Not all of us are lucky enough to enjoy enduring friendships that begin from school but Tan Kay Hock, the controversial chairman of George Kent Bhd, has taken care to maintain close ties with Prime Minister Najib Razak, and today, he is reaping the benefits. For this, Kay Hock must surely be given straight 'As'.
Whether he admits it or not, his George Kent is now the frontrunner to get the billion-ringgit Ampang LRT extension project - even though it is possibly the weakest in terms of technical expertise and experience amongst the list of tender candidates.
As far back as July last year, Kay Hock told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting in Petaling Jaya that the chances of getting the Ampang LRT deal were "very good". That was one year before the tender closed in July this year.
Of course, it may have been the usual false optimism that corporate captains are fond of exuding but on hindsight, many business and political pundits now question - did Kay Hock have inside information?
Sinister French Connection
Critics are convinced he must have been given 'special insight' but as the details of the deal began to unfold, it was clear that some thing more sinister was afoot.
PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli pulled no punches when he exposed the 'French Connection' in the Ampang project. Giant multinational Thales, the part-owner of DCNS, the arms maker that controversially sold the two Scorpene submarines to Najib for RM7.3 billion, is involved.
It came as a shock when Rafizi revealed that not only was Thales involved, Najib appears to have given the French giant special rights to mount multiple bids through several consortia in the tender as well.
Such preferential treatment must signal Najib's political desperation as this is a most unusual practice in open tenders, especially when involving a government and large international firms.
Perhaps, this is why Najib could not leave transport overseer Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (SPNB) to make the decision on its own, but actively intervened and maneuvered to ensure the deal landed in the lap of those he was targeting.
Unusual efforts to get the deal done
When the Ampang tender process was at its busiest, Najib made time to get directly involved even though he was facing enormous pressure from within his Umno party to call for general elections.
The RM250million NFC corruption debacle involving former Women's minister Shahrizat Jalil was at its most intense, yet Najib refused to delay the Ampang deal. Instead, he hammered it through - of course, with George Kent the purported 'surprise' winner. His minders were so meticulous that news was even leaked to the mainstream press that George Kent had been picked.
That however proved to be Najib's undoing. Competitors were obviously unamused at the 'free passage' given to the weakest bidder. It was a matter of time before someone noticed Thales' unusual presence in several of the bidding consortia. It was as if anyone could win but Thales must be on board whether directly or indirectly!
Whatever the denials made by Najib, Kay Hock or George Kent, the Malaysian public is unlikely to be satisfied. They are only too aware of the Thales connection to the Scorpenes submarines. Najib who was the Defense minister in 2002 had sanction the acquisition on behalf of the Malaysian government. DCNS is now on trial in Paris for having allegedly bribed officials including Najib to seal the deal.
Is this payback time? Is Najib trying to placate Thales or returning some favor to DCNS so as to escape incrimination for his role in the Scorpenes purchase? Those are now the thoughts uppermost on the minds of the Malaysian public following the Ampang LRT deal.
Clumsy handling: OSA and police charges against Rafizi
To a large extent, Najib has himself to blame for his lack of credibility. Not only has his administration been marred by indecisiveness and major policy flip-flops, his clumsy politicking and handling of Rafizi's expose' is also to blame.
Why else would the police be interested in going after the PKR leaders instead of quizzing the relevant authorities involved in the tender? Why are the police threatening charges under the Official Secrets Act when the Ampang tender is for a public project?
Why isn't the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission rushing in to look into the matter if Najib is not involved? Why is the Najib administration going after the whistle-blower and not the wrong-doer?
Najib was made to look worse when PKR lodged a police report, citing him for criminal breach of trust in his alleged interference in the project's award. When public grousing started to snowball, the MACC finally began its investigations.
The scam
“The best-fit solution will also be taken into account. As this project is not all about lowest price alone, all elements of evaluation parameters must be moderated so that the results will reflect any qualifiers attached within, but it is still better to choose the second lowest or the second highest and not the highest!" said SPNB media manager Azhar Ghazali.
Good try. But why have a tender then? What about the shortlisting process - should that not have sieved out the ineligible and marginal candidates? And why was the George Kent consortium allowed to be on the shortlist if it lacked the know-how?
For such a complex project, the best criteria are technical experience, expertise and strong financials. The winning company should at least possess a good credit rating trusted by the banks so that it can raise funds cheaply and will not have to pass on the borrowing cost to the Malaysian public.
Price rigging is also apparent in the Ampang tender and must be seriously investigated. This is because Thales was involved in several of the bids. In other words, it could influence the pricing and thereby manipulate the outcome.
The 8 consortia on the final shortlist 1) George Kent-China Railway Construction-Tewet GmbH; 2) Posco-Sojitz-Daewoo International-Thales; 3) Invensys-Balfour Beatty Rail-Ingress; 4) Colas-CMC Engineering-Thales; 5) Samsung-LG-Thales; 6)SNC Lavalin-WW Engineering-Bombardier; 7) Siemens-Scomi Engineering and 8) Ansaldo-Emrail-Leighton.
Some financial experts say Thales’s role was to create a range of prices to fill the gaps between the lowest and the highest for the price range to be more realistic and camouflage the huge difference without which there would be a sudden spike in the price range.
It is also telling Thales was not on the George Kent consortia. Was this planned on purpose so as not to highlight the Najib-Scorpene and Najib-Kay Hock connection?
To those who harbored such suspicions, it came as no surprise when Rafizi alleged that after being awarded the LRT deal, George Kent would sub-contract the project to another party. And of course, this would be when Thales would be 'rewarded' for its role, he alleged.
“This reflected the close relationship between Datuk Seri Najib Razak and this company (Thales) since the Scorpene purchase," Rafizi told a recent press conference.
Commission again?
Some allege that by sub-contracting the deal to Thales, Kay Hock's George Kent also stands to gain huge commissions by acting as the middleman.
However the tale unravels, that there is something fishy that needs to probed and cleaned out by the MACC is clear. Whether the MACC will again let the Malaysian public down by bowing to the powers-that-be is a separate matter that has to be deal with at another platform.
But obviously there must have been intricate planning behind the Najib-Kay Hock-Thales trinity if the allegations are true. Kay Hock could be another Razak Baginda, who was widely perceived to be Najib's proxy for the illicit commission in the Scorpenes deal. Is Kay Hock the front man for Najib in the Ampang deal?
And Thales' sudden emergence all over the tender - was Najib returning some favor to the European conglomerate for past favors? Why would Najib, Kay Hock and Thales create such an elaborate scheme if all three did not have some benefit or other?
These are tough questions and obviously Najib is feeling the heat. His Umno colleagues may smile and murmur sympathetically to his face and point the finger at the 'troublemakers' from the Opposition.
But make no mistake. Behind closed doors, they will notch another black mark against him and cite the Ampang LRT deal as yet another reason why he is doing Umno more harm than good. The scandal will strength their resolve to oust Najib - one way or another.
The more useful commodity - money or politics?
All eyes will also be on whether Kay Hock and George Kent will be denied the deal? While the government has yet to officially announce the winner, Rafizi has shown minutes from the Finance ministry procurement unit stating that George Kent was the winner. A Letter of Intent is also believed to have been issued.
The Ampang deal is no easy decision for Najib, as obviously he would have to give up a lot if the George Kent-Thales scheme is scrapped. In the Scorpenes case, Najib was accused of swiping 114 mil euros or RM570 million for hammering through the acquisition.
However, with the country's 13th general election nearby and the Umno internal polls soon after, Najib may reckon that his political chances are not really that bright after all.
Money might be a more useful commodity than politics!
Malaysia Chronicle
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