Eric Chia' s arrested.
BigBen
n fmly,En Ling n fmly, En Sami n fmly,En Ong n fmly ?.... so many
more....but only heard of one old man that was caught... and we always talk
about god...where is he and why are they still there??(the corrupt ones)
Uncle Yap
http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/sub/latest/story/0,4574,107564,00.html?
Ex-head of scandal-plagued Perwaja arrested
February 9, 2004
KUALA LUMPUR - Anti-corruption officers on Monday arrested the former
head of scandal-plagued Malaysian steel company Perwaja, Bernama, the
national news agency reported.
Eric Chia, the former managing director of Perwaja Steel, was picked
up at his home in Kuala Lumpur, Bernama reported.
Police and the Anti-Corruption Agency would not immediately comment on
the report.
Chia, who had close ties to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's
government, was in charge of Perwaja when it racked up debts of around
RM10 billion (S$4.5 billion) before coming close to collapse in the
mid-1990s.
A government investigation into the losses has been continuing for
more than six years, but progress has been glacially slow. Meanwhile,
the government has defended keeping Perwaja in operation by saying it
has invested too much money into the company to let it fail.
Malaysia's opposition blames alleged abuses at Perwaja mostly on Chia,
who denies the accusations.
The Anti-Corruption Agency has focused its investigation on a RM76.4
million payment made by Perwaja for 'consultancy fees' that were
deposited into a Swiss bank account.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who succeeded Dr Mahathir last
October when the veteran leader retired after more than 22 years in
power, has made fighting corruption and cronyism his central policy.
Abdullah is cultivating an image of ending Malaysia's reputation for
favouritism and excess in government-business relations as he prepares
to call national elections expected within months.
______
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/latest/story/0,4390,234348,00.html?
Police nab ex-head of scandal-plagued Malaysian steel company
Updated Feb 9, 7.13 pm (Singapore time)
KUALA LUMPUR -- Anti-corruption officers on Monday arrested the former
head of scandal-plagued Malaysian steel company Perwaja, the Bernama
national news agency reported.
Eric Chia, the former managing director of Perwaja Steel, was picked
up at his home in Kuala Lumpur, Bernama reported.
Police and the Anti-Corruption Agency would not immediately comment on
the report.
Chia, who had close ties to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's
government, was in charge of Perwaja when it racked up debts of around
RM10 billion (US$2.6 billion) before coming close to collapse in the
mid-1990s.
A government investigation into the losses has been continuing for
more than six years, but progress has been glacially slow. Meanwhile,
the government has defended keeping Perwaja in operation by saying it
has too much money into the company to let it fail.
Malaysia's opposition blames alleged abuses at Perwaja mostly on Chia,
who denies the accusations.
The Anti-Corruption Agency has focused its investigation on a RM76.4
million (US$20 million) payment made by Perwaja for 'consultancy fees'
that were deposited into a Swiss bank account.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who succeeded Dr
Mahathir Mohammad last October when the veteran leader retired after
more than 22 years in power, has made fighting corruption and cronyism
his central policy.
Datuk Seri Abdullah is cultivating an image of ending Malaysia's
reputation for favouritism and excess in government-business relations
as he prepares to call national elections expected within months. --
AP
______
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=45195
ACA Arrests Ex-Perwaja Boss Eric Chia
February 09, 2004 18:10 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 (Bernama) -- Former Managing Director of Perwaja
Steel Sdn Bhd Tan Sri Eric Chia Eng Hock was arrested Monday by the
Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) following years of investigations into
losses worth billions by the steel mill.
The announcement of his arrest was made in a joint two-paragraph
statement by the Attorney-General Chambers and the ACA.
The statement said that Chia,71, was picked up by ACA officers at his
home in Petaling Jaya at 3.45pm and would be charged in the Sessions
Court, here Tuesday.
The Perwaja fiasco has been investigated by the ACA and the police
since 1996 and more than 50 witnesses, both locally and overseas,
including Chia and a number of other Perwaja staff have been called
up.
The probe order was issued by the government after a report by audit
firm Coopers and Lybrand said Perwaja was insolvent.
The Terengganu-based steel maker was saddled with debts totalling RM10
billion involving RM926 million in current liability, RM6 billion in
long-term liability and accumulated losses of almost RM3 billion.
The then ACA Director-General Datuk Ahmad Zaki Husin said in August
1999 that the Perwaja probe was one of the longest cases ever handled
by the agency.
