Abad Naluri chairman quits; game over for Patrick
Just heard from a reliable source that Dato Sri Kamal Hashim, the chairman of Abad Naluri, has resigned from his position with immediate effect.
Kamal Hashim is presently the northern region director of The Star, which gave the launch of the PGCC by the prime minister last year prominent coverage.
It is also believed that the Prime Minister and his family are now distancing themselves from Patrick Lim, whose dealings exposed the BN to stinging criticism in the run-up to the general election - from opposition parties as well as from Mahathir.
Abad Naluri is the developer of the controversial PGCC project and was supposed to sign an agreement to buy and develop 300 acres of land in Batu Kawan as a replacement race-course for the Penang Turf Club.
These deals have been shrouded in controversy, and it is widely believed that powerful vested interests were the driving force behind them. In particular, the Penang state government has been asked to probe deeper and find out how Abad Naluri could end up buying 750 acres of prime land right next to the site of the proposed second bridge for Penang.
So who was really behind these land deals? As at October last year, the directors of Abad Naluri were Patrick Lim, Md Isahak bin Md Yusuf, Kamal Mohamed Hashim bin Che Din and Chin Pei Fung.
While much has been said of Patrick Lim’s interest in the PGCC, this could be a red herring as his Taman Equine firm only has a 25 per cent stake in the PGCC developer, Abad Naluri Sdn Bhd.
So who are the other major shareholders of Abad Naluri, which had an issued capital of only RM519,867? A company search revealed that the firm’s other main shareholders were Syed Jalaludin bin Syed Salim (Prof Tan Sri Dato’ Dr) (24 per cent) stake and Aneka Mayang Sdn Bhd (46 per cent). The rest were mainly small Chinese Malaysian shareholders holding 100 shares each.
Now let’s look at Abad Naluri’s biggest shareholder, Aneka Mayang Sdn Bhd. Surprise, surprise, Aneka Mayang is a RM2 company! One share each is held by, yes, Syed Jalaludin again and the other by Idris bin Denan. Imagine, a RM2 company has a 46 per cent interest in Abad Naluri, which in turn was supposed to undertake the RM25 billion PGCC project! Only in Malaysia…
Any of these individuals and firms could be proxies for other more powerful interests.
Although the end of the PGCC project is nigh, this does not mean we are going to get a People’s Park in Batu Gantong tomorrow.
For, would you believe it, certain members of the Turf Club are now salivating at the prospect of making a tidy profit from “developing” the Batu Gantung land for private gain.
A prominent member has circulated a proposal which would involve members buying the 259-acre plot of land from the Turf Club for RM488 million.
Under the proposal, the members would allocate 180 acres out of the 259 acres for property development. Basically, they want to build 581 bungalows (each 7,000-8,000 sq ft) and sell them to the members at RM100 sq ft. (The Turf Club has 581 members.) They also want to build a further 140 bungalows for sale to the public at RM200 sq ft.
Incidentally, the market value of the land is now around 250 sq ft.
Under this proposal, the profit from this property development would be RM115 million, which would be donated to charity. (But the members would already profit from buying the bungalows at a discounted price of only RM100 sg ft, which means each member would in effect make a cool unrealised profit of around RM1 million on top of the RM20,000 they had earlier received.)
The proposal also involves the members handing over the unused 79 acres as “open space” for a public park to the Penang state government. Wah, so generous! But hang on a minute - this “open space” is actually hill land and cemetery land (which cannot be developed in the first place) for crying out loud. Now I wonder how many people fancy strolling around hill-slopes and tombstones for their leisurely morning and evening walks.
Imagine, whoever came up with this hare-brained, land-grabbing proposal dares to call it a “win-win situation for all parties concerned”.
Let’s be clear. The land does not belong to individual Turf Club members so that they can profit from it. It was handed over to the Penang Turf Club by the State in 1935 for recreational use. The only reason we got into this mess is that the previous state government, with the connivance of vested interests, re-zoned this land to “mixed development”. It is time the new state government put a stop to this nonsense of certain quarters eyeing this precious green lung and wanting to “develop” it for personal profit. The land and surrounding areas should remain a heritage enclave and the only way that can happen is if the new state government re-zones the land back to its original status as “recreational” and turns it into a permanent People’s Park.
That should keep away the greedy vultures, now circling in the air while eyeing the carcass of the still-born PGCC below.
The land is rightly and truly the rakyat’s. The govt. must see to it whatever benefits derived from it goes to the people of Penang. Laws cannot be allowed to be twisted for the smart to cheat the populace. The horrors and sufferings of the poor caused by mahathir’s manipulation of the judiciary must never be repeated again. If man allows it, I believe God will NOT.
Every person is interested to grab with the hand
Whatever is available as a prime piece of land
Some may decide to join in as a small band
And flex their muscles as a financial ‘gang’
(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 100408
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
http://msi.Rocky101.com
Thur. 10th April 2008.
[...] Netto has the full story here in his [...]
