PKFZ report out. Now what? — The Malaysian Insider

PKA chairman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng holding the PKFZ audit report during a press conference at the PKA office in Klang on Thursday.

MAY 28 - Beyond the facts, figures and fallacies sifted from the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) report today, one thing is clear. Laws were broken.

And the question now is, whether anyone will be held accountable?

Malaysia has a history of revelations, reports and resolutions with no action taken. Will the same happen in the case of the PKFZ where a RM2 billion project is now costing RM7.45 billion and could possibly balloon to RM12.5 billion if the Port Klang Authority (PKA) defaults on its loans.

In the PriceWaterhouseCooper Advisory Services (PwCAS) report, the auditors noted there was weak governance, weak project management, conflict of interest among board members and shareholders of related companies.

Basically, laws were broken, rules were not followed. There was on oversight when it came to oversight, so to speak.

But this is not new.

What is not new is also the time taken for the report prepared last February 3 to ever see the light of day. Or for the public allowed access to the report online at www.pka-report.com for two weeks until June 10.

Because the report implicates many people, some still in government., some retired.

PKA chairman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng, who will send the report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for follow-ups, cautioned that the report was released on certain conditions that only the MACC can probe the matter further.

But follow-ups that flounder are also not new in the country.

Witness for example the highly-publicised thick report from the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police that was established on Feb 4, 2004.

Its most important recommendation for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission was never followed-up. Only a watered down commission for all enforcement agencies.

Or for that matter The Royal Commission of Inquiry Into the V.K. Lingam Video Clip formed in late 2007 to investigate allegations of intervention in judicial appointments. It concluded that there was a case to answer for a few people.

No one has been indicted yet, let alone investigated for the matter.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, who has been under fire for the past 14 months for not revealing the report, said the government must act on the findings of the report to ensure the people's interest are fully protected.

Good words indeed.

One waits for it to matched in deeds, nothing less than the people who broke the laws get their just desserts.

Otherwise the PKFZ report will go the same way of other reports in the past. On the shelves, gathering dust. In the dusbin, forgotten until the next scandal hits the headlines.