MCMC Looted, Shady ‘Speedy Gonzales’ Deal Resurfaces – Part 1

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has been rocked with allegations of millions of ringgit being spirited from the “cash cow” but the outcome of the probes has not been made public.

The investigations by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) into RM25 million missing from FINAS began more than a year ago.

Now, another case similar to the dubious “Speedy Gonzales-Geeko” deal has surfaced.

The “Speedy Gonzales-Geeko” case (worth RM99.693 million) with Tourism Malaysia (TM) saw the MACC arrest and detention of Dato’ Dr Siew Ka Wei (Siew) and Ms Elizabeth Ken Tzu Ying (Elizabeth Ken) in early January 2019.

Siew was the former chairman of TM. He is also the current executive chairman of the public listed company called Ancom Bhd.  Ancom Bhd has many subsidiaries, one of which is Redberry Media Group (Redberry). The defunct Malay Mail is part of Redberry. Ms Elizabeth Ken is the media specialist of Redberry.  Datuk Wong Sai Wan (Wong) is the Editor-in-Chief of Malay Mail. Wong is also a director in several of Siew’s outfits.

Details of the latest scandal will be soon exposed in Part II of this MCMC saga.

Let’s recap. More than a year has elapsed, there is no news of the outcome of the audit by the National Audit Department on the MCMC Fund and the USP Fund (Universal Service Provision Fund), which were set up under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Act, 1988,

The balance of these two Funds as at 31 December 2016 were as follows:

MCMC Fund RM800 million; and

USP Fund RM8.5 billion.

 

 

On 20 June 2018, YB Gobind Singh Deo had announced that both MCMC Fund and USP Fund will be audited by the National Audit Department, HERE.

On 3 July 2018, MACC confirmed it was probing into the embezzlement of RM25 million involving 1Malaysia Negaraku projects, which failed to be implemented.

A senior officer of the National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) with a “Datuk” title is believed to be involved in the embezzlement, HERE.

It would appear that there was no outcome of this MACC probe.

Perhaps the newly-minted DG of MACC, Puan Latheefa Koya, should look into these matters and other scandals involving the MCMC Fund.

The RM25 million scandal was just the tip of the iceberg!

Prior to GE 14, the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia had encouraged or allowed the MCMC Fund to be abused to the maximum by a government agency with zero governance!

It must be noted that section 39 of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act, 1988, provides that the MCMC Fund shall be expanded for the purposes of lawful expenditure incurred by MCMC like paying for the remuneration, allowances and expenses of of members of MCMC, procurement of good and services  by MCMC, purchasing or hiring equipment, machinery, acquiring of land and any asset, repayment of moneys borrowed under section 43 of the Act, granting loans to its employees and etc.

A big chunk of the MCMC Fund had been utilised for purposes that have not been stipulated under section 39 of the Act.

It must be noted that section 39 of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act, 1988, provides that the MCMC Fund shall be expanded for the purposes of lawful expenditure incurred by MCMC like paying for the remuneration, allowances and expenses of of members of MCMC, procurement of good and services  by MCMC, purchasing or hiring equipment, machinery, acquiring of land and any asset, repayment of moneys borrowed under section 43 of the Act, granting loans to its employees and etc.

In the spirit of transparency and accountability, the National Audit Department and/or the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia to make public the findings of the audit of these two funds (MCMC Fund & USP Fund).

Stay Tuned For Part 2