Another Ticking-Off, Mr Prime Minister?

I have acquired an immunity to react with any positivism to Official Pronouncements by our country's Chief Executive.

It is a terrible state of affairs to descend into.
Who do we blame?
The stars and moon and other galaxies out there?
AS the X-Files' slogan goes: "The Truth Is Out There".
Fellow Malaysians, don't dig for oil off shore, that's your dependable Petronas territory.
For political home truths, take your own galaxic journey. It is not earthbound, my dear EsteemedReaders, the space ship has not landed. Only the oldeAlliance-BN yacht.

mGf Din Merican asked me about today's NST frontpage headlined news:

Is there any chance that ACTION WOULD BE TAKEN AGAINST ACA CHIEF ZULKIFLI

My spontaneous reply: NOPE.

With clear-cut prima facie cases against MP for Jasin Yusof Said and Assemblyman for Port Klang, Zakaria Md (izit Mad?, for describing 4-1/2-storey palatial mansion as a "small" house?)) Deros, getting away scot-free after a mere TICKING-OFF, there is no other possible conclusion as far as a TOPDOG like the ACA CHIEF is concerned.

I would like to be proven wrong again. If even if the ACA chief is just shown a SHOW-CAUSE LETTER -- and late action against Close-One-Eye MP, and SemuaNya Okay MB's underling is taken -- I am taking any assurance by the nation's CEO to the IGP to "carry out a full probe", as jest that: Yeah, a fool probe. Did I hear wrongly!(The last is NOT even a rhetoric question,so the exclamation mark! which the blardy arrogant Desi's 'infemes' for!)

For the record again~~

From the New Straits Times, March 3, 2007:


Frontpage

GRAFT ALLEGATIONS AGAINST ACA CHIEF ZULKIFLI
CARRY
OUT FULL
PROBE,
SAYS PM

'I view such news as serious. That is why I got in touch with the IGP and
he is already going through the police report and will make an assessment
on the nature of the investigation.'
-- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

>> REPORT: P2

PM: Background checks
done in 2001, 2005

THE Prime Minister has ordered a full investigation into allegations of sleaze against Anti-Corruption Agency chief Datuk Seri Zulkipli Mat Noor.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he had contacted Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan over a report submitted by a former senior ACA official accusing his former superior of corruptly amassing wealth and abusing his position.

"I view such news (about the allegations) as serious. That is why I got in touch with the IGP and he is already going through the police report and will make an assessment on the nature of the investigation.

"I don’t want to go into the details. It is better for the IGP and Attorney-General to pursue this matter."

Abdullah, who is also Internal Security Minister, was asked to comment on the disclosure of police reports lodged against Zulkipli in 1997 for alleged sexual assault and documents sent to former IGP Tan Sri Mohd Bakri Omar last year by former Sabah ACA director Mohamad Ramli Manan alleging corrupt practices and the misuse of government facilities.

Speaking after winding up a three-day working visit to Yemen late Thursday at the southern province of Hadhramout, he said Zulkipli had been subjected to background vetting prior to his appointment as ACA director-general in 2001 and again in 2005 when his term was extended for two years.

"On both instances there was nothing that could have prevented his appointment to the position. The thorough checks were conducted twice and there was nothing wrong."

Musa said on Thursday that police were checking whether Zulkipli’s properties tallied with his declaration of assets and financial position.

Yesterday, he reportedly met Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail for three hours at the latter’s chambers in Putrajaya on the course of action to be taken over the charges against Zulkipli, which were made public by an outfit called the Democracy and Anti-Corruption Movement on Tuesday.

Gani told the New Straits Times on Wednesday that Zulkipli had been cleared of sexual assault after an exhaustive investigation but urged police to speed up its probe into the allegations of graft and misconduct.

Zulkipli has denied the allegations.

Abdullah, who left for Kuala Lumpur after a tour of historic southern Arabia, is expected to be briefed by Gani and Musa on the case.

___________________________________________________________


DESI:
I attended PKR's Chinese New Year gathering lst night at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall.
In summary, Sdr Anwar Ibrahim said:

Crimes are rising, even foreigners don't feel safe in Malaysia anymore;
A Mongolian beauty was mjurdered, and the government moved gangly and slowly.
I you depend on the BN government, they are dependable in increasing your COSTS of living as everything is goin' up -- tolls, price of essential goods, basically our bread and butter.
"So all Malaysians -- We are one big family (rendered in Mandarin:) -- must unite and Be Happy this auspicious Year of the Boar, Happy as we replace the Barisan Nasional Government!"
Thunderous applause. Desi smiled. 2020freelunch laughed as she penned her nota in her head, now pening ke?
Nat (palindrome) Tan and partner were busy handing out paraphernalia. What sort, you ask?Come-lah to the sext PKR function and find out from the FireBall's mouth!:):)

I adjourned in limo-chauffeured trip to the National Press Club -- after my lust visit two decades back, I LOST my way in Jalan Tangsi! -- to say hellos/haloes dare to more Bloggers than Press buddies walking distance from the High Courts, I believe. Hey, has the 5th Estate come, seen and conquered RockyBru&Co's press party?For a fool's retort, visit 2020freelunch.blogspot.com; maybe also jelas.info two.

p
e
A
c
e

God bless to all our Blogsophere buds and flowers; also hard-press(ed) blooms too.

