Press Conference Statement (2) by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Wednesday, 3rd July 1991 at 11.30 a.m.
DAP calls on the Kedah Mentri Besar, Tan Sri Osman Aroff, to personally make good the $30 million losses incurred by Federal Government because of the Masjid Tanah ammunition depot scandal
I am glad that the Defence Minister, Datuk Najib Tun Razak, had responded to my demand that he should reveal the name of the important UMNO leader who, apart from Abdullah Ang of the prison ‘water-bed’ fame, who was responsible for the $71 million Masjid Tanah ammunition depot scandal.
I had given public notice in my speech opening the Federal Territory DAP 25th Anniversary Cultural Night in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday that if Datuk Najib did not name the important UMNO leader involved in the ammunition depot scandal, then I would be publicly naming him myself.
Datuk Najib had attempted a ‘cover-up’ of the involvement of Tan Sri Osman Aroff in the Malacca ammunition depot scandal naming only Abdullah Ang – and he nearly got away with it. But truth must finally prevail!
Datuk Najib said that Tan Sri Osman Aroff was a director and an important shareholder of Sri Kinabalu Sdn. Bhd. the company awarded the contract and responsible for the $71 million Masjid Tanah ammunition depot scandal.
Datuk Najib said yesterday that Sri Kinabalu Sdn. Bhd. used improper and poor qualify materials and shoddy workmanship on the depot. Both design and material defects were found on 75 of the 155 buildings used to store ammunition.
As example of how the contractor used inferior materials and did not follow specifications in order to get more profits, Datuk Najib said that Sri Kinabalu Sdn. Bhd. used 7 mm instead of 10 mm steel bars to reinforce the ceilings. The mixture for the plaster also had too much sand, resulting in the walls cracking and peeling.
Datuk Najib said that repairs to the depot would cost as much as $30 million but said that Mindef would not take action against Sri Kinabalu because it had been liquidated.
I had in fact asked the DAP MP for Bukit Bintang, Wee Choo Keong, to cause a search of the Registry of Companies into Sri Kinabalu Sdn. Bhd. on 24th June 1991.
Incorporated on 25th January 1976 at the registered address of No. 6, Jalan Yap Kwang Seng, KL with an authorised capital of $100 million to carry out the business of civil and mechanical contractors, the company had been wound up, and the winding-up petition presented on 2nd August 1986.
The shares ownership of the Sri Kinabalu Sdn. Bhd. on its winding-up was as following:
Shares
1. Mohammad Abdullah Ang Swee Hiong – 3,994,704
2. Mohd Yamin b Malakin – 10,133,317
No.8 Jln Yap Kwang Seng, KL –
3. Ang Swee Tong – 261,297
4. MAA Holdings Sdn Bhd. – 14,997,337
No.8, Jalan Yap Kwang Seng, KL –
5. Zachariah b. Mohd Taha – 1,012,365
6. Izaidin b. Mohd. Rahim Samsoodeen – 1
——————
30,400,021
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A further search by Wee Choo Keong into MAA Holdings Sdn. Bhd. reveals the following:
MAA Holdings Sdn. Bhd. was incorporated on 24th October 1978, with an authorised capital of $5 million under the same registered address of No. 8, Jalan Yap Kwang Seng, Kuala Lumpur to carry out the business of general trading. The company had been wound up with the winding-up petition presented on 12th March 1986.
The shareholding ownership of MAA Holdings Sdn. Bhd. on its winding-up was as follows:
Shares
1. Mohamed Abdullah Ang Swee Kang – 81,751
No. 27, Jln Taman Pantai,
Bukit Pantai, KL.
2. Loh Seng Poh alias Loh Siew Wah – 81,751
No. 27, Jln Taman Pantai,
Bukit Pantai, KL.
3. Hj Osman Mohd. Daud bin Haji Aroff – 190,750
No. 1929 – U, Taman Darulaman,
Jln Stadium, Alor Setar, Kedah.
4. Izaidin b. Mohd. Rahim Samsoodeen – 190,750
No. 29, Jln Derumun,
Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur.
Leaving aside the strict legal aspects of the $71 million Masjid Tanah ammunition depot scandal, the DAP calls on the Mentri Besar Tan Sri Osman Aroff to come forward and assume responsibility for the scandal, and to personally make good the $30 million losses suffered by the Federal Government because of the scandal.
The DAP is not satisfied with the measures that have been taken so far by the government on the $71 million Masjid Tanah ammunition depot scandal, for steps announced by Datuk Najib so far smack of a ‘cover-up’, as the Defence Minister seems more interested to protect certain UMNO personalities involved in the scandal, instead of getting to the bottom of how such a $71 million ammunition depot scandal could take place under a Government which prides itself for its ‘Clean, efficient and trustworthy’ motto.