The Umno Sabah building scam perpetuated by Musa Aman
Malaysia Today
Umno Sabah is the ‘baby’ of the Umno family. It is the latest addition to the vast nationwide Umno network that since independence or Merdeka has managed to maintain an iron grip on Malaysian politics. But it is very rapidly turning out to be one of the richest of the state Umnos. How it managed to amass such wealth in such a short space of time and what it is doing with all this money has been hot on the lips of Sabahans for some time now. But what should be an even more pertinent question is: was its wealth acquired through legal or illegal means?Many harbour the view it is okay to acquire wealth through dubious or corrupt means as long as the purpose is noble. The end always justifies the means, argue the propagators of corruption. If the money is going into Umno’s coffer and not your own pocket then it is okay to acquire the money through corrupt means, is the school of thought.The end never justify the means; not according to Islam and neither according to common law. One-time Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Selangor, Datuk Harun Idris, found this out the hard way. More than 30 years ago he had accepted a RM3 million pay off (equivalent to maybe RM30 million in today’s spending power) from Hongkong Bank on behalf of Umno.The money was not for him. He did not touch one cent of the money. It was for Umno and it was handed to him at the Subang Airport -- in broad daylight and in full public view -- in the presence of another Umno official who immediately relieved Datuk Harun of the money and banked it into Umno’s bank account.Nevertheless, the Hongkong Bank payment is still a bribe and the courts ruled so. Datuk Harun never denied receiving the money. The money, he explained, was not for him but for Umno. He honestly never touched one sen of it. But the court still sent him to jail for corruption.Chief Ministers and Federal Ministers cannot seem to understand that accepting or asking for kickbacks is corruption, never mind what the purpose is for. Once money changes hands with strings attached, then it is corruption -- and no one will want to ‘donate’ to Umno unless there is some form of benefit. And the latest case in a string of cases involves Umno Sabah -- or the Chief Minister of Sabah, Musa Aman, to be more specific.Umno Sabah is presently building its new headquarters in Karamunsing, Kota Kinabalu. No one in Umno Sabah seems to know the construction cost of the building though -- other than Musa Aman, that is. There has been no building committee formed to oversee the construction of the building and no meetings have ever been held to either discuss details of the building or seek approval from Umno Sabah’s main committee.In short, Musa Aman is single-handedly managing the entire construction of the building and he is playing his cards close to his chest -- neither informing the other Umno Sabah main Committee Members details of what is going on, nor seeking its approval before embarking on any decision.But this is not all that is happening. More perplexing is the choice of site.Umno Sabah actually owns a five-acre piece of prime land close to the Bank Simpanan Nasional building in the swank neighbourhood of the Sutra Resort. For all intents and purposes, this piece of land can be considered a ‘gold mine’. Musa Aman, however, refuses to build the new Umno Sabah building on Umno’s own land. Instead, he is building it on an alternative piece of land in which he has a vested interest. What is the size of this land, whether the entire piece of land or just part of it is being used for this building, and how much has this piece of land been valued for, has not been revealed and no one in Umno Sabah, save for Musa Aman alone, knows the details.The signboard says that the building owner is Badan Perhubungan Umno Negeri Sabah. However, below this is another name, Accodon Sdn Bhd, which is listed as the developer of the building. Who then is the owner of this new Umno Sabah building, Umno Sabah or Accordon? This is not clear. What is clear is that Umno Sabah does not own the land. The party that does own it appears to be Accordon. But what is the relationship between Umno Sabah and Accordon? No one in Umno Sabah seems to know, other than probably just Musa Aman, and just him alone.If Umno Sabah was the owner of this piece of land or the building then it would have had to register it in the names of the trustees. And those who are authorised to act as trustees would have to be named and approved by Umno Sabah’s main committee. As it stands, Umno Sabah has never met to discuss this matter nor has it authorised anyone to act as its trustee.In short, Umno Sabah has entirely no interest in either the land or the building and its name is just being used for purposes best known to those behind this entire scam.But why is Umno Sabah’s name being used? For two reasons!First of all, a piece of land of this size and location would attract a hefty premium. However, since the land is now allegedly owned by Umno, then the premium can either be