How playing golf with the Prime Minister can earn you billions

Tan Kay Hock is the low-profile controlling shareholder of Johan Holdings Berhad, a public-listed investment holding company. He is also the golf buddy of Najib Tun Razak and this relationship has made him hundreds of millions. Kay Hock recently caused ripples in China when he asked the Chinese for RM500 million and told them that RM200 million is for Najib’s family.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

For about ten years and over three Prime Ministers, the current Prime Minister included, the contract for the double-tracking electric train from Gemas to Johor Bahru has been ding-donging. Despite what was agreed between the leaders of China and the three Prime Ministers, which was later confirmed by the issuance of a Letter of Intent to China Railways Engineering Corporation (CREC), the government is again backtracking.

Najib now wants to award the contract to China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd. (CHEC) instead, the company that is building the Second Penang Bridge -- which shot up from RM1 billion to RM4.5 billion and now to RM22 billion (read more on the matter below).

The man behind this is Tan Kay Hock, Najib’s golf buddy. He is brokering the deal on behalf of CHEC.

The Chinese say that Tan Kay Hock is demanding RM500 million from CHEC and he told them that RM200 million is for Najib's family. And this is making the Chinese very unhappy because, in China, both the givers as well the receivers of bribes will be sentenced to death with a bullet in the head plus the cost of the bullet is charged to the family of the deceased.

When the Chinese government offered the Malaysian government a loan to construct the Gemas to JB railway they indicated that CREC should be the contractor. CREC is one of the biggest specialist contractors for electric trains while CHEC has not constructed even one kilometer of electric railway (more details below).

A Letter of Intent had already been awarded to CREC. Now the government wants to cancel this Letter of Intent and issue a new Letter of Intent to CHEC. But for the new Letter of Intent to be issued to CHEC they must fork out RM500 million, which Kay Hock claims RM200 million will be paid to the Prime Minister of Malaysia’s family.

This is not only a violation of the terms of the loan from China but CREC is the company with the experience in constructing electric railways, not CHEC, the company already involved in the construction of the Second Penang Bridge. Added to the withdrawal or cancellation of the Letter of Intent to CREC and a new one issued to CHEC, with a RM500 million ‘price tag’ attached, it puts the Chinese government in a dicey spot when the risk would be a bullet in the head for those who approve the payment.

The Chinese are wondering whether it is worth the risk to pay Kay Hock the RM500 million he is demanding. If the Letter of Intent to CREC can be withdrawn after issuing it, what guarantee is there that the new Letter of Intent to CHEC will also not be withdrawn after they pay the RM500 million?

The Chinese are very aware that Vincent Tan also received a Letter of Approval for his gaming licence, signed by the Deputy Minister of Finance. However, after he paid RM170 million ‘under the table’, Najib denied in Parliament that Vincent Tan had been given a gaming licence and subsequently the Letter of Approval was withdrawn.

KTM is being used as Najib’s new cash cow. The EMU coach was a deal involving Rosmah Mansor (Najib’s wife), Mumtaz Jaafar (Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s ‘godmother’) and Cindy (Desmond Lim's wife). Desmond, in fact, handled the deal where KTM coughed out RM1.4 Billion for coaches that cannot function. According to KTM, the coaches are not even worth RM300 million.

The saga gets more interesting with Najib and Rosmah holidaying in Monaco as guests of Jho Low -- who told everyone that the yacht belongs to the Prince of Qatar. It was later revealed that Jho Low rented the yacht for Euro 90,000 per day to allow Najib and Rosmah to rub shoulders with Hollywood Starlets.

That brings us to a very crucial question. Where did Jho Low get that kind of money? Well, you see, afterMalaysia Today exposed Deepak Jaikishan -- Rosmah’s carpetman cum bagman cum toyboy -- she was forced to dump him. So now Jho Low is Rosmah’s new Mister Fixit and Collector of Commissions.

Let us see how the CHEC-Tan Kay Hock saga is played out. Now that the Chinese government knows that we know about the RM500 million deal would they dare still proceed with it? And does Tun Dr Mahathir Mahathir know that Najib has hijacked his pet electric train project?

***************************************

Mr Tan is said to be a golf buddy of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak

He is the low-profile controlling shareholder of Johan Holdings, a public-listed investment holding company, and said to be a golf buddy of Najib Tun Razak.

The Financial Times had reported that Tan Sri Tan, 61, was the owner of the 607ha Guiana Island, which is now at the centre of a fraud case brought by the United States authorities against Texan billionaire businessman Allen Stanford. -- The Straits Times (Singapore)

Read: The crooked faces of Najib Altantuya’s Cronies and their Related Companies(http://ckcounterpunch.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/the-faces-of-najib-altantuya-cronies-and-their-related-companies/)

***************************************

CREC is the third largest civil construction enterprise in the world, and the Asian and Chinese largest railway, road and tunnel construction contractor. It has a leading position in China's construction market, and participates in many large-scale infrastructure projects overseas (especially in countries in the Southeast Asia and Africa). Fortune magazine in the United States reported that CREC ranked 342 in the 500 world's largest enterprises in 2007.

