Putrajaya duty-bound to disclose IPP deals, says Bar Council chief while Pua wants Najib to reveal power deals now

Malaysian Bar president Lim Chee Wee has said the federal government should and can make public the controversial power purchase agreements (PPAs) in the public’s interest based on the law.

The lawyer said any legal fallout over any non-disclosure clause in the PPAs can also be easily overwritten by the federal government through the corporate process and a simple declaration insuring national power utility company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).

“The importance of public interests overrides secondary legal issues,” the Bar Council chief told The Malaysian Insider when contacted yesterday.

Lim (picture)explained that under the Companies Act, the federal government with its 36 per cent stake in TNB could propose an emergency shareholders’ meeting and ask the company’s board of directors to release the information.

“At most, in the event the IPPs [independent power producers] want to sue TNB to claim damages for breaching the terms of contract, the government can just indemnify TNB,” he said.

“It’s a matter of policy. The government should have full disclosure. The government has strong bargaining power,” he added.

The Najib administration has been savaged by the opposition Pakatan Rakyat pact daily for the past month for allegedly continuing lopsided deals that saw the electricity tariffs revised to rise an average 7.1 per cent effective yesterday.

The prime minister said two days ago he would look into opening the books even as his Cabinet colleague Datuk Seri Peter Chin, who is in charge of the Energy, Green Technology and Water portfolio, said Putrajaya had no power to reveal the PPAs as the deals were between private companies.

In weighing in on the growing controversy, Lim said the federal government had no excuse against full disclosure as its main role was to protect the public’s interest and not that of the IPPs.

“The government has publicly declared on various occasions in the past that it believes in and intends to practise the principle of good governance, accountability, transparency and that the interest of the rakyat must come first,” Lim said.

“If so, it is then under an obligation to disclose to the Malaysian public information in its possession which is of public interest, where the community has a legitimate expectation to such information by virtue of being affected by the decision-making process,” he added.

Lim stressed the only exception was when the disclosure threatened national security.

He noted the ruling Barisan Nasional government’s move to hide information from the public by invoking the Official Secrets Act (OSA) runs counter to the law’s aim besides the principle of good governance, accountability, transparency and public interest.

He said the landmark 2009 decision to declassify highway toll contracts had paved the way for other public-interest agreements to be likewise revealed.

Putrajaya announced the 7.12 per cent hike in electricity rates in an effort to trim its burgeoning subsidy bill and promised the hike will not affect some 75 per cent of domestic consumers.

But power prices will now rise by as much as 2.3 sen per kilowatt hour in areas taking TNB’s electricity supply, which is expected to hike up household spending, causing public anger to swell against the Najib administration ahead of the 13th general election.

Meanwhile, Citing legal precedents, DAP lawmaker Tony Pua told the prime minister today to stop dithering and immediately declassify the contentious power purchasing agreements (PPAs) inked with independent power producers (IPPs).

Datuk Seri Najib Razak said on Tuesday the government would look into making public the contracts between national utility company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and the IPPs in the face of mounting criticism.

“There’s really nothing left to consider. He should just get the decision approved in the next Cabinet meeting,” Pua(picture) told The Malaysian Insider in response to the PM’s comment.

“Precedents have been set with the highway concession and the PKFZ contracts,” the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said, referring to the 2009 declassification of highway toll concessions and the multi-billion ringgit Port Klang Free Zone scandal which is being tried in the courts now.

The Attorney-General had pledged to open the books on the PKFZ deals following former Transport Minister Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik’s indictment for corruption.

Public anger has swelled against the Najib administration after it announced an average 7.1 per cent jump in electricity tariffs, effective yesterday, which is expected to rev up the price of consumer goods, including food, and increase household spending.

The opposition has repeatedly said the federal gas subsidy granted to IPPs through “lopsided agreements” would hamper Malaysia’s ability to curb rising inflation.

Pua, who is also DAP publicity chief, challenged Najib to live up to his government transformation reform pledges of transparency and accountability over public interest contracts and issues by immediately declassifying the power deals.

“There’s nothing more ‘public interest’ than the PPAs which were signed with the IPPs at this point of time as the government is seeking to increase electricity tariffs without making the IPPs share the burden,” he said.

Pua had sounded the call to declassify the PPAs last month following Putrajaya’s latest move in an ongoing series to snip fuel subsidies set to soar to RM18 billion this year, which Najib has likened to “opium” addiction.