reduced or waved altogether. Whoever, therefore, owns this land can get it practically for ‘free’. All they have to do is use part of this land to build the Umno Sabah building, get an exemption on the premium, and the balance of the land would be theirs for free.This is actually not a new scam. They did this with the KLCC. Ananda Krishnan built two towers. He then sold one of the towers to Petronas for the price it cost to build both towers plus the cost of the land thrown in. He therefore ended up getting the second tower free, paid for by Petronas, or rather the Malaysian taxpayers.And this is what is happening with the Umno Sabah building.But in Ananda’s case he had to fund the purchase of the land plus the construction of the twin towers before he could sell off one of the towers to Petronas. In the Umno Sabah building scam it is even better. Not only can the land owner get the land for free, but the building is being built not with Accordon’s money but with donations from the public.As it is now, no one in Umno Sabah seems to know how much the construction cost of the building is. Is it RM30 million, is it RM40 million, or is it RM50 million? Your guess is as good as mine and the one person who knows, Musa Aman, is not talking. But donations are being collected left, right and center (and probably behind as well) from all and sundry.Anyone who wants anything from the Sabah state government or Umno Sabah needs to first drop a sizeable sum of money into the building fund donation box. The donation box is overflowing as it is, yet money is still being collected. No one knows how much money has been collected because there is no committee so no accounts or reports need to be tabled at any meetings. Well, that is not true. Actually, the one-man committee, Musa Aman, does know.One person who should know all the financial details is Dato Azizi, the Minister for Local Government, who is the so-called Treasurer for Umno Sabah. But even he does not know how much money has been collected so far, the construction cost of the building, and whether the donations collected are enough (or surplus) to cover the building cost. All he does know is, money is still being collected and is still pouring in.Businessmen in Sabah are starting to become restless. They know a lot of money has been collected, allegedly for this building. However, according to their rough calculations, the amount of money collected is way in excess of what is required. Their educated guess is more than RM100 million has been collected so far and the collection is still ongoing. If the building costs only RM30 million to RM50 million to build, then this RM100 million is way in excess of requirement. Why then are they still collecting money?Another issue that is making the Sabah businessmen unhappy -- other than the fact they have to keep ‘donating’ to the Umno Sabah building fund every time they want anything from the state -- is the company that is undertaking the construction of the building, Sabico Sdn Bhd. Sabico is the new blue-eyed boy of Musa Aman and all state contacts are being given to it.Could it be that Sabico is constructing the building free and that is why it is being given tons of contracts? If so, then there is a strong possibility that all these ‘donations’ being collected are not really going towards paying for the building after all. For example, Sabico has been given a RM10 million contract to paint the Sabah Religious Department (MUIS) building. The contract was not tendered out but given to Sabico on a negotiated basis.Why was the contract not tendered out? Is RM10 million the best price to paint a building or could it have been done much cheaper if the contract had been tendered out and awarded to the lowest bidder? How many more ‘negotiated without tender’ contracts has Sabico been awarded? Do the Sabah Muslims know that the zakat money they have been paying MUIS is actually being indirectly used to pay for Umno Sabah’s building?Questions, questions and more questions that begs answers!Why is Musa Aman so blatant and bold? Is he not worried someone may question or expose him? Well, Sabah has been adopting the ‘rotation of Chief Ministers’ system for some time now. Musa Aman is supposed to retire soon. But now they are abolishing the rotation system and Musa Aman feels he is going to be Chief Minister for life. Maybe the two-year rotation system is good after all for it keeps the Chief Minister on the straight and narrow.Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will be visiting Sabah on 12 December 2004. If he is serious about eradicating corruption then he should address this matter. If it is proven that Musa Aman has abused his position and that there is indeed an element of corruption behind the Sabah Umno building, then Musa Aman should be retired off when his two-year term expires early next year. Only then will Pak Lah be seen as serious in combating corruption. If not, then Pak Lah would be seen as just another talk-only-no-action man.And if the Umno Sabah building exercise is above board, can we please see the accounts?
