Tourism duo linked to 'dubious deals'Syed Jaymal Zahiid Jul 2, 08 9:51amTwo senior officials of a government-linked company have been implicated in a series of scams that have allegedly diverted millions of ringgit in tourism-development funds into private pockets.The duo are key figures in Pempena Sdn Bhd, or the national tourism development company. It was set up in 1976 by Tourism Malaysia, an agency of the Tourism Ministry.They are said to have:pocketed commissions when refinancing luxury vehicles for a high-end tourist taxi service;approved several contracts to RM2 companies supplying services for tourism-based projects;over-stated the cost of creating an e-tourism portal by about RM5 million; andbypassed the Pempena board of directors in ‘investing’ in a restaurant project in Melbourne.An insider said dissatisfied staff-members of Pempena had submitted a memorandum dated March 24 to current Tourism Minister Azalina Othman, but have not received a response to date.(Azalina, left, was appointed to the portfolio after the March 8 general election, but all the allegations are rooted in events that took place last year, when the Tourism Malaysia board of directors was helmed by former minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, right.)The memorandum named accountant Lim Khing Tai and senior business development manager Raja Norsan Raja Nasron as the main persons behind the alleged scams.It also claimed that chief executive officer Razali Mohd Daud, who is also deputy director-general of Tourism Malaysia's promotions department, had done nothing despite having received complaints.“Pempena is in poor financial shape compared to 2003, when it had RM50 million for tourism development projects. It now faces several high risk non-profitable investments,” said the source, who gave Malaysiakini a copy of the memorandum.“The staff are angry because all this is due to corruption, criminal breach of trust and abuse of power by top managers.According to the memorandum, the RM2 companies were not examined properly for their track-record and background before the investment decisions were made, “which goes against company and financial institution rules”.“An accountant is professionally bound not to be involved in all tender-related matters, but Lim appointed his people to the tender committee in order to get projects for companies in which he has an interest,” alleged the source.When contacted for a second time on Monday, Lim denied all the allegations and suggested that he was being targeted by "racists" in Pempena. An independent probe is underway, he said.The other two officials could not be reached for comment since last Friday. Their personal assistants claimed that they were busy with meetings.Accusations in memorandumThe nine-page memorandum, entitled ‘Current Issues in Pempena Sdn Bhd’, was signed by 20 employees. Copies were sent to the four-member Pempena board of directors, and 11 directors of the Tourism Malaysia board.It outlined the main accusations. Specific details were missing from some of the points, but the source filled in a few of the gaps.Luxury taxi projectEarly last year, Tourism Malaysia approved RM5 million to provide a first-class taxi service - known as Pempena Executive Taxi - for the use of high-end tourists in Kuala Lumpur.According to the memorandum, Lim had an interest in the companies picked to supply the 30 luxury vehicles “and the contract was awarded to non-bumiputera companies”.“Then six months later, he applied for re-financing of the cars through a bank. He made a profit from the commission accruing from this transaction, which should have gone into Pempena’s accounts,” said the source, who could not specify the sum involved.Also alleged was that Lim had assigned seven of the 100 luxury cars - two Naza Ria, two Mercedes Vito and three Mercedes Benz E200K - for private use.The contract to convert the cars into taxis - including installing a NGV system - was also given to suppliers close to Lim, stated the memorandum.Contracts for servicesLim and Raja Norsan were also implicated in approving contracts to companies created to supply services for four tourism-based projects.One project allegedly involved an up-front payment of RM1 million to a communication development company. However, details were not available.Similar payments were approved last September to set up the Langkawi International Fashion Zone - a fashion hub - and MAS BE, a chartered airline operating China-bound flights.“In the Langkawi International Fashion Zone project, Lim managed to get companies affiliated to him to act as suppliers of equipment with the help of Raja Norsan and his minions,” said the source.“A contract for renovations under the same project was granted directly to the contractor instead of being put through an open-tender process. The cost ballooned, and Lim did not provide any proper justification to the board of directors.”The source questioned why the MAS BE project was used to fly tourists to China, when Tourism Malaysia had allocated RM600,000 for a promotional programme to bring tourists to Malaysia.A few months after the payment was received, “the venture died and no one has questioned what has happened to it”.E-tourism portal projectThe memorandum further claimed that Lim and Raja Norsan had manipulated the use of RM10 million allocated by the Tourism Ministry to set up an e-Tourism portal.“Only RM2.5 million was spent on the venture, and the rest has disappeared into thin air,” claimed the source.“Lim’s involvement was exposed by Pempena’s legal officers, when they were drawing up the contract documents for the company appointed to handle the project.”The source did not have further details on what happened subsequently.Restaurant in MelbourneThe duo was also said to have opened a restaurant in Melbourne, Australia, last year by using Pempena’s name to obtain a bank loan of RM500,000.“However, the project was not approved by the board of directors and it was carried out in collaboration with a company that had been blacklisted by Bank Negara,” claimed the source, without revealing the company’s name.Lim and Raja Norsan had gotten away with all this, alleged the source, by not revealing full details of the deals to the Pempena board.“They always used the names of Tengku Adnan and (former deputy tourism minister Donald Lim, left) in saying that the decisions had been approved. But did they really approve all this?” the source asked.Accountant denies claimsWhen first contacted last Friday, the accountant said he had seen the memorandum and that the allegations against him are baseless.“An independent audit (panel) has already been set up by Tourism Malaysia and Pempena,” said Lim, who sounded jovial during the five- minute phone conversation.He said the allegations may have been prompted by “racism in a Malay- dominated government-linked company”, referring to segments that highlight the awarding of contracts to non-bumiptera companies.Although he had initially declined to be named, he agreed to being quoted when contacted again on Monday. He also reiterated his earlier comments.On Jan 11, Malaysiakini had reported a scandal,where two high-ranking Tourism Malaysia officers in the South Korea office had allegedly pocketed RM850,000 slated for the production of a video to promote Malaysia to South Koreans.