Ling denies receiving reward from Kuala Dimensi

Former Transport Minister Dr Ling Liong Sik today denied receiving any form of gratification or remuneration from Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) for the purchase of close to 1,000 acres of land for the Port Klang Free Zone project.

The former MCA president also denied before the Kuala Lumpur High Court of being a mouthpiece for KDSB.

Testifying in his defence, Ling, 69, said he was not involved in the negotiations for the land purchase with KDSB throughout the deal.

All the technical details were worked out by his ministry staff and the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH), which comes under the Finance Ministry.

"I was not aware of a letter written by the ministry's principal assistant secretary (Maritime) P Chandrasekaran dated Oct 2, 2000, to KDSB's Tiong King Sing on a proposal to purchase the 830-acre land.

"I only viewed the letter after I was charged," Ling added in reply to questions from his lawyer Wong Kian Kheong.

He also said he was not aware of the valuation done by JPPH on the land based, as per a letter dated Sept 29, 2000, as such purview came under the Finance Ministry.

Ling also testified that he had no knowledge about or qualification in the valuation of land and he therefore had to depend on the valuation done by JPPH and his officers.

"I gave instructions to my officers to comply with the valuation by JPPH as the Transport Ministry does not have the personnel to do valuation," he said.

Replying to another question from Wong on whether he had received any form of gratification or remuneration from the purchase and development of the land by KDSB, the minister replied a simple "No".

Wong: Are you also the mouthpiece for KDSB?

Ling: No.

The former minister said the project was moving too slowly and fearing there could be a withdrawal by the Jebel Ali investors from Dubai, the cabinet  directed that the project be sped up, including the acquisition of the land.

'PM did not complaint'

Replying to Wong, Ling said he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the government to reconsider the purchase with KDSB and for the company to be given the contract to build the basic PKFZ infrastructure.

Although the letter dated April 3, 2002, was from him, Ling said, it was prepared by senior ministry officers including the former secretary-general, Zaharah Shaari, former deputy secretary-general Abdul Rahman Mohd Noor and Chandrasekaran.

Wong: Did you personally prepare the letter?

Ling: No my senior officers, Zaharah, Abdul Rahman, and Chandrasekaran, did. They helped draft this letter.

Wong: All this information and the figures in the letter. Who provided them? The detailed amount, rates, sections in the laws, who provided the information to you?

Ling: It is from my officers, who may have been advised by Treasury.

Wong: Do you have personal knowledge as to the accuracy of the information?

Ling: I won't have personal knowledge. I was the minister, I relied on my senior officers on the accuracy of the information.

Wong: Your officers prepared the letter, did any of the officers inform you later that this letter was not correct or misleading?

Ling: No, not until now.

Wong: Was there any complaint by PM (Mahathir) that this letter is not correct or misleading?

Ling: No

Wong:  If you had known that this letter is incorrect, would you have sent it?

Ling: I would have corrected it.

Wong: Why was the compulsory acquisition of the said land not possible or feasible?

Ling: The de facto law minister then, Rais Yatim, had said there was a possible binding contract for sale and purchase following Chandrasekaran's letter to KDSB and the Selangor government rejecting to it as a development order for the land had been issued.

"No intention to cheat"
In the afternoon, Ling admitted another letter dated June 29, 2002 sent to Dr Mahathir over a proposal to acquire the Pulau Indah land  which is to be part of the PKFZ project, contained some errors as in his earlier letter to the premier, dated April 3.

In the letter, it was stated that after renegotiation with KDSB, there were negotiations based on a willing buyer willing seller basis and there were terms approved by KDSB where the company outlined several options.

"My officers did not inform me that there were mistakes with the letter as in the earlier letter.
"However, I did not have the intention to cheat, deceive and mislead the PM," he said in replying to questions from Wong.

Later in the afternoon Ling asked judge Justice Ahmadi Asnawi if he could continue testimony the next day.

Justice Ahmadi suggested a 10 minute break, but Ling said he had many ailments including high blood pressure and diabetes and as a doctor, felt it was best to break for the day.
Justice Ahmadi then allowed the case to be continued tomorrow.