CREC consists of 31 member enterprises including:

- 16 super-large construction enterprises

* China National Overseas Engineering Corporation

* China Railway Resources Co., Ltd.

* China Railway First Group Corporation

* China Railway Erju Group Corporation (China Railway Second Group Corporation)

* Third Engineering Group Co. Ltd

* China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co. Ltd (China Fourth Group Civil Engineering Group Co. Ltd)

* China Railway Wuju Group Corporation (China Railway Fifth Group Corporation)

* China Railway Sixth Group Co. Ltd

* China Railway Seventh Group Co. Ltd

* China Railway Eighth Civil Engineering Group Corporation

* China Railway No. 9 Group Co. Ltd

* China Railway No. 10 Group Corporation

* China Zhongtie Major Bridge Engineering Group Co. Ltd (China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group Co. Ltd)

* China Railway Tunnel Group

* China Railway Electrification Bureau Co. Ltd

* China Railway Construction Engineering Group

- 3 large or super large surveying and designing enterprises

* Second Survey and Design Institute of China Railway

* China Railway Engineering Consultants Group

* China Major Bridge Survey and Design Institute

- 3 large R&D enterprises

* Northwest Research Institute

* Southwest Research Institute of CREC

* Engineering Machinery Research and Design Institute

- 5 large manufacturing enterprises

* China Railway Shanhaiguan Bridge Group Co. Ltd

* China Railway Turnout Bridge Inc.

* China Railway Bus. Co. Ltd.

* Wuhan Engineering Machinery Works of CREC

* Hengping Trust and Investment Co. Ltd.

******************************************

The Second Penang Bridge

The Second Penang Bridge is a new bridge under construction in Penang, Malaysia. It will connect Batu Kawan on the mainland Seberang Perai and Batu Maung on Penang Island. It will be the second bridge to link the island to the mainland after Penang Bridge.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.penang-traveltips.com/second-penang-bridge.htm

The total length of the RM4.5 billion bridge is 24 km and will become the longest bridge in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd (CHEC) expected to start work on the second Penang bridge in November 2007 for completion in 2011, but it had to be postponed for completion in May 2012, as the construction started late in November 2008, due to Umno-owned United Engineers Malaysia Berhad’s demand for a higher contract price. (Read more below).

***********************************************

Second Penang bridge: 'UEM making outrageous demands'

UEM Builders Bhd has been making “outrageous” demands for financial assistance for the construction of the second Penang bridge, a state assemblyman charged today.

And the federal government is bowing to this government-linked company, said Sim Tze Tzin, Pantai Jerejak PKR state assemblyman.

He said the matter came to light after a “whistle-blower” produced a confidential letter from UEM to the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) soon after Pakatan Rakyat took over Penang two years ago.

Sim, who showed the letter to reporters in Parliament, said the letter, dated Aug 8, 2007, was signed by UEM chief executive officer Ahmad Pardas Senin and was addressed to EPU's director-general Dr Sulaiman Mahmod.

Sim said the contents of the letter revealed, among other things, that UEM has asked for financial assistance to the tune of RM22 billion to build the bridge although the actual cost of the project is only RM4 billion.

"This is a very outrageous demand and the federal government has complied with it. We are afraid that the federal government would blindly agree to all other kinds of assistance requested by UEM,” he said.

"The letter is genuine. So far, any request from UEM has been complied with by the federal government," he added.

In the letter, UEM has also asked for a concession period of 45 years, including seeking government soft loan and grant.

Something 'amiss'

According to Sim, UEM has also requested that the toll rate be fixed at RM9.40 for the second Penang bridge. It also wants the toll price for the first bridge, currently at RM7, be increased to RM9.40, with the maximum tagged at RM11.50. This price structure will go on till 2051.

The toll collection is expected to amount to RM7 billion.

But Sim said the concession for the first bridge expires in 2018 and “so why did the letter state that it (toll price) will go on until 2051?”

He said UEM had also asked the government to scrap the 20% discount for the Touch 'n’ Go cards.

"Lately, the government had announced it would abolish this discount, which goes to show that what the letter had stated is true. But due to public pressure, the government backed down and said the discount would only be for Penangites.

"Last week, the prime minister has said the toll price for the second bridge will be at RM9.40. Now, we are worried if the government had given in to UEM's demand," said Sim.

He added that there is something amiss in the second Penang bridge project, as the federal government is providing a huge amount of financial assistance to UEM. -- Free Malaysia Today, 22 June 2010