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Monday, August 4, 2014

Why are we paying for Minister's fitness trainer to fly business class to Hawaii?

Why are we paying for Minister's fitness trainer to fly business class to Hawaii?
QUESTION: Why did you have to pay for the minister's personal fitness trainer's business class airfare to Hawaii and Japan?
ANSWER: To do business in Malaysia, you got to get to know the people close to the minister. Only then can you get close to the minister.
THIS conversation took place several years ago between journalists from this newspaper and an advertising agency owner. Of course, the awarding of the contracts and the flaws in them are now history. However, it gives a glimpse of the business practices in government contracts.
But these memories came flooding back when a suppression order was issued by the Melbourne Supreme Court on the proceedings and depositions of a bribery case involving the printing of the RM5 polymer notes.
Over the past few days, there was a flurry of phone calls to and from Melbourne and Sydney involving legal experts and media practitioners.
The suppression order bans the publication of the details of the trial including names of leaders from three countries who have been named in some depositions.
The Australian Government's objective for seeking the order was simple – it did not want the reputation of innocent Asian leaders to be dragged into the mud by claims made without any substantiation.
On trial are eight executives of the Reserve Bank of Australia and its subsidiaries for paying bribes to obtain the printing contract.
Even at the initial stages of the trial which began in 2011, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade expressed uneasiness over the contents of depositions and claims made by witnesses on the payments. One media source told me last week: "A witness can make any claim in his testimony or deposition. He can attest or present knowledge or perceived facts that he had learnt from third parties. Such 'facts' were not gathered from the witness himself.
"Therefore, there is always the danger of damaging someone's reputation who is not directly involved in the case."
If a witness says that he heard from a middleman that a percentage of the commissions go to the prime minister, one legal source added, it may not be true at all.
"The middleman has not testified so and the prime minister has no knowledge of the transactions. Is it fair to name the prime minister?" he asked.
Hence, the legal source said the suppression order is specifically aimed at preventing further publication of proceedings which may cause damage to Australia's international relations where innocent parties will not be able to defend their names because they are not parties to the case.
This brings us to the Q and A at the start of this article. If I am asked to testify in court, all I can say is that I met the advertising agency owner over lunch, and in the course of our discussion, he admitted paying the airfares.
I would also testify that part of the way around to getting close to the minister. My testimony will be limited to the information gleaned in that conversation. Whether the minister knew or sanctioned such arrangements would be beyond me to assume or present as a fact.
Similarly, when a witness testifies that he was told by a certain party that the bribe would be divided by three different parties, would that be the truth?
But then again, it would not be wrong to disagree with the Australian media's perception that "it is common in parts of Asia for middlemen and relatives of politicians to be hired by foreign companies as agents."
On previous occasions, I have used this analogy in campaigning for transparency and doing away with middlemen as far as government procurements are concerned. If the government wanted to buy a passenger aircraft, it ought to be dealing with Boeing or Airbus and not with Ahmad, Ah Chong or Muthu who does not know what a life jacket looks like. Similarly, when buying medical equipment, shouldn't the procurement be done directly with the manufacturer or the representative office instead of going to some company fronted by former Health Ministry officials?
It has been said repeatedly – there are many agents, middlemen or whatever you want to call them, who are willing to drop names just to get a share of the loot.
The only way to prevent innocent leaders from having their reputations blemished is to have an open, fair, transparent and equitable procurement system which keeps out the "instant money making machines" and the people and systems which provide the opportunities. -Sundaily

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