By Tony Pua, MP for Petaling Jaya Utara
The Transport Minister, Liow Tiong Lai heavily criticised for setting up an “independent audit committee” with strictly limited scope to study only the “sinking surfaces” of the KLIA2 airport, which avoided any scrutiny over the other issues raised by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which caused the inflated RM4 billion budget and repeatedly extended deadlines.
These included the decisions to locate KLIA 2 at KLIA West, a site which has been documented by engineers as costly and ill-suited for airport construction; and the choice of a satellite-type terminal instead of a finger pier terminal as proposed by the airport consultants.
In response, the Minister now claims that the PAC misunderstood the setting up of the committee. He said that the “independent audit committee” was being set up even before the PAC report.
With regards to the issues raised by the PAC, Liow said Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) who was involved in the airport’s construction was ordered by the ministry to answer PAC’s queries. “They (MAHB) need to cooperate with PAC because this involves public’s interest,” he said.
Despite giving the excuse for the “independent audit committee” being restricted in scope, the Minister has once again sidestepped the first and key recommendation from the PAC – that is to allow the Auditor-General to audit MAHB over the scandal.
The PAC has already heard and queried the officials from the Ministry of Transport and MAHB extensively before concluding the PAC report with the relevant recommendations. Hence, there is not much more point for the MAHB to just “to cooperate with PAC” again.
The PAC has already produced the damning report which found many elements of gross mismanagement, and that’s why we had recommended for the Auditor-General to audit the project. However, the Government must provide the necessary instruction to the Auditor-General to do so.
The question hence for Liow, is whether he will abide by the PAC recommendation to prove that MAHB and his Ministry has nothing to hide. Or will he continue to sidestep the issue, praying that the issue will just go away quietly in order to protect the vested interest parties of those involved in the RM 4 billion scandal.
