Former Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik pleaded innocent at the Sessions Court to misleading the Cabinet in 2002 into agreeing to purchase land at a price higher than market value for the Port Klang Free Zone — a 1,000-acre industrial and trading hub that opened in November 2006. The charge of cheating in Malaysia refers to fraudulent actions carried out during business transactions.
The port project, proposed during Ling’s tenure as transport minister, was initially estimated to cost less than 2 billion ringgit ($625 million), but ballooned to 4.6 billion ringgit ($1.4 billion) in 2007, and is likely to swell further because of interest costs.
The scandal first erupted when the government approved a loan in 2007 to rescue the Port Klang Authority, the main port authority, from debts exceeding $1 billion after it incurred massive cost overruns to develop the hub.
Ling is the highest-ranking official to be hauled to court in one of Malaysia’s biggest financial scandals in recent years. In October three others, including a former top port executive, were charged with alleged mishandling of funds in the project.
Ling stepped down as transport minister and as head of the Malaysian Chinese Association, the second-largest party in the ruling coalition, in 2003. He is still influential in the party and the charges against him could undermine the party’s struggle to win back support from ethnic minority Chinese. Opposition leaders, who have long criticized the government for failing to take action against senior officials, welcomed Ling’s prosecution but called for others also to be investigated.
“It cannot be Ling alone, there must be other ministers involved. We hope this is the first of many steps in the right direction,” said Lim Guan Eng, secretary-general of the Democratic Action Party.
Ling faces up to seven years in jail if found guilty. The court has set bail at 1 million ringgit ($312,500) and fixed Sept. 3 to hear the case.
Complaints about corruption were among key public grievances that caused the National Front ruling coalition to suffer its worst results ever in general elections last year following five decades in power. Prime Minister Najib Razak has since pledged to take tougher steps to combat graft.
