‘Toothbrush maker financing Puspahanas’

Awan Megah, the company owned by Wanita Umno Selangor chief has not spent a single sen on the 2005 project and instead gained millions, said PKR.

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KUALA LUMPUR:  The multi-million defence project awarded to Awan Megah Sdn Bhd is fully financed by a company specialising in the manufacturing of toothbrushes, said PKR leader Rafizi Ramli today.

He said this meant that Raja Ropiaah, who owns Awan Megah, had not spent a single sen on the National Defence Education Centre (Puspahanas) project, despite having been given RM130 million and 223.33 acres of prime land in return for developing the centre.

Instead, he said, the Selangor Umno Wanita chief received multiple commissions for the project from three different companies – Deepak Jaikishan’s Astacanggih Sdn Bhd, Boustead Holdings Bhd (BHB) and toothbrush manufacturer GuppyUnip Sdn Bhd.

“It is clear that Awan Megah is just an ‘Ali Baba’ company – it has no activities, no capital and just works as a middleman to gain commission, much like the Perimekar company involved in the Scorpene scandal,” Rafizi told reporters at a press conference here.

As proof, the PKR director of strategy provided reporters with the latest summary of Awan Megah’s financial information from the Companies Comission Malaysia (CCM).

The documents revealed that Awan Megah had not conducted any financial activity since 1993, and was considered a dormant company. This was despite the fact that the then defence minister Najib Tun Razak had awarded the Puspahanas project to Raja Ropiaah in 2005.

Instead, copies of a private and confidental letter from the United Overseas Bank (UOB) to GuppyUnip showed it had approved a loan of RM79,250,000 for GuppyUnip in 2010.

The copy, which Rafizi distributed to reporters, said the purpose of the loans was for “issuance of financial guarantee favouring Awan Megah (M) Sdn Bhd”, “to pay Awan Megah Sdn Bhd” as well as to partly finance the “cost of earthwork and infrastructure costs on the subject property”, among others.

“This document proves Awan Megah is not going to spend a single sen on Puspahanas nor the development of 223 acres of land in Shah Alam. Everything would be covered by GuppyUnip,” said Rafizi.

“Worse still, the 223 acres of land is supposed to be for Awan Megah but the letter from UOB shows that GuppyUnip is covering the costs of the premium payment to the Selangor state government,” he added.

He said the bank document also revealed why the Puspahanas project was delayed for so long – it took five years for Awan Megah to find a partner which could provide it with the financial backing it needed.

Meanwhile, even the unfinished Puspahanas’ location remained a mystery to the public and Rafizi said he would attempt to visit the presumed construction site over the weekend.

“I heard that in the past five years, they have not managed to go beyond breaking the ground,” he said.

‘She won’t be able to escape’
Meanwhile, PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin questioned what happened to the millions given to Raja Ropiaah for the defence deal.

“Last Wednesday, I made a statement for Raja Ropiaah to come forward. What would be done with the millions, since it won’t be used to fund Puspahanas?

“To enrich her family? To enrich Wanita Umno? The culture of taking the rakyat’s money for their own personal use is prevalent in Wanita Umno,” she said.

Zuraida said that should Raja Ropiaah choose to keep quiet over the missing funds, it would be to the latter’s detriment as PKR Wanita would go all out to expose the scandals she was hiding.

“We expect her to keep quiet, the way [Wanita Umno chief] Shahrizat Abdul Jalil did [over the National Feedlot Scandal]. But she won’t be able to escape,” she stressed.

Rafizi also explained that the reason Awan Megah needed to pull in partners such as carpet dealer Deepak and GuppyUnip to finance the project was because it was a “shell company.”

“Awan Megah is only a shell company, it has no expertise in construction. In fact, it has not run any activity at all, as you can see in the CCM documents.

“That is why when it was awarded Puspahanas, it had to rope in another company as a partner to actually manage the construction. And this is how Deepak came in,” he explained.

Deepak had alleged that he paid a substantial sum of money to the family of Najib so that the then defence minister would allow him to come in as a party in the Puspahanas project.

In return for financing Puspahanas, he was promised the 223 acres of land, which was eventually never given to him. He then sued Raja Ropiaah for breach of agreement but had recently dropped the lawsuit.

Najib must answer
Rafizi said that the prime minister was responsible for the Puspahanas fiasco as it was he who awarded the RM100 million privatisation deal to Raja Ropiaah’s company.

He flayed Najib for apparently awarding the project through direct negotiation to a company that had no experience in construction.

“Direct negotiation is quite common among BN. But at the very least, award the tender to a company with a track record of construction. No open tender is bad enough but at least negotiate with those companies that have experience,” Rafizi pointed out.

“As a defence minister, Najib committed corruption and bribery when awarding a project worth millions to Awan Megah, which is not even a capable construction company.

“He can give any excuse or explanation for this, but that is what you call bribery. It is clear corruption to give the project to a company owned by the Selangor Umno Wanita chief,” he added.

He also said Najib was indirectly responsible for the fact that GuppyUnip – a company that was formed recently in 2009 – was now managing the Puspahanas project.

Rafizi said he would be lodging a report over the matter with the police and MACC on Monday.

The PKR leader also refuted Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) chairman Admiral Mohd Anwar Mohd Nor’s claim that Astacanggih had no bank loan.

LTAT vehicle Boustead Holdings BHD had come under fire for purchasing an 80% stake in Astacanggih for RM30 million, as well as Bukit Raja land worth RM130 million from Awan Megah.

“Mohd Anwar was wrong when he says Astacanggih has no loan. It has a RM90 million loan which the LTAT will have to take over,” Rafizi said when asked to comment on the issue.

“Najib has to be answerable to the armed personnel.  These people struggle when they retire as they don’t receive pension; they just get receive a small compensation from LTAT.

“So if their money is not managed properly, then Najib must take responsibility for this.”