He said the investigations into alleged malpractices took such a long
time as the cases involved institutions and individuals overseas.
Ahmad Zaki said even though the information could be obtained on a
government-to-government basis, several matters remained unresolved as
no parties had come forward to provide assistance.
He also said in September 2000 that the Swiss account of a foreign
company registered in the British Virgin Islands formed a vital piece
of evidence to establish the existence of elements of corrupt practice
or illegal business transactions in Perwaja.
The ACA, he said, did not have the power to get information on the
Swiss account.
"We have the account number and the times payments were made...we only
want to know on what grounds the money was paid by Perwaja to a
foreign company in Japan previously," he was reported as saying.
According to Ahmad Zaki, the account contained part of the RM76.4
million which ACA was investigating apart from two individuals in
Japan who also received payments from Perwaja.
Local newspapers reported that the money was said to have been taken
out of the country to Hong Kong before it went to Japan and then
Switzerland.
In October 2002, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung told
Parliament that the protracted probe into Perwaja had been completed.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said last October that his
department was seeking the commitment of witnesses in Japan to travel
to Malaysia to testify in a Malaysian court.
"If we were only to record statements of the witnesses in Japan and if
they are reluctant to come here to testify, then it's useless," he
said then.
Explaining why the probe had taken such a long time, he said proof and
evidence had to be obtained from overseas, and not just fromn one
contry.
The A-G spoke of financial transactions in the company which could not
be accounted for.
"I would say suspicious transactions, very suspicious transactions but
I wouldnt say there has been a criminal offence until I get all the
evidence," he said.
On Nov 7 last year, just a week after he became prime minister, Datuk
Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who has vowed to fight corruption as a
priority of his administration, said he had asked the Attorney-General
Chambers to furnish him with details on the progress of the Perwaja
probe and other such cases.
"I have asked the A-G to give me a report of all the cases. I want to
know what is happening today and how far it is (investigation)...what
is the stage of preparation to prosecute or whatever," he said.
Asked whether the govermnment would ask the A-G's office to speed up
the investigations of the Perwaja case, he said: " Yes of course, I
don't ask (the SA-G) to slow down".
"I did not give them the deadline.. I think the A-G should know what
is urgent," he said.
Perwaja was started in 1982 as a joint venture between the Heavy
Industries Corporation of Malaysia (Hicom) and Nippon Steel
Corporation of Japan.
It ran into losses and in 1996 was taken over by Maju Holdings Sdn
Bhd, a Bumiputera steel company.
Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh told Parliament
last October that Maju Holdings was still carrying an accumulated loss
of RM2.25 billion.
-- BERNAMA
______
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/2004020900113967.php
ACA nabs Perwaja ex-boss Eric Chia
6:33pm Mon Feb 9th, 2004
Former Perwaja Steel managing director Eric Chia was arrested by
Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) officers at his home in Petaling Jaya
today.
According to Bernama, Chia, 71, was nabbed at 3.45pm and will be
charged at
the Sessions Court tomorrow.
His arrest came nine years after the ACA launched a probe - in October
1996 - when it was revealed that the company suffered losses of RM2.98
billion as at Dec 31, 1995, including bank loans amounting to about
RM7
billion.
Former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim - who told Parliament of the
stunning
losses - also disclosed that Perwaja's RM815 million interest payments
on a
yen loan were bleeding the company.
By 1988, Perwaja was insolvent but the government continued to inject
additional funds to keep the company alive.
When it was shut down last year, Perwaja had registered losses of RM11
billion.
Dr M's pet project
Perwaja - a plant that processed iron ore to pure iron - was to be the
cornerstone of the industrialisation drive that former prime minister
Mahathir Mohamad began in the early 1980s.
But the project soon faced serious problems resulting in Japanese
shareholder Nippon Steel to abandon the project.
In 1988, Chia was tapped by Mahathir to save the company. He was
initially
given six months to find out what went wrong with ex-premier's pet
project.
However, Chia stayed with the company for seven years. During his
tenure, he
put in place a 10-year-plan which saw the setting up of a new company
called
Perwaja Steel.
However, the multi-billion ringgit losses continued. Chia eventually
resigned from Perwaja in 1995, a year before Anwar - who was then also
deputy prime minister - made his scathing report to Parliament on the
troubled company.
'Corrupt and unfit'
The ACA investigation had centred on a RM76.4 million payment that
Perwaja
made to Japanese steel company NKK Corporation through a non-existent
company, Frilsham Enterprises Inc, in Hong Kong.
