We Have Time for $-Talk, Don't We?

Sub-titled: THE METRAMAC SAGA - REVIEW

This post is XXSpecial in that Desiderata talks MoneyTree.
No, Money does NOT grow on trees. Butt some lucky Malaysians -- wat?.... putras? -- receive Durian Runtuk ofTEN enuf, but they are not really my cup of moUrning tea! Mine is Haridas' tehtarik, with some susu lembu added if the cows come hoime on time after travelling 1-1/2 months taking some mGf back to Penang and back to Kayel.

Today's saga is like my occasional beef steak -- we all know, not that rare, or medium, butt well-done -- it's always been lurking around, butt not spoken because you can get a suit on your hands. No, not that Valentine's suite, it's over by a few daes now!

But a courtly one, and the METRAMAC SAGA came into public spotlight -- after hanging around in the Malaysian shadows called ssenisuBPolitics Bedlam for too long. UNTIL A BOLD -- and TRULY TOWERING MALAYSIAN - JUDGE SPOKE HIS MIIND.

I hang onto his coattails to expand thy mind for about 10 minutes this new morn, can?
I've jest list'd to my Engrund teAcher-cum-kroner Matt Monro's "BORN FREE" followed by "WALK AWAY" -- you in deed have a choice under the Malaysian sun! :) or isit :( with due respect to my Doggie friend borrowed from Peanuts. You would be hearing a lot from HIS judgement calls the remainder of 2006 -- it's HIS PRIVILEGED YEAR, RITE?


The following was first published at klsetracker.com , where I freelan to earn my plain bread, with some butter, and sum occasional KAYA thrown in when my counter went "limit up"! If it went LimitDowner, I l'ved on H2O and air alone. Goode for Slimming, Lad'!

This review, (slightly edited here), may help some Malaysians to get an inkling on what ails the Malaysian Stock Market -- BURSA MALAYSIA to those steal living in the lust centuiry of instant millionaires and once-in-a-w'ile BILLIONAIRE-AT-27! -- so bear with me, but don't add any bull via Comments, KO!

from: Your Sumtimes l'ving mentor
Most Times Mentee.

