Don't be a hypocrite, report to the MACC if serious about MEX - Rafizi tells Dr M

Pakatan Rakyat leaders told former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad to look in the mirror and direct key questions of the Maju Expressway sale to Prime Minister Najib Razak, rather than pinning the blame on Maju Expressway boss Abu Sahid Mohamed.

Better still, if the 86-year-old grand old man of Malaysian politics was sincere about helping the people, he should lodge an a report with the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission, said PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli.

"It is not enough for Abu Sahid to explain to the public, we don't want to hear any explanation. The negligence and omission on the part of the government, in not collecting the full sum of the grant given to Maju Holdings, is a clear act of corruption that must be investigated fully," Rafizi told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Therefore, it is not about explanation.Tun Mahathir should have been responsible enough to lodge an MACC report against the current Finance Minister for allowing Maju Holdings to get away with the public's money, estimated by OSK Research to be circa RM660 million in profit."

For show only - laggard in moral duty?

According to the PKR leader, Mahathir was instrumental in the award of the concession to Maju Holdings as the concession was awarded and the agreement amended during his time as prime minister, which was from 1981 to 2003.

"It is his moral duty to set it right by demanding full accountability from Najih's administration so that the government grant is fully repaid," said Rafizi.

Mahathir had offered his comments on the MEX deal, which he likened to being as bad as "selling APs" - or an authorized permit system to import cars that was started during his rule from 1981 to 2003 and which has spawned widespread corruption leading to inflated costs for the retailer.

Indeed, the person who has been accused of abusing the AP system the most is Rafidah Aziz, the International Trade minister who served during Mahathir's time. She was accused of favoring her son-in-law by granting his car-import business the greatest number of permits.

By his comments, Mahathir may be trying to show that he is distancing himself from the deal, which has been panned by both market experts and laymen alike

However, in refusing to ask hard questions of the right people, such as Najib, or making an MACC report, the effort was just cosmetic and not a serious or real bid to help the public recover their hard-earned money.

RM1billion in 4 years?

The market has been abuzz with discontent over the MEX deal which could see Sahid's Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd making a profit of up to RM1 billion after just four years of operation.

The expressway was sold to EP Manufacturings for RM1.7 billion while the cost of construction was an estimated RM1.3 billion. However, Sahid had received a huge government grant of RM976 million, which if he does not repay, would net Maju Holdings a net profit of an estimated RM660 million to about RM1billion

“You sell what is yours, you don’t sell what belongs to others. It could be as bad as selling APs,” Mahathir told reporters on Monday.

“He tried to explain it to me but I told him you have to explain to the public why do you sell it and why you seem to be making money out of a government contract."

Highway robbery

MEX is 96.8 per cent owned by Maju Holdings in which Abu Sahid holds a 91 per cent stake. It is the concession holder of the 26km-long link between Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. MEX was completed in December 2007 and started operations the following January.

"The MEX is the most clear-cut case of making tax-payers' pay for the construction of the highway, and subsequently allowing a BN crony to milk the tax-payers further by charging toll, in this case, over a period of 33 years," Tony Pua, the DAP MP for PJ Utara, had said in a statement.

"There is no better example of how the BN government and its cronies are conducting highway robbery in broad daylight."

Malaysia Chronicle