"Anwar told me not to take action", says Koh

"Anwar told me not to take action", says Koh
by Himanshu Bhatt and Bernard Cheah

SEBERANG JAYA (Aug19, 2008) : Former Penang chief minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said today Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was the finance minister in 1998, told him not to act against a company that had defaulted in its payment to the state government.

Koh turned the tables on his successor, Lim Guan Eng, who said last week said the state government under Koh had suffered a loss of RM9 million because Business Focus Sdn Bhd (BFSB) had defaulted in its payment after buying over Penang Shipbuilding Corporation Sdn Bhd (PSC).

Koh told a press conference Anwar, who was then also the deputy prime minister, had telephoned him to tell him to let BFSB renegotiate the payment scheme.

PSC had been owned by the Penang Development Corporation (PDC), the state’s investment arm, since the early 1970s but it was sold, together with its land on Pulau Jerejak, to BFSB in 1992 for RM29 million.

BFSB, whose chairman was Tan Sri Amin Shah Omar Shah, was given six years to pay up, but started to default in 1997. (Coincidentally, Amin Shah is the elder brother of Datuk Arif Shah, the Barisan Nasional candidate facing Anwar in the Permatang Pauh by-election.)

"We wanted to take action but Anwar intervened. He said let the company recover and be given a chance. He asked us to let them renegotiate the deal," Koh, who is also the Gerakan acting president, said.

"He said the company has good prospects and potential. Because he was the deputy prime minister and finance minister and he recommended strongly, we renegotiated to extend the period to another five years."

BFSB continued its payments but started to default again in 2003, he said.

Koh stressed that he was not implying that Anwar was involved with PSC.

"I don’t want to make allegations. I assumed that, as the finance minister, Anwar saw the larger picture." he said.

"There was an economic crisis at that time and we wanted to give a chance to a local company."

Yesterday, Lim had demanded an explanation from Koh for "favouring" BFSB that resulted in PDC "losing at least RM9 million without being able to get its land in Pulau Jerejak back".

He said the decision to extend the payment period was made by Koh, not Anwar.

"Did Anwar stop him from collecting the RM9 million? When the money was not collected, Anwar was no longer the finance minister," Lim added.