Minister must quit over Sabah Air debacle

Sabah Air's controversial purchases and millions in accumulated losses must be explained.

KOTA KINABALU: The DAP has called for the resignation of an Assistant Minister in Chief Minister Musa Aman’s cabinet over the poor perfromance of Sabah Air as revealed in the Auditor-General’s Report 2010.

DAP state secretary Dr Edwin Bosi said Pang Yuk Ming who is the Assistant Minister of Infrastructure Development responsible for Sabah Air has ‘miserably failed the company’.

“If this report card is of any value, Pang should resign as an assemblyman and assistant minister as he has miserably failed the company and the people of Sabah,” said Bosi.

He said that it was ‘unbelievable’ that Pang, who is also Merotai assemblyman, was so proud to tell the whole world that he was personally involved with the Eurocopter transaction.

“I think there is something not right in the thinking of Pang. How can you be so proud of a bad and losing transaction?

“I would like to advise Pang to get a copy of the Auditor General’s Report 2010 and to diligently go through the assessment of his former company.

“I would also like to remind Pang that DAP Sabah is not cooking up any stories about the Eurocopters as it is clearly spelt out in the AG Report 2010,” he said.

Pang, who is also Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) vice president was Sabah Air chairman when the controversial purchase was made and came under fire from DAP Sabah chairman Jimmy Wong and Bosi for the RM33.8 million bill.

“Sabah DAP reiterates that the government had bought scrap iron,” Bosi said, adding that the the purchase had put Sabah Air in the red according to the 2010 audit.

“Basically it shows the poor financial management and equally poor administrative management of the company.

“Out of five subsidiaries, only Intra-travel, their airline agent is going somewhere. The others were dormant.

“The company is also reported to have bought a Corporate golf membership at Glenmarie at a cost of RM54,000.00 for one of its former directors which is been now transferred to one of the pilots.

“The company also recruited and paid a huge sum of money to two agents to promote the company but there was no tangible result.

“The company has an accumulated loss of about RM4.764 million in 2009. The AG Report 2010 stated that many of the transactions did not get the approval of the board,” he pointed out.

DAP wants to inspect helicopters

Bosi dismissed Pang’s statement that the purchase of the helicopters was made to serve the people especially in the interior, pointing out that it took two years for the state government to convince the federal government to purchase the helicopters.

He said if there were indeed an urgent need for the helicopters to serve the people in the interior of the state, it should not have taken so long to get helicopters.

“Sabah DAP does not deny that the helicopters are crucial to support the health care services by providing the flying doctor service to the rural and remote interiors but the helicopters must be in tip-top condition to ensure safety for the pilots and passengers,” said.

But Pang has confirmed that the helicopters were damaged during the shipment.

Bosi wants Pang to make an arrangement for DAP leaders to inspect the two helicopters and also to furnish them with a report on their flying hours and for whom.

“We have reasons to believe that these two helicopters are still grounded and cannot fly on commercial basis. They are not flying at all, not even for the flying doctor service that Pang mentioned,” he said.

Bosi also expressed concern that Sabah Air had not been given due recognition by both the Barisan Nasional federal and state governments citing how the company failed to secured a contract with the Carigali Hess’s production and drilling operation in Kelantan, as reported in the AG Report 2010.

“Is Sabah Air getting any contract in the multi-billion ringgit project in the Petronas Oil and Gas industry in Sabah?

“This is most frustrating when the government does not even consider its wholly-owned company for a share of work in the nation’s oil and gas industry.

“It explains why Sabah Air is in the red. If this report card is of any value, Pang should resign as an assemblyman and Assistant Minister as he has miserably failed the company and the people of Sabah,” he said.