Skeletons in the new Cabinet
Soon Li Tsin Mar 29, 08 11:35am
Skeletons are still ratting in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s trimmed down, self-dubbed "reform cabinet", despite the departure of several scandal-ridden personalities.
Abdullah has said the police and Anti-Corruption Agency have vetted and cleared the current crop for appointment to ministerial portfolios.
Malaysiakini ran their names through the archives, to see how free of taint they really are - with unsurprising results for those who have been following our year-end X-files series. No, Christmas has not come early this year!
On the other side of the political fence, some in the ‘government-in-waiting’ and opposition state governments are being pursued by a few bogeys of their own.
BARISAN NASIONAL
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Allegedly bought ACJ 319 VIP jet from Airbus costing between US$55 million and US$60 million, but denied the claim in January last year, saying that the government had only leased the aircraft from national carrier Malaysia Airlines Bhd and that that the plane was not for his use alone.
Alleged by Turkish newspaper Hurriyet to have ordered a RM30 million super-luxury yacht in August 2006, alongside a claim that he had been in Bodrum to check on progress - Abdullah denied it and was mulling legal action against the newspaper
Initially linked to ownership of a RM60 million mansion in Perth, Australia, in April 2007 but subsequent reports quoting son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin said the house belongs to the PM’s son, Kamaludin.
Implicated in a UN agency independent report in the worldwide oil-for-food scandal involving Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, but denied doing anything more than signing papers endorsing people in business.The report traced payment of US$10 million by Mastek Sdn Bhd, originally registered as a sawn timber company and a dormant company revived by Abdullah’s sister-in-law Noor Asiah Mahmood, her ex-husband Faek Ahmad Shareef and businessperson Jaya Sudhir.
Awarded the RM25 billion Penang Global City Centre project to Abad Naluri - a 25 percent-owned associate firm of Taman Equine which is wholly owned by developer Equine Capital, whose executive chairman Patrick Lim has close ties to Abdullah
Awarded the RM3.4 billion Penang monorail project to Penang Port and Scomi Group, in which. Kamaludin holds the controlling stake; Scomi has also been refurbishing railway coaches for Malayan Railway, acting as contractors to Petronas and has reportedly made a bid for the Penang Second bridge project.
In February 2004, BBC reported that Scomi subsidiary, Scomi Precision Engineering Sdn Bhd was making centrifuge for export to Libya, for nuclear devices. Two years later, the CEO and four executives of Mitutoyo Corporation were arrested by the Tokyo police for the connection of sale of equipment to Scomi, for the production of these centrifuge. Scomi disclaimed knowledge of the intended use of the parts.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak
In 2002, the Defence Ministry bought three submarines costing RM4.5 billion through a company controlled by close friend and political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda who was paid RM530 million in commission.
The ministry purchased Sukhoi 30-MKM fighter jets worth RM3.2 billion from Russia in 2003 and brokered the deal to send the first Malaysian into space last year at a cost of RM90 million.
Six offshore patrol vessels were delivered so late that contract value shot up from RM4.9 billion to RM6.75 billion - relevant documents were destroyed last September
Indirectly linked to the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006, for which two members of his security detail and Abdul Razak Baginda are currently on trial; Altantuya’s cousin testified that there is a photograph of Altantuya and Najib, taken in France
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Johari Baharum
Embroiled in an allegation that he allegedly received RM5.5 million to free three underworld members from detention, but the Attorney-General later cleared him
Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop
Involved in the currency speculation scandal in the early 1990s, when Bank Negara lost up to RM30 billion
Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heong
Caught in apparent conflict of interest in the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone project; he was Port Klang Authority chairperson and deputy chairperson of Wijaya International (parent company of project developer Kuala Dimensi)
Works Minister Mohd Zin Mohamad
Alleged to have been party to fraud, corruption and bribery - which he has denied - in relation to complaints that his air-cargo company, Silkways Cargo Services Ltd, had under-declared the weight of shipments ferried by Malaysia Airlines in 2001; business partner Sheikh Farid Ahmed in Bangladesh was charged for money laundering last year and reportedly admitted to having paid around RM4.2 million in monthly installments to Mohd Zin.
Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein
As Umno Youth chief, he brandished a keris at the party’s general assembly in 2005 and again last year; non-Malays did not buy his explanation that the gesture has cultural significance to Malays
Rural and Regional Development Minister Muhammad Muhd Taib
Charged in Australia - but was cleared - of making a false declaration on carrying in the equivalent of RM2.4 million equivalent in different currencies in December 1996 and knowingly ignoring conditions in a statutory declaration by declaring only assets worth RM10.82 million and AUD3.46 million. He admitted during the trial at the Brisbane District Court that he bought several properties worth more than RM17 million in Australia and New Zealand under the name of his wife Asbi Rohani Asnan. The ACA investigated and cleared him, but he resigned as Selangor menteri besar.
Tourism Minister Azalina Othman
As sports minister in the previous cabinet, was caught in the proposal floated last year to set up the RM70 million Sports High-Performance Training Centre in Brickendonbury near London; the East Hertforshire Council Development Control Committee rejected the proposal.
Led Umno's battle in cyberspace ahead of the general election that just ended by assembling a team of writers from every state to counter allegations about the party and its leadership on certain websites.
Has been rumoured as a lesbian in 2002 which she has denied and responded with police reports. She also allegedly bought her lover a RM300,000 Mercedes car that year, an allegation which she also denied.
Deputy Tourism Minister Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abu Taib
Alleged involvement in assaulting former television personality Avaa Vanja Ramli in a Kuala Lumpur nightspot in April 2003. In her police report made after she was assaulted in a popular KL bistro, Avaa named Sulaiman as her boyfriend who had allegedly pushed and strangled her. Sulaiman, son of Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, is married with four children.
OPPOSITION
Padang Serai parliamentarian N Gobalakrishnan
The PKR national integration chief has several outstanding criminal charges against him. This includes a charge for obstructing a police officer from discharging his duties in 2002 in Georgetown and partaking in an unlawful assembly at the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) rally at Batu Caves last year.
Selangor Mentri Besar and Bandar Tun Razak MP Abdul Khalid Ibrahim
The former chief executive of Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) allegedly owed Bank Islam Malaysia RM175 million to purchase 6.5 per cent of shares from Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd in 1994 which became a non-performing loan (NPL) absorbed by Bank Islam as losses. He was also accused of buying those additional shares at a lower price at RM2.30 when PNB was selling it for RM2.98. Khalid has denied all claims. Khalid in 2005 sued PNB and Bank Islam Malaysia claiming he had been denied the right to buy the remaining 135 million Guthrie shares.
Batu MP Tian Chua
Charged for participating in illegal assemblies and injuring a police officer during the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) mass demonstration on Nov 10 and when the movement wanted to hand a memorandum to Parliament on Dec 11 last year. Chua has been arrested numerous times since 1998 and was detained under the Internal Security Act for two years in 2001 for threatening national security. He was also investigated for attempted murder of a police officer during a village demolition exercise in Kampung Berembang last year.
Bukit Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi
Ooi was sued last year by the News Straits Times Press (NSTP), its deputy chairperson Kalimullah Hassan, group editor-in-chief Hishamudin Aun and former group editor Brendan Pereira over alleged defamatory blog postings. The trial is still on-going in the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo Burne
Recorded the scandalous VK Lingam video clip in 2002 which brought the country’s judiciary into the spotlight. During his testimony in the royal commission of inquiry, he said he had 'burned' a copy of the recording for another lawyer, the late Manjit Singh on the basis that the latter might find it "interesting to check out". The video was revealed on Sept 19 last year by PKR who has declined to reveal their whistleblowers.
