Former Port Klang Authority (PKA) chairman Tan Sri Dr Ting Chew Peh told the High Court that he had signed the sale and purchase (S&P) agreement with Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) before getting the official go-ahead from the Cabinet.
He said this during his examination-in-chief conducted by deputy public prosecutor Manoj Kurup yesterday.
“Before I signed the S&P, the PKA’s legal adviser gave me an explanation, and told me that everything was in order,” he said when testifying in former transport minister Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik’s trial over the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
Manoj: Did you ask the legal adviser if the Cabinet had given its approval (before signing)?
Dr Ting: No, but I might have been informed by the legal adviser and the general manager (Datin O.C. Phang) that the Cabinet had agreed to it.
Dr Ting had signed the agreement on Nov 12, 2002, when retired transport ministry secretary-general Datuk Zakaria Bahari had only written to Phang on Nov 20, 2002, informing PKA of the official Cabinet decision (made in a meeting on Nov 6).
However, Dr Ting, the former housing and local government minister, agreed that it was “normal practice” for a Cabinet decision to be carried out only after receiving the information officially.
When asked if he had informed the PKA board that he was going to sign the agreement, he replied: “I don’t remember if I had informed them.”
Dr Ling has claimed trial to an amended principal charge of deceiving the Government by not exposing to the Cabinet an additional interest rate of 7.5% annually for the purchase of land for the PKFZ project.
He faces two optional charges of cheating the Government by not exposing to the Cabinet facts pertaining to the interest rate, and deceiving it into believing that facts on the land purchase at RM25psf and 7.5% interest rate were certified and agreed to, by the Finance Ministry’s Valuation and Property Services Department when he knew there was no such consent.
He is said to have committed the offences at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002.
Source : The Star
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