Company officials had also used a RM490 million loan, intended for the
purchase of equipment for its mills in Terengganu, for other purposes.
Other irregularities included a false purchase order worth RM58
million and
a payment of RM889.2 million from a Japanese company.
The ACA investigation was completed in October 2002 and a report was
later
submitted to the Attorney-General's Chambers.
The opposition has long called on the authorities to arrest Chia who
was
accused of being "corrupt and unfit" to serve Perwaja.
However, Chia did not take the accusations laying down.
He sued DAP leader Lim Guan Eng for defamation for a police report
lodged by
the opposition politician in April 1996, which further alleged Chia's
involvement in the company's multi-billion ringgit scandal.
Missing money
Two years ago, Mahathir conceded there was possible misappropriation
of
funds and mismanagement in Perwaja.
He said the government had investigated the matter but the missing
money was
not easily recovered as it was reported to be in a Swiss bank account.
More recently, Mahathir himself came under the spotlight over his role
in
the Perwaja scandal when DAP asked for police investigations on the
veteran
leader.
Anwar, who is now serving a jail sentence for sodomy, lodged a police
report
five years ago alleging Mahathir's involvement in the scandal.
Independent audit
In his police report, Anwar said international accountant Price
Waterhouse
was appointed as independent auditors in early 1996 soon after he was
alerted that Perwaja was almost insolvent and would require massive
injection of funds from the government.
The jailed politican added that the appointment of auditors had to be
done
because several earlier attempts to obtain detailed information from
the
management, particularly Chia, failed as he repeatedly claimed that
his
action had the support and was under the direction of Mahathir.
Anwar also revealed that Chia's claim was further substantiated with
letters
written by Mahathir himself.
Chia's arrest today comes in the wake of promises made by new premier
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to arrest corruption in the country.
sabeng
when
evidences are clear about them.
Ahmad Sayuthi
Their time might come too. Plus of that `healthy looking' woman minister
who doesn't need Appeton from Kuala Kangsar who had given out awards to her
son-in-law. To paraphrase Alcoholics Anonymous: "One big fish at a time."
Let's hope some stunning revelations come out during the trial, and
especially when Eric Chia tries to place the blame on and implicate
`someone else'.
Alam Faizli bin Mohd Zain
Slowly slowly perhaps? I'm just waiting for Pidah to be brought to
justice.
Uncle Yap
>As for Eric Chia, evidences are clear, I am sure others will be executed too
>when evidences are clear about them.
In my watering hole, they used to say that Eric Chia was asked to send
millions of dollars to a HK company for consultancy fees and guess
what? When he checked, the nominal capital HK company belonged to
a very senior confidant of the then PM. What to do, he dutifully sent
the money. I really hope the ACA and Police have enough balls to bring
the whole scandal to a logical conclusion and arrest, jail and fine
corrupt politicians and hangers-on
Next, to tackle the question of why MARA bought so many shares in
Rahman Putra Golf Club at almost double the market price?
For those with short memories, Ghafar Baba was deputy PM and his son,
Tamrin was the Chairman of Mara. We want to know who was the
beneficiary who sold those share at almost double the prevailing
prices. Up to today, nobody dares to open the question.
Will Pak Lak?
ck_in_sf1
And how much is a life worth in malaysia, OLD COCK YAP?
CKSF
sabeng
money is involved. We will settle with the smaller one after we have finished
with the big one...ever use pareto chart to analyse problems?
manmohan singh
some poor unfortunate dope will take the fall
eric chia was a front man for the PM and collector
for UMNO to bribe division heads so that mahathir and daim
could remain in power all those years. this is the price we pay
in the developing world when we have to put up with this
condescending crap from our great leaders and guided democracy
some us got fed up and left, our hearts remain in our beloved country
"sabeng" <sab...@ew.mimos.my> wrote in message
news:402B413F...@ew.mimos.my...
kzso
charge him in court when anwar was the finance minister but anwar did
not do so..i wonder why.. and i also wonder why pak lah wants to do it
now... anything to do also with the then finance minister anwar ( or
his crony too) ? i wonder....
look like we got to wait........