Regards,

YL, Desi

~~~~~~~
MTD INFRAPERDANA - CHRONICLES OF LITIGATION IN RESPECT
OF METRAMAC JUDGEMENT ~~~~~~~

The following is a summary of highlights in the ongoing saga of
METRAMAC - a unit of MTD INFRAPERDANA.
This legal tussle implicates former Government appointee
(HALIM SAAD) who was once head honcho of the
Government giant construction group - UNITED ENGINEERS MALAYSIA (UEM).
He has been alleged to have acted inmproperly when he was head of UEM in its dealings with SYARIKAT TERATAI - the original concessionaire of
tollways in Kuala Lumpur now renamed Metramac (controlled
by MTD Infraperdana).

The saga begins with Syarikat Teratai having won a Government Concession for tollways in 1990 on Kuala Lumpur's existing roads subject to some upgrades to be
undertaken. Upon completion of the projects, payment from the Government to
Syarikat Teratai was stuck until it was taken over by UEM (an UMNO-controlled company. UMNO is the dominant Malay party within the 14-component Government Coalition).
UEM was then headed by alim - a politically well-connected and influential person. The early 90s were buoyant times for the Malaysian economy and much has been
written about the levels of political cronyism practised then under the MAHATHIR Adminstration. Halim eventually took control of METACORP which then purchased Metramac from UEM.

Metacorp sold Metramac to MTD Infraperdana in the middle of 2005. The legal case against MTD Infraperdana is in respect of the advertising rights along the
tollway originally signed with Syarikat Teratai.

Below is a chronology of the events and background facts of the
METRAMAC litigation. MTD Infraperdana has only provided scanty information
leading up to the litigation which received widespread newspaper coverage
in January 2006 in the light of the judgement against METRAMAC.

The Court of Appeal on Jan 12, 2006 awarded FAWZIAH HOLDINGS Sdn Bhd RM65million in compensation for the loss of advertising rights
in a suit against METRAMAC CORP SDN BHD (currently a unit of MTD INFRAPERDANA)
over the privatisation of a number of roads in Kuala Lumpur.
The Court also ordered METRAMAC to pay FAWZIAH HOLDINGS all proceeds received under future contracts.

Justice GOPAL SRI RAM described the events that led to METRO JUARA SDN BHD's takeover of Syarikat Teratai as "a scandalous state of affairs". He said HALIM SAAD and ANUAR OTHMAN had flirted with "an aggravated form of criminal breach of trust" as Company Directors, who had intentionally misappropriated RM32.5m from Syarikat Teratai by siphoning it out of the Company's account.

Halim has denied this.

Syarikat Teratai is the original concessionaire of certain tollways in
Kuala Lumpur. Syarikat Teratai is now known as Metramac. On Jan 16, 2006, Halim issued a statement to the BURSA MALAYSIA in which he questioned the judgment of the Court of Appeal on the FAWZIAH HOLDINGS SDN BHD vs METRAMAC CORPORATAION SDN BHD case.

MUHAMAD FAWZI ABDUL KARIM, the Project Advisor and
brother of Plaintiff, FAWZIAH ABDUL KARIM, the then Director of Syarikat Teratai KG Sdn Bhd, a family company, wrote a Letter to the Editor in the Sun Jan 25, 2006 to "put certain facts stated in Halim's statement in proper perspective".

The gist of the letter was as follows:

1. Syarikat Teratai had won the concession to design,
build and operate certain toll roads in Kuala Lumpur
through an open tender invitation by Dewan Bandaraya
Kuala Lumpur (City Hall).

2. Five companies, namely Syarikat Teratai, UNITED
ENGINEERS MALAYSIA, GKM, PERNAS and HASHBUDIN,
participated in the said tender invitation.

3. The bid was evaluated by a Steering Committee
comprising the Treasury, Economic Planning Unit, the
Public Works Department and KL City Hall, which then
awarded the concession to Syarikat Teratai. Halim
through UEM had participated in the
tender but was unsuccessful.

4. After the concession was awarded to Syarikat Teratai,
Halim had on various occasions approached
Fawziah to persuade her to allow UEM to
take up equity in Syarikat Teratai or sell her shares
in Syarikat Teratai to United Engineers.

MUHAMAD FAWZI's letter also included further
highlights:

1. Through a series of various meetings with Fawziah,
the last being July 1990, where a copy of the
Information Memorandum prepared by SCHRODERS was
forwarded and handed to Halim, he was aware that
Syarikat Teratai was a profitable company and for him
to say that he was "arm-twisted" to take over STKG is
incredulous.

2. "One of the Judges, ZULKEFLI b AHMAD MAKINUDDIN in
his decision stated that:
"In total, the payment to Metramac, by one description
or the other, now totalled RM756.70million. It is not
payment under the second concession agreement. It must
include the `termination charges' of RM63million to
the Plaintiff put forward by Metramac itself."
"It is not mere coincidence that the sum of RM756.70million
paid, or to be paid, to Metramac approximates the sum
of RM764million claimed as compensation by Syarikat Teratai
for termination of the first concession agreement."

3. In Aug 1993, Halim (through METRO JUARA) injected
the shares of Metramac via a reverse takeover scheme
of Metacorp in exchange for 70million new Metacorp shares at
RM2.50 per share.
The monetisation (making the shares more liquid and
easy to sell) of Metramac's shares via the reverse
takeover of Metacorp's shares on the KLSE resulted in
the value of Halim's 70million shares in Metacorp (at a
conservative price of RM6.40) to be worth RM488million.
It will be seen from the above figures that Halim,
through the corporate exercise with Metacorp, saw his
share value go up 11 times in just a brief period of 2
years.

4. The notes to Matramac's Accounts for the year ended
March 31, 1992 stated that: "The Government of
Malaysia has agreed (via their letter dated Feb 13,
1992) and has paid an amount of RM32.5 million to the
Concession Company on the condition that the
Concession Company pay the premium to the shareholders
of the Company."

Muhamad Fawzi closed his letter stating that: "If anybody is unhappy with the Judgment they are entitled to appeal and take up their complaint at the Appeal,
but it is improper for statements to be made criticising the Judgment for various reasons."