'Zambry should be held accountable for lopsided theme park deal'

Former Perak menteri besar Zambry Abdul Kadir (above) should be held responsible for a questionable deal to build a theme park in Ipoh, said Keranji assemblyperson Chong Zhemin.

Chong, who led the internal audit committee to look into the deal, said although the evidence of fraud was inconclusive, there were several lopsided issues to be raised.

As a result, he said, external auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers would be brought in for a forensic audit.

This was with regard to Perak Corporation Berhad's joint venture with RSG Maps Sdn Bhd to build an animation theme park.

The vehicle for the company was Animation Theme Park Sdn Bhd (ATP), in which RSG Maps Sdn Bhd owned a 49 percent stake while Perak Corporation, through its wholly-owned subsidiary PCB Development Berhad (PCBD), held a 51 percent stake.

Chong (below) pointed out that the cost of the Movie Animation Park Studios (Maps) was initially placed at RM390 million but it subsequently ballooned to RM607 million.

Furthermore, he said PCBD took the undertaking to be fully responsible for all the additional funding.

"As the former Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Perak (PKNP) chairperson who had direct control over Perak Corporation Berhad (PCB), PCBD and ATP, Zambry must explain and be fully responsible for the increase in cost of the Maps from the original cost RM390 million to the actual cost of RM607 million - a fact that was never disclosed by the previous administration.

"Zambry must also explain why he allowed PCBD, which owns only 51 percent of the share of ATP, to be solely responsible for the additional funding of Maps by approving three shareholder advance agreements totalling RM250 million.

"This is totally unacceptable and an unfair arrangement, and Zambry must be fully responsible and held accountable for this decision," Chong said in a statement today.

The state government's joint-venture partner RSG Maps Sdn Bhd is 69 percent owned by Sanderson Design Group (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (SDGM), which was in turn owned by Sanderson Design Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

However, SDGM, which was also appointed as the turnkey contractor for the project, is now being wound up after its ownership was transferred from Sanderson Design Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd to British Virgin Islands-based Calgary Global Group Limited.

"SDGM is currently in receivership. In May 2018, during the creditor meeting called by the appointed liquidator, we were told that SDGM only has RM1,500 left in their bank accounts.

"PCBD had filed a claim with the liquidator amounting to RM131 million," he said.

The internal audit said SDGM's accounts needed to be reviewed to determine what had happened to its money.

Concurring with the opinion, Chong said he will raise it at the next state Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting to look into SDGM.