Azmi Khalid

KUALA LUMPUR (July 1, 2009) : Parliament's Public Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid today disclosed that former ministers, ex-senior civil servants and stakeholders involved in the controversial RM4.9 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project will be summoned to an inquiry soon.

Speaking to reporters after chairing a PAC meeting at Parliament, Azmi said the fact that they are called to attend the inquiry does not necessarily mean they are guilty, and that it could be a chance for them to clear their name.

He refused to disclose how many people were identified and when they would be summoned, but said there will be "quite a number of them".

He said the PAC will hold a meeting every week starting this month and "we hope to complete the inquiry and get the report ready by October before the next parliament sitting resumes".

According to a PAC source, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, former transport ministers Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik and Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy and Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung, who was a former Port Klang Authority chairman, are the prominent names in the list.

Ong Tee Keat

Ling Liong Sik

Former MCA president Ling was transport minister from 1986 to 2003, and Chan, who was MCA deputy president, took over the portfolio from July 1 2003 to March 18, 2008.

PKA bought the 1,000-acre PKFZ land in Pulau Indah from Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) in 2002 at a cost of RM25 per sq ft.

KDSB was later appointed to be the turnkey developer for the project.

The issue is of huge public interest as the PKA has a Finance Ministry soft loan of RM4.632 billion to fund the project, one the port authority could ill-afford.

A PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) audit report, commissioned by PKA and released in late May, had mentioned the involvement of several politicians and stated there might be some conflict of interest.

Chor was PKA chairman from 2007-2008 and has denied complicity, saying that he accepted the job of chairman to do "national duty".

Other people who will be called are KDSB chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, who is also Barisan Nasional Backbenchers’ club chairman; Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail; and former PKA chairman and Pulau Lumut Development Cooperative (the company that sold the land to KDSB) president Datuk Abdul Rahman Palil.

Azmi said the meeting had finalised a set of legal questions to the Attorney-General's Chambers to see if certain aspects of the issue had violated the laws.

Chor Chee Heung

Chan Kong Choi

Tiong King Sing

Last month, when the PAC summoned PKA chairman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng to its inquiry, Azmi had ruled out the possibility of summoning former ministers to testify as he said the committee would leave that option to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

The PAC had also met MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan last week, but failed to extract any information from him as he was not obliged to disclose anything under the law.

On Tuesday, PKA's board had decided to defer payment of RM660 million to KDSB until a review of the findings of a special task force commissioned to rectify wrongs and to pursue legal remedies.