Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager Datin O.C. Phang did not think it necessary to refer the Pulau Indah land deal to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, fearing further delays to the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project, the High Court was told.
PKA legal adviser Fazilah Surkisah Mohammad testified that Phang had disagreed with her suggestion for the A-G’s Chambers to look through the sales and purchase agreement, prepared by the firm of Messrs Rashid Asari & Co, to ensure that all the terms and conditions were in order for the Pulau Indah land deal.
“Her reasons were that PKA usually did not refer its agreements to the A-G’s Chambers, and that the land matter (in Pulau Indah) had already taken too much time to be resolved.
“She also said that as PKA was a statutory body, it would not be given any priority by the A-G’s Chambers,” Fazilah said when testifying in former transport minister Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik’s trial over the PKFZ scandal yesterday.
She added that she made the suggestion as she felt PKA was not financially secure and would have to be eventually bailed out by the Government.
Fazilah said that she made a second suggestion after vetting the agreement, this time to have the Transport Ministry look through it, and Phang agreed.
During her examination-in-chief by Deputy Public Prosecutor Manoj Kurup, Fazilah told the court that she was not consulted, and neither was her opinion required, in many of the meetings held over the land deal.
Manoj: Were you asked to investigate the legal implications of the land acquisition?
Fazilah: No.
Manoj: While they (the lawyers) were preparing the terms of the agreement draft, did you contribute any input?
Fazilah: No. I only looked through it after, as instructed by the general manager.
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 the facts pertaining to the interest rate as well as 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 had allegedlly committed the offences at the Prime Minister’s office in Putrajaya between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002.
Source : The Star
Related News : Ex-minister says he signed sale and purchase agreement earlier
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