Apart from the PTC, there is also another piece of recreational land undergoing some process of metamorphosis; ie: the former Kristal Golf Resort on the mainland. Perhaps some inquisitive soul should do some digging into this.
PGCC going down
Before it is born
The abortion takes its course
The poor fellow never knows
The light of the day
It is better for all good
The Penangites need it more
A place to breathe; a place to connect
With nature and throng of people
I know the traffic jams there
I had been there used the roads
It is good now the project going down
Somebody finally wakes up
Profits always spoil it
When one doesn’t know how to divide
The businessmen must know
How to give back nature gifts
As it is PR must not approve it
Take back the land rezone
Let no person tries to make a play
It is a place for all Penangites
And tourists and fellow Malaysians
Come visit the Pearl of the Orient
Though I know the shine has gone
Let PGCC be grounded
Let it never rears its head again
Let the air flow of fresh windy breeze
A sign of change has finally arrived
Hi,
Really eyes opening. This is the first time to surf this blog, think in future everyday will come to see any new.
A professional journalism really amazed me a lot. Frankly, so far you are the best.
Keep it up! Or you may chose to be an investigator of scandals in politics.
thanks anil…….a good read indeed
keep giving us fresh new in these interesting times
makkal sakti
Thanks Anil. Great insights.
Although I’m not a Penangite, thank you sir for opening our eyes.
SO who are these turf club members who are soooooo intelligant, are they being led by that tan kok pin haha, now i get the whole picture, as according to your expose the deal for the turf club had lapsed in 2007 and I comented on it, so when our estemmed mr. tan comes out and makes a statement that there will be no more extensions after 2011, I asked myself this question, why would you go about resigning another deal when the first deal is in breach of contract, and to top it all the turf club gains by keeping the 10million non refundable deposit, well we in Malaysia always ask this question, who gains, so my question to the turf club is this how much was paid… to the comittee to keep the deal relevant, can you explain MR.NETTO which political party are these people affiliated with, the ones from adab naluri and the turf club. this would be just the tip of the iceburg, to Mr. Netto THANK YOU SIR for bringing the truth out into the open, look at the worms squirm in broad daylight.
Another invaluable benefit to the voters for having voted “FOR CHANGE”. I am sure more bonuses are in the pipeline !!!
Good Day,
Tan sri Syed is the proxy…he is also some how involved in HDC..halal dev corp…..where… Khairy running the show.
Aha…siapa lagi itu orang nama Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping. …. Cakap pasal mau pusing orang punya wang….hah…this is the man
To add on what Noor M commented - follow the paper & business association trail of Syed Jalaludin bin Syed Salim & Aneka Mayang S/B it leads to PMCare, HDC and many more - - the magic roundabout!
Actually the above story should have been broken by the Main media, not a blog. But then in this country the blogs have all the scoops and the main media, a BN party organ which see no evil an any land deal by the power that be.
Independent Director of Equine Capital resigns today (11 April 200
Date of change : 11/04/2008
Type of change : Resignation
Designation : Non-Executive Director
Directorate : Independent & Non Executive
Name : James Mackenzie Hall
Age : 58
Nationality : Australian
http://announcements.bursamalaysia.com/EDMS/edmsweb.nsf/LsvAllByID/48256E5D00102DF4482574280036E725?OpenDocument
Thanks for enlightening us. You should get this article publish in The Sun for wider coverage. Though the media is ‘tainted’ by the Vincent guy, it has so far exposed quite a few scandals.
Keep it up, man! The RAKYAT has the RIGHT to know where and how their hard-earned money is spent!
Just let me ask these questions.
How is Patrick Lim different to any other “businessmen” in Malaysia? Isn’t this the Malaysian way of conducting business? Sometimes it is the only way.
Compromises, deal making and cheating occur in almost every facet of Malaysian life. We pay policemen to get out of traffic fines, we buy pirate dvds, the sellers pay off people to sell private dvd. We install gadgets to slow down our electric meters. We pay extra to pass driving test. We ask our friends who are “connected” to do us a favour be it to get our children in a particular school or to get a passport issued faster. If we find RM500 on the street, do we hand it to the police? If we get extra change when buying something, do we give it back?
Targeting one person just because he is a public figure and an easy target is not going to solve the country’s ills. It starts from education and it begins with ourselves. Malaysian society has to change.
[...] Some really bad news for the super rich in Malaysia. One was Patrick Lim in Penang, His PGCC in Penang is no more, and we are also told Patrick is no more close with the Badawi family. You can read this here in Anil Netto’s blog. [...]
Thank goodness that the above by Anil Netto is revealed! Its time that we as Malaysian be proud of our heritage, while we make amendments on things needed to be changed.
Issues on BUMIPUTRA, corruption, glutony, sloth must give may to better qualities that will IMPROVE all Malaysians.
My effort in opposing PGCC and working with PHT has paid off. Keep up the good work, GOOD MALAYSIANS!
Kenneth