Sime executive charged for graft, no sign of big fishes

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

UPDATED In a move seen as a sop to growing discontent over rampant government corruption, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has charged a senior manager at conglomerate Sime Darby for taking bribes in exchange for revealing information to a bidder.

Zamri Mohd Idrus, the general manager for business development and investment in Sime Darby Marine, was charged under section 11(a) of Anti-Corruption Act 1997, which relates to giving or accepting gratification for corrupt purposes.

He was also offered an alternative charge under section 132(2)(b) of Companies Act 1965 for abusing company information for personal interest. He pleaded not guilty and was released on RM10,000 bail.

In May, the government-linked Sime reported in its third-quarter results an operating loss of RM1.019 billion in the energy and utilities division, hit by costs overruns from several mega projects including former premier Mahathir Mohamad's controversial Bakun Dam construction.

But market analysts expect the Sime losses to end up much higher and a ballpark figure of RM2 to 3 billion would not come as a surprise. Even Mahathir has pointed out that a loss provisioning of RM1.8 billion ringgit was more probable, and according to him, that was just for Bakun.

"Corruption breeds corruption. When you a system like this, it is a vicious cycle. Zamri is just a middle manager. What we want to see are the big fishes caught - not always just the ikan bilis," PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"It is well known some of Sime's big projects are not 'pure' business decisions made by the Board but orders from top politicians of the day."

Najib disappoints again

Zamri's arrest is the latest disappointment from Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose administration has been largely ineffective. Critics say he is the wrong man to take Malaysia forward, pointing to his scandal-plagued record, which makes him vulnerable to pressure from his Umno peers.

Last week, former Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik was charged for misleading the Cabinet on land valuations for the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone debacle.

A fixture in Mahathir’s cabinet, Ling’s arrest sent shock waves around the country. Public opinion was divided and conspiracy theories abounded. Many pointed at Najib’s sudden decision to go on leave immediately before the arrest was made and speculated more high-profile personalities would be hauled up.

But more than a week has passed and it looks like the warnings given by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and his Pakatan Rakyat are right.

Najib is well-known to carry enormous corruption baggage of his own. He can ill afford to antagonize his peers in the Cabinet, Umno and in particular the still-powerful Mahathir or they might leak out even more of his dark secrets, the Pakatan leaders told Malaysia Chronicle.

“Ling’s arrest is just for show. It won’t go further as far as the big fish is concerned and the fallout will be limited to the MCA. There are racial overtones and it is to protect Umno and also Mahathir. By arresting Ling, Najib is showing the fault of PKFZ was due to the corrupt Chinese officials in MCA,” MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad told Malaysia Chronicle.

In the same league as PKFZ

The losses at PKFZ have scandalized the nation and the ones that are due to be revealed at Sime next month are expected to underscore the billions of ringgit that have been siphoned or leaked from the system due to corruption by the country's ruling elite.

Despite Ling's arrest, all trails at PKFZ have led to Mahathir and in Sime, the most painful losses are also expected to be the result of deals he struck when he was still in power.

Mahathir retired in late 2003 after pushing though the controversial Bakun dam, which critics had long ago warned would irreparably damage Sarawak's natural resources and prove to be an economic disaster because the pricing was over-bloated while demand for energy was still low.

It remains to be seen if the MACC will dare to go after the top-level administrators at Sime, some of whom have already been warning in private they would tell all if they are touched.

"The Sime management fiasco and poor investment decisions should trigger a deeper look at the government's GLCs strategy," said political analyst Khoo Kay Peng.

"The catastrophic performanceshould not be taken as an isolated case. It may just be a trigger for similar cases in GLCs. We do not know how well or poorly these companies are being managed unless something bad has happened."

The Star had earlier reported that a Sime senior executive was to be brought to court to face two charges totaling RM300,000. The first was allegedly accepting RM100,000 from a contractor in Johor awarded with a contract related to the shipping industry.

The second was for allegedly receiving almost RM200,000 from another contractor in the Klang Valley.