Thursday, 16 Feb 2012

After six years of legal battles, former Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) chairman Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli and Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd can finally exhale and move on after reaching an out-of-court settlement this week.

While a settlement between the two parties is a private matter, this case involves a government owned entity.

Prokhas Sdn Bhd, which now manages Danaharta’s residual assets, is a wholly-owned entity of Minister of Finance, Inc.

Whether the disclosure comes from Prokhas or the Danaharta board, both entities are government-owned. The government in turn (and in an ideal world) answers to the people. Hence, it is the right of the taxpayers to know where and how their hard-earned money has been utilised in this instance.

Prokhas was not available for comment when contacted yesterday.

The government also owes it to the public to disclose the settlement as Danaharta had won the case in the Kuala Lumpur High Court in December 2009.

The court had then ruled in favour of Danaharta and its two subsidiaries on the sum of RM589.15 million that Tajudin had purportedly defaulted on.

The High Court also ordered the former MAS chairman to pay an interest rate of 2% above the base lending rate of Malayan Banking Bhd until the date of full realisation, and dismissed Tajudin’s counter claim to the tune of over RM14 billion, excluding damages and costs.

The public has the right to know the final sum that Danaharta would recover from this out-of-court settlement. Or has the slate been wiped clean?

Already Members of Parliament from both sides of the political divide have pressed for disclosure.

The settlement brings closure for one man, but it should not create uncertainties for others.

The last thing the government needs is more ammunition for the Opposition to go to town with.

The government, Danaharta and Prokhas must make public the details of this settlement because this case does not only involve those two major players. It also involves us, the taxpayers.