Umno Sabah is the ‘baby’ of the Umno family. It is the latest addition to the vast nationwide Umno network that since independence or Merdeka has managed to maintain an iron grip on Malaysian politics. But it is very rapidly turning out to be one of the richest of the state Umnos. How it managed to amass such wealth in such a short space of time and what it is doing with all this money has been hot on the lips of Sabahans for some time now. But what should be an even more pertinent question is: was its wealth acquired through legal or illegal means?Many harbour the view it is okay to acquire wealth through dubious or corrupt means as long as the purpose is noble. The end always justifies the means, argue the propagators of corruption. If the money is going into Umno’s coffer and not your own pocket then it is okay to acquire the money through corrupt means, is the school of thought.The end never justify the means; not according to Islam and neither according to common law. One-time Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Selangor, Datuk Harun Idris, found this out the hard way. More than 30 years ago he had accepted a RM3 million pay off (equivalent to maybe RM30 million in today’s spending power) from Hongkong Bank on behalf of Umno.The money was not for him. He did not touch one cent of the money. It was for Umno and it was handed to him at the Subang Airport -- in broad daylight and in full public view -- in the presence of another Umno official who immediately relieved Datuk Harun of the money and banked it into Umno’s bank account.Nevertheless, the Hongkong Bank payment is still a bribe and the courts ruled so. Datuk Harun never denied receiving the money. The money, he explained, was not for him but for Umno. He honestly never touched one sen of it. But the court still sent him to jail for corruption.Chief Ministers and Federal Ministers cannot seem to understand that accepting or asking for kickbacks is corruption, never mind what the purpose is for. Once money changes hands with strings attached, then it is corruption -- and no one will want to ‘donate’ to Umno unless there is some form of benefit. And the latest case in a string of cases involves Umno Sabah -- or the Chief Minister of Sabah, Musa Aman, to be more specific.Umno Sabah is presently building its new headquarters in Karamunsing, Kota Kinabalu. No one in Umno Sabah seems to know the construction cost of the building though -- other than Musa Aman, that is. There has been no building committee formed to oversee the construction of the building and no meetings have ever been held to either discuss details of the building or seek approval from Umno Sabah’s main committee.In short, Musa Aman is single-handedly managing the entire construction of the building and he is playing his cards close to his chest -- neither informing the other Umno Sabah main Committee Members details of what is going on, nor seeking its approval before embarking on any decision.But this is not all that is happening. More perplexing is the choice of site.Umno Sabah actually owns a five-acre piece of prime land close to the Bank Simpanan Nasional building in the swank neighbourhood of the Sutra Resort. For all intents and purposes, this piece of land can be considered a ‘gold mine’. Musa Aman, however, refuses to build the new Umno Sabah building on Umno’s own land. Instead, he is building it on an alternative piece of land in which he has a vested interest. What is the size of this land, whether the entire piece of land or just part of it is being used for this building, and how much has this piece of land been valued for, has not been revealed and no one in Umno Sabah, save for Musa Aman alone, knows the details.The signboard says that the building owner is Badan Perhubungan Umno Negeri Sabah. However, below this is another name, Accodon Sdn Bhd, which is listed as the developer of the building. Who then is the owner of this new Umno Sabah building, Umno Sabah or Accordon? This is not clear. What is clear is that Umno Sabah does not own the land. The party that does own it appears to be Accordon. But what is the relationship between Umno Sabah and Accordon? No one in Umno Sabah seems to know, other than probably just Musa Aman, and just him alone.If Umno Sabah was the owner of this piece of land or the building then it would have had to register it in the names of the trustees. And those who are authorised to act as trustees would have to be named and approved by Umno Sabah’s main committee. As it stands, Umno Sabah has never met to discuss this matter nor has it authorised anyone to act as its trustee.In short, Umno Sabah has entirely no interest in either the land or the building and its name is just being used for purposes best known to those behind this entire scam.But why is Umno Sabah’s name being used? For two reasons!First of all, a piece of land of this size and location would attract a hefty premium. However, since the land is now allegedly owned by Umno, then the premium can either be reduced or waved altogether. Whoever, therefore, owns this land can get it