PRESENT POINT POWER

Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad speaking to newsmen after the
special PAC meeting in Parliament House

Meanwhile Datu Seri Samy Vellu avoided the confrontation (his strong supporter Tan Sri Nijhar, MP Subang is in the PAC)

The white haired PAC Chairman Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad speaking to newsmen at Parliament building after the PAC special meeting said “the committee wants to know whether there has been a standard practice or method used by the government in paying compensation to such companies. The PAC also discussed a letter sent by Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu to the PAC on the compensation payment to the Gerbang Perdana Selatan Bersepadu Sdn Bhd

Asked on whether the PAC was satisfied with the Works Minister's explanation he replied:-

" The question of whether we are satisfied or dosatified is not our concern. No decision on the matter in today’s meeting. The question does not arise"

On the question of Datuk Samy Vellu’s letter, " Ask him, What is important to us is to carry out our responsibility. We have made a decision to continue our work and look at current project as has been done before I became Chairman”

Next PAC meeting is on July 24, would review the RM27 billion privatisation of the construction of 27 offshore patrol vessels.

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=204585

The following is the despatch from bernama.
Provide PAC Type Of Compensation Paid To Companies - Shahrir;June 22, 2006 18:09 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 (Bernama) -- The Treasury and National Audit Department have been asked to furnish the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) the type of compensation paid by the government to companies which postponed or cancelled half-way projects awarded to them.

PAC Chairman Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said the committee wants to know whether there has been a standard practice or method used by the government in paying compensation to such companies.

"This is also to enable the PAC to know the type and method the government made payments to projects that have been postponed or cancelled," he told reporters after chairing a special PAC meeting at Parliament building Thursday.

The special meeting was held to discuss the PAC's role whether it had the right to monitor ongoing projects or after a project has been completed and its accounts audited and closed.

Today's meeting also discussed a letter sent by Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu to the PAC on the compensation payment to the Gerbang Perdana Selatan Bersepadu Sdn Bhd following the government's decision to cancel the "scenic bridge" to replace the Malaysian side of the Johor Causeway.

Last Friday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi asked Samy Vellu to give a written explanation to the PAC to resolve the problems between the PAC and the minister.

Abdullah gave the instruction to end a tiff between Samy Vellu and Shahrir pursuant to a PAC statement asking the Works Ministry to review the compensation to be paid to Gerbang Perdana following cancellation of the bridge project.

Asked to comment on the contents of Samy Vellu's letter, Shahrir merely said: "You ask Datuk Seri (Samy Vellu)."

Asked whether Samy Vellu's written reply raised the PAC's role in the compensation issue, Shahrir said: "He (Samy Vellu) did not question it but what happened is more between him and me."

Asked whether the PAC was satisfied with the Works Minister's explanation, Shahrir said: "We have done our job and we will continue our work. The question of whether we are satisfied or dissatisfied is not our concern.

"No decision on the matter in today's meeting. The question does not arise," he said.

Shahrir said today's meeting decided that the PAC would continue to monitor ongoing and completed projects and whose accounts have been closed.

"It has been the practice even before I became PAC chairman, the committee monitors ongoing projects like construction of Matrade (Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation) building and the Middle Ring Road II highway project," he said.

He said the two projects were monitored by the PAC when it was headed by Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib before he was appointed Dewan Rakyat Speaker.

Shahrir said the PAC, in its meeting on July 24, would review the RM27 billion privatisation of the construction of 27 offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) for the Royal Malaysian Navy awarded to PSC Industries Bhd and carried out by its wholly-owned subsidiary PSC-Naval Dockyard Sdn Bhd over a 15-year period.

The agreement for the project was signed between the government and the company in 1998 to design, build and hand over six OPVs costing RM5.35 billion to the RMN.

The company, however, failed to build the six OPVs on schedule. It had
delivered only two OPVs to the RMN so far.

In July last year, the PAC asked the government to investigate whether the
company's senior officers had committed criminal breach of trust.____