What happened to allegations of conflict of interest ; the increase in cost to develop the project; and letters of support that were, in effect, letters of guarantee to banks which acted on them to fund the project?”

ong tee keat pkfz klang visit 060508 05 The cost of the land on which PKFZ stands went up from RM95 million when it was bought from a fishermen's cooperative, to RM1.08 billion when it was sold to PKA. Because of the 7.5 percent interest rate over 15 years, the total to be paid out is RM1.8 billion.

The source also queried Ong's assertion that the price of the land could not be acquired using the Land Acquisition Act at lower than RM25 per sq feet because the development order had already been issued to the developer - Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) - in 1997.

"Is it not possible to negotiate for a lower price? The agreements to develop the land were signed much later, after 2003. How can they say the price could not change?" he asked.

‘Money already in hand’

The source also took exception to an explanation by a current PKFZ official that the letters of support written by two former transport ministers to raise RM4 billion in bonds were not letters of guarantee which are normally only issued by the Finance Ministry.

PKFZ executive chairman Lim Thean Shang had reportedly said that, from his reading of the four letters, "(they) confirm the contract but are not letters of guarantee".

Said the source: "What's the point of saying the letters were not meant to be letters of guarantee when they in fact served as such? It's a done deal. They've got the money already!"

lim kit siang parliament pc 201008 02 DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, in his blog, blasted Ong for having "taken Malaysians for a ride" in going against his own promise to ‘tell all’ about PKFZ upon being appointed transport minister earlier this year.

"He could not even answer the five questions about the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal which I had posed to him immediately after his public pledge to ‘tell all’ about PKFZ..." said Lim in a statement yesterday.

Bloggers heaped unflattering remarks on Ong. One remarked that he had heard of hardware shops in the Klang Valley which "ran out of stock of white paint for the whitewash needed for the minister's press conference".

Yusof Ahmad, a former pilot superintendent of Klang Port Authority, quipped : "If this isn't treachery and deceit, then I don't know what is."

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