Liong Sik’s allegation that he was “wrongly accused” and charged of corruption in PKFZ scandal even before the AG’s Chambers had obtained sufficient evidence reinforces my call for RCI to get to the bottom of the RM12.5 billion “mother of all scandals”
The allegation by former MCA President and former Transport Minister, Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik that he was “wrongly accused” and charged of corruption in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal even before the Attorney-General’s Chambers had obtained sufficient evidence reinforces my call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to get to the bottom of the RM12.5 billion “mother of all scandals”.
In an interview yesterday, Ling, who was acquitted last October, of all charges of corruption in connection with the PKFZ scandal, revealed that he is writing a book about his PKFZ “trials and tribulations” and had decided on the title of the book: “How Low Can You Go”.
Ling said that due to his bad experience, his confidence in the country’s judicial system was shaken.
Ling sounds very self-serving and even hypocritical as he must bear full responsibility for the state of the system of justice in Malaysia today, as he was part of the Mahathir government which precipitated the judicial crisis in 1988 when the then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas and two Supreme Court judges, Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh and Datuk George Seah were arbitrarily and unconstitutionally sacked. Malaysia has never yet recovered from that judicial crisis 26 years ago.
Even Tun Abdullah who succeeded Mahathir as Prime Minister had expressed regret and remose for the 1988 judicial assault by the Barisan Nasional government.
Had Liong Sik ever expressed regret and remorse for aiding and abetting Mahathir in 1988 and after in undermining the independence, impartiality and professionalism of the judiciary and the system of justice in Malaysia?
However, if it is true that Liong Sik had been “wrongly accused” of corruption in the PKFZ scandal, and that he had been charged even before the prosecutors had obtained evidence, this is a deplorable and completely unacceptable state of affairs. Liong Sik had suffered grave injustice I am prepared to back him up to the hilt.
In fact, Liong Sik has strengthened my call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry in the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal.
No stone should be left unturned to ensure that Liong Sik and another former Transport Minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy should be given justice if it is true that they had been wrongly accused of corruption in the PKFZ scandal.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry is now the only avenue left for Liong Sik and Kong Choy to get justice, even though Kong Choy, according to Liong Sik, had been spared the “hell” and “torture” he had to endure in his own trial.
But even more important than justice for Liong Sik and Kong Choy is the justice for the 29 million Malaysians, who are entitled to know who are the persons responsible for the RM12.5 billion PKFZ “mother of all scandals” and to demand that the real culprits are brought to book – as well as for the country to be freed of the international disrepute and odium of being a “Land of Mega-scandals without criminals”.
Will Liong Sik and Kong Choy support my call for a RCI into the PKFZ scandal if they have nothing to hide so as to get to the bottom of the PKFZ “mother of all scandals”, including why the two former Transport Ministers and MCA leaders were charged by the Attorney-General when there were insufficient evidence of corruption against them?