On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 13:12:47 +0800, sabeng <sab...@ew.mimos.my> wrote:
Ahmad Sayuthi
> most of perwaja will be covered up
>
> some poor unfortunate dope will take the fall
>
> eric chia was a front man for the PM and collector
> for UMNO to bribe division heads so that mahathir and daim
> could remain in power all those years. this is the price we pay
> in the developing world when we have to put up with this
> condescending crap from our great leaders and guided democracy
>
> some us got fed up and left, our hearts remain in our beloved country
The amount of money thrown away due to Perwaja is appalling, to say the
least. It makes you wanna cry when you think about what RM11 billion
could have done had it been used to benefit the people who matter the most
(but aren't regarded as so by the ruling elites, except once every five
years when they're needed to mark an "X" on the ballot paper).
11,000 MILLION RINGGIT... For example, setting up a community centre for
the rural and urban poor and having a relatively well-stocked library plus
Internet-conected computers would cost what(?), including the price for
land, building, staff salary and maintenance? I'm guessing but RM2 million
should be enough(?).
Or giving financial and other aids to poor families for their children's
education (which include the right nutritional needs), which will give them
a fair chance to a better life. We (Malaysia) have enough money to do
these, but we aren't. And always, some bigshot will lament about "The cost
is prohibitive". Yes, everything always is `prohibitive' and `expensive'
when you don't have the inclination and will, i.e in really wanting to help
the people who matter.
It pains me to think that many, many people - especially those with no
education, skills or land in the kampungs - have trouble trying to earn
even RM15 per day. And here we have people with access to dip their hands
into the coffers making away with MILLIONS of other people's money - and
getting away undetected and unprosecuted to enjoy their ill-gained bounty.
Ahmad Sayuthi
> remembered that eric chia challenged anwar two times to prosecute or
> charge him in court when anwar was the finance minister but anwar did
> not do so..i wonder why..
The answer is already in your statement - Anwar was the Finance Minister. I
may be wrong but from what I've learned, prosecuting Eric Chia doesn't fall
under his jurisdiction.
BTW you have purposely omitted to mention that Anwar had reported about
Perwaja's losses and the strong possibility of mismanagement and
wrongdoings in his report to Mahathir. Any special reason for doing so?
> and i also wonder why pak lah wants to do it
> now... anything to do also with the then finance minister anwar ( or
> his crony too) ? i wonder....
> look like we got to wait........
So when should Badawi do it then? Next year? Ten years from now?
ck_in_sf1
> remembered that eric chia challenged anwar two times to prosecute or
> charge him in court when anwar was the finance minister but anwar did
> not do so..i wonder why.. and i also wonder why pak lah wants to do it
> now... anything to do also with the then finance minister anwar ( or
> his crony too) ? i wonder....
> look like we got to wait........
>
Lets put it this way ... its all about who controls the economy ...
the money pot that provides patronage and a lifeline to UMNO's
coffers. Everything else is immaterial. What we are witnessing is the
re-organization of the higher power heirachy within UMNO. Eric Chia is
merely a side show though the poor man will pay for the deeds others.
And this is the price one pays to be part of the patronage system and
think one can outwit those who holds the political power reins. In
favour one day, out of it the next.
CKSF
ck_in_sf1
> most of perwaja will be covered up
>
> some poor unfortunate dope will take the fall
>
> eric chia was a front man for the PM and collector
> for UMNO to bribe division heads so that mahathir and daim
> could remain in power all those years. this is the price we pay
> in the developing world when we have to put up with this
> condescending crap from our great leaders and guided democracy
>
> some us got fed up and left, our hearts remain in our beloved country
>
>
Hear, hear ... as I have often said ... flee the beloved country for
its rotten to the core. Malaysia is still standing as a viable state
not because of its civil institutions (they do not really exist since
the late 80s), but because of UMNO's hold on the economy.
The scary thought I had for years and still have, is what happens
should UMNO implode?
CKSF
ck_in_sf1
Naw ... not likely. For now its going to be non-UMNO rent seekers. Pak
Lah will never sacrifice UMNO. There is too much at stake. The racial
dimension to this is subtle but does resonate in the mostly non-urban
Malay population. Same o racist politics as usual.
Perhaps tis time for you to get real with the real world?
CKSF
sabeng
and we think that. Eric Chia will testify in court, if Mahathir involved
or Daim involved, he will testify that in court (if he think that he has the
proof)
. The trick is, let execute Eric Chia first
and if he will reveal all in court if anybody else is involved too. To
the BPR, Police, Judge etc...just do your best and save our country
from corruption. The entire malaysians trust you.