A note to susan loone based in crooked bengkok: kickdafellw considers YOU as his warrior matey! I was a mite jealous when he declared that but an unmasked-zorro soothed my nerves with a not-so-hard drink. Thanks Bernard Khoo! and those (K)nights&ties around the Bar...


UPDATEd @4.00pm:

My T-break TICKING OFF, 4UMNO and PM!

03/03: Umno bails out construction firm PECD
Category: General Posted by: Raja Petra

Abdullah's govt could face conflict of interest charges over takeover

By Leslie Lopez
The Straits Times

MALAYSIA'S ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno) party has made its first major business foray in years with the bailout this week of troubled construction company PECD.

In a terse announcement to the Malaysian stock exchange late on Thursday, PECD said its founding shareholders, a group led by businessman Tan Sri Mohd Razali Abdul Rahman, had sold a controlling interest in the company to two relatively unknown businessmen for an undisclosed sum.

Bankers and Umno officials involved in the transaction told The Straits Times that the two executives - Dr Sheikh Awab Sheik Abod and Mr Shakir Jamil Faisal - are representing the party's interests and had paid a token sum of RM1 for the 25 per cent controlling interest in the cash-strapped PECD.

PECD is reeling from financial troubles stemming from contractual disputes in excess of RM500 million for projects in Malaysia and abroad with companies linked to national oil company Petronas.

The company is also saddled with more than RM850 million in loans from Malaysian banks.

A senior Umno official involved in the transaction said the takeover of PECD will help stave off the collapse of the group and avoid any risk of default on the company's loans from Malaysian banks.

But several political analysts said the takeover of PECD smacks of a corporate bailout of a politically connected construction company, and the move could attract charges of conflict of interest against Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's administration.

To nurse PECD back to health, the analysts said the company would need to win a steady stream of contracts from the government.

That, in turn, could attract charges of favouritism against Datuk Seri Abdullah, who is also president of Umno, from opposition groups and members of his own political party.

'Umno businessmen are being squeezed because of the slow pace of government contracts. An Umno-controlled PECD will squeeze them out more,' said the head of research at a bank-owned stockbroking company.

Umno, which does not publicly disclose its business interests, emerged as a major player in the Malaysian corporate scene in the early 1990s when it grouped its disparate assets under the Renong Group, which had interests in construction, toll road operations, media, finance and property.

Renong's rapid expansion, financed largely through bank borrowings, came unglued during the regional economic crisis that hit in mid-1997, and the Malaysian government was forced to bail out the group for RM3.8 billion in 2001.

Most of the units in the Renong stable of companies, including companies such as construction firm United Engineers Malaysia and toll operator Plus, have since recovered from their financial problems and remain in Malaysian government hands.

PECD, which is listed on the Malaysian stock market, has been a major player in Malaysia's construction sector since the early 1990s.

Its founding shareholder, Tan Sri Mohd Razali, is a close associate of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, and the company has been a major beneficiary of projects from state-linked entities such as Petronas.

But PECD has been less-than-fortunate in the delivery of several projects it secured in the past two years.

The company is locked in a legal battle over claims amounting to US$50 million (S$76 million) owed to a Petronas subsidiary for a contract in Sudan. It is also in trouble with the national oil corporation over disputes in the construction of a hospital in Kuala Lumpur.

Senior Umno and bankers close to PECD said that relations between the managements of Petronas and PECD have deteriorated over the past six months.

'The problems at PECD can be resolved, but the chemistry between Petronas and PECD is bad.

'The entry of a new shareholder will help bring about a solution,' said an Umno official involved in the takeover of the construction company.

________________________________________________

DESI: I feel sick after sighting the above item, which is a follow-up to the innocuous news break in "Confessions, knowing or unwitting" (Feb 15, 2007)hre. I'm signing off here to see DR. NO. I need an MC. No, it's not a medical chit, as I am my own master, being a Freelan/lunch Journalist. I'm off to get a Mistress of Ceremony:).