Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at a DAP ceramah in Muar on Sunday, March 27, 1994 at 8 pm
DAP will ask Mahathir in next month’s Parliament whether Cabinet Ministers enjoy special immunity from criminal prosecutions for corruption and criminal breach of trust
Barisan Nasional leaders want Malaysians to believe that everything is fine in Malaysia, that there are no more problems and issues in the country, and that the voters in the next general elections should reject, the DAP and solidly support the Barisan Nasional.
The Barisan Nasional leaders do not regard corruption and abuses of power in high political places as a problem which should concern or upset Malaysians, Corruption and abuses of power only become a problem when the Barisan Nasional could level the accusations against the Opposition, as in the case of Sabah with the PBS government which was toppled ten days ago.
Malaysians will never forget the speech by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, in Beaufort in Febru¬ary when launching off the Barisan Nasional general elections campaign in Sabah, where his theme was to call on the people to reject corrupt leaders.
As Mahathir’s speech was telecast live, the viewers had only eyes for the MIC President and Minister for Energy, Posts and Telecommunications, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who was standing next to Mahathir on the stage, and there is no doubt, that at that time, the person who claimed to be the ‘Minister with the cleanest hands in the world’ was never more uncomfortable!
I do not believe that Malaysians could accept such double-standards, that corruption and abuses of power of Barisan Nasional leaders are no crime, and that they only become crimes if Opposition leaders and politicians are involved.
Such Barisan Nasional double standards could also be seen by the government reaction to allegations of Malaysian politicians accepting bribes of Australian secret agents.
When Sydney Sunday Telegraph first reported on January 16 that Opposition MPs and politicians in Malaysia had been taking bribes from the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), the Cabinet had a special discussion of the allegation.
This was followed by daily Ministerial statements attacking Opposition leaders in Malaysia for being traitors to Malaysia, demands that the Australian Government reveal the names of the Opposition MPs and politicians, and Gerakan President Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik even called for the investigation into finances of Opposition leaders.
However, when the Canberra. Times reported on February 3 clarifying that it was not the Opposition MPs and politicians who had been receiving bribes from the ASIS, but government and UMNO politicians and MPs who had been bribed until four years ago, the Cabinet never discussed the second Australian report and the Ministers suddenly lost all interest in the Australian mass media allegations.
It would appear that as far as the Cabinet Ministers are concerned, it is only a great crime if Opposition politicians become traitors and take bribes from foreign spies, but that it is not worth any attention if Barisan Nasional leaders become traitors and take bribes from Australian secret service agents.
In Parliament next month, the DAP will specifically ask Mahathir whether Barisan Nasional Cabinet Ministers enjoy a special immunity from prosecution for corruption and criminal breach of trust.
The best casa in point is Samy Vellu in connection with the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal, into which the Anti-Corruption Agency had re-opened investigations after pro¬nouncing him innocent of any crime.
Based on the documentary evidence produced by Subramaniam, Samy Vellu should be arrested and prosecuted for criminal breach of trust and misap¬propriation of the proceeds from the sale of Telekom shares
Recently, one of Samy Vellu’s former confidants, V. Subramaniam produced documentray. proof at a press conference to show that Samy Vellu had misappropriated proceeds from the sale of the Telekom shares to his own personal bank account.
The documents, which included a photostat copy of the April 1992 bank statement of Samy Vellu’s account, No, 1402-0000168-00-2, with Bank of Commerce’s Jalan Masjid India (Kuala Lumpur) branch, showed the following:
On 3rd April, 1992 SB Management and Advance Personal Computers Sdn. Bhd. issued two cash cheques from their Bank of Commerce Jalan Masjid India account totalling RM3.59 million as part of the proceeds of the sale of 420,000 Telekom shares;
On the same day, Samy Vellu placed RM3.59 million as fixed deposit, for one month at 7.8 per cent per annum interest, which would have amounted to RM23,335. This bears the Bank of Commerce Jalan Masjid India Branch fixed deposit receipt No. 223716.
However, shortly after on the same day, Samy Vellu changed his mind, reduced the fixed deposit by RM90,000, which bears a new fixed deposit receipt No. 223718 for RM3.5 million, Samy Vellu’s April 1992 bank statement of his Bank of Commerce Jalan Masjid. India Branch account shows that this RM90,000 was deposited into his personal account.
For reasons best known to Samy Vellu, he changed his mind on the fixed deposit a second time, and dissolved the second fixed deposit of RM3.5 mil¬lion. His bank statement shows that this RM3.5 million was then paid into his personal account on the same day.
There was a third transaction in Samy Vellu’s personal account on 3rd April 1992 – the withdraw-al of RM90,000.
These documentary evidence by themselves are enough for the arrest and prosecution of Samy Vellu for criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of the proceeds from the sale of the Telekom shares.
MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal will be the first test case for the new Attorney-General, Datuk Mohtar Abdullah
Samy Vellu had publicly declared that “every sen from the proceeds of the sale of nine million Telekom shares allocated in 1980 had been used for the MIC-owned TAFE College”, but Subramaniam, who was at that time MIC Public Relations Committee Chairman and ‘right-hand man’ of Samy Vellu, has said that he “saw the actual, accounts of the Telekom shares earnings and that none of the money went to the MIC-run TAFE College.”
The MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal will be the first test case for the new Attorney-General, Datuk Mohtar Abdul¬lah. The previous Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othrnan, had refused to give him consent for the arrest and prosecution of Samy Vellu, and this will stand as a great blot on his career as Attorney-General.
Malaysians should have no doubt that if in the next general elections, the DAP is decimated, as predicted by the Barisan Nasional, then it would be a field day for corruption and abuses of power in high political places in Malaysia.