practically for ‘free’. All they have to do is use part of this land to build the Umno Sabah building, get an exemption on the premium, and the balance of the land would be theirs for free.This is actually not a new scam. They did this with the KLCC. Ananda Krishnan built two towers. He then sold one of the towers to Petronas for the price it cost to build both towers plus the cost of the land thrown in. He therefore ended up getting the second tower free, paid for by Petronas, or rather the Malaysian taxpayers.And this is what is happening with the Umno Sabah building.But in Ananda’s case he had to fund the purchase of the land plus the construction of the twin towers before he could sell off one of the towers to Petronas. In the Umno Sabah building scam it is even better. Not only can the land owner get the land for free, but the building is being built not with Accordon’s money but with donations from the public.As it is now, no one in Umno Sabah seems to know how much the construction cost of the building is. Is it RM30 million, is it RM40 million, or is it RM50 million? Your guess is as good as mine and the one person who knows, Musa Aman, is not talking. But donations are being collected left, right and center (and probably behind as well) from all and sundry.Anyone who wants anything from the Sabah state government or Umno Sabah needs to first drop a sizeable sum of money into the building fund donation box. The donation box is overflowing as it is, yet money is still being collected. No one knows how much money has been collected because there is no committee so no accounts or reports need to be tabled at any meetings. Well, that is not true. Actually, the one-man committee, Musa Aman, does know.One person who should know all the financial details is Dato Azizi, the Minister for Local Government, who is the so-called Treasurer for Umno Sabah. But even he does not know how much money has been collected so far, the construction cost of the building, and whether the donations collected are enough (or surplus) to cover the building cost. All he does know is, money is still being collected and is still pouring in.Businessmen in Sabah are starting to become restless. They know a lot of money has been collected, allegedly for this building. However, according to their rough calculations, the amount of money collected is way in excess of what is required. Their educated guess is more than RM100 million has been collected so far and the collection is still ongoing. If the building costs only RM30 million to RM50 million to build, then this RM100 million is way in excess of requirement. Why then are they still collecting money?Another issue that is making the Sabah businessmen unhappy -- other than the fact they have to keep ‘donating’ to the Umno Sabah building fund every time they want anything from the state -- is the company that is undertaking the construction of the building, Sabico Sdn Bhd. Sabico is the new blue-eyed boy of Musa Aman and all state contacts are being given to it.Could it be that Sabico is constructing the building free and that is why it is being given tons of contracts? If so, then there is a strong possibility that all these ‘donations’ being collected are not really going towards paying for the building after all. For example, Sabico has been given a RM10 million contract to paint the Sabah Religious Department (MUIS) building. The contract was not tendered out but given to Sabico on a negotiated basis.Why was the contract not tendered out? Is RM10 million the best price to paint a building or could it have been done much cheaper if the contract had been tendered out and awarded to the lowest bidder? How many more ‘negotiated without tender’ contracts has Sabico been awarded? Do the Sabah Muslims know that the zakat money they have been paying MUIS is actually being indirectly used to pay for Umno Sabah’s building?Questions, questions and more questions that begs answers!Why is Musa Aman so blatant and bold? Is he not worried someone may question or expose him? Well, Sabah has been adopting the ‘rotation of Chief Ministers’ system for some time now. Musa Aman is supposed to retire soon. But now they are abolishing the rotation system and Musa Aman feels he is going to be Chief Minister for life. Maybe the two-year rotation system is good after all for it keeps the Chief Minister on the straight and narrow.Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will be visiting Sabah on 12 December 2004. If he is serious about eradicating corruption then he should address this matter. If it is proven that Musa Aman has abused his position and that there is indeed an element of corruption behind the Sabah Umno building, then Musa Aman should be retired off when his two-year term expires early next year. Only then will Pak Lah be seen as serious in combating corruption. If not, then Pak Lah would be seen as just another talk-only-no-action man.And if the Umno Sabah building exercise is above board, can we please see the accounts?
posted by Gundohing at
6:57 PM
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