KUALA LUMPUR: Former transport ministry (MoT) secretary-general Datuk Zaharah Shaari yesterday testified that a letter signed by former transport minister Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik to then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed was not prepared by Ling personally.
When cross-examined by Ling’s counsel Wong Kian Kheong, Zaharah said she had read, amended and finalised a letter addressed to Mahathir which discussed the purchase of land in Pulau Indah, Selangor for the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project.
The court had previously heard that Ling’s letters in 2002 to Mahathir were written to clear the air on “confusion” after the MoT and the Finance Ministry (MoF) had opposing views on how to acquire the land for the transshipment hub project.
MoT was in favour of purchasing the land outright but Mahathir had recommended that the land be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act 1960.
Ling is currently on trial after he was charged with allegedly concealing from the Cabinet the fact that the Valuation and Property Services Department had valued land for the PKFZ project at RM25 psf over a repayment period of 10 years or RM25.82 psf over a repayment period of 15 years, including interest chargeable.
During the course of the trial, Ling’s lawyers have sought to establish, based on government correspondence and documentation, that the RM25 psf price for the Pulau Indah land excluded interest charge on the land.
Zaharah, who took the stand yesterday, conceded that minutes of a Cabinet meeting had indicated that the RM25 psf was not inclusive of interest.
According to the minutes dated Feb 14, 2001, the cost breakdown showed that the total cost of the 1,000-acre plot was RM1.088 billion (including basic infrastructure cost), based on a price of RM25 psf.
The minutes also show that the land development cost was estimated to be as much as RM869 million, bringing the PKFZ’s total cost including interest to RM2.44 billion.
Wong pointed out that the land purchase and development costs only came to RM1.957 billion, implying RM483 million in interest.
After several minutes of cross-examination on that point, Zaharah reluctantly agreed that the minutes implied that the price of RM25 psf did not include all the interest.
However, Zaharah had on Tuesday told the court the RM25 psf price was inclusive of interest.
Yesterday morning, Zaharah told the court that she had checked with her colleagues if the RM25 psf included interest but claimed she couldn’t remember which of the five people named by Wong that she asked.
When pressed if she asked one, one or more, or all of the five, she said she had asked all five but wasn’t sure.
Wong produced a letter written by Treasury secretary-general Datuk Samsudin Hitam to support his assertion that the Port Klang Authority (PKA) was aware that the land was valued at RM1.369 billion.
He argued that this letter apparently contradicted the claim that the land’s full price, including interest, was RM25 psf or RM1.088 billion.
But when shown several documents, Zaharah merely said she was unsure what they were.
She responded, “I can’t remember”, “I have not seen this before”, “I am not sure” and “maybe”.
This prompted Judge Datuk Ahmadi Asnawi to interject and direct her to “just give the facts”.
Ling’s lawyers will continue cross-examining Zaharah today.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, September 15, 2011.
Written by Ben Shane Lim , theedgemalaysia.com
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