Wednesday, October 21, 2009

PEMPENA – A GRIEF STRICKENED BUSINESS VENTURE

I had in November 25, 2008 posted a brief article on Pempena, a business subsidiary of Tourism Malaysia that had ventured into a number of businesses locally as well as abroad, that are all mired in controversy. When the business failures were raised last year, the then Minister of Tourism, Azalina Othman vowed that punitive action will be taken against those responsible. At the time when she left the ministry, nothing was done to address the irregularities identified in the business ventures. I suppose her exist from the ministry was too abrupt for her to do anything.

Based on the Auditor General’s 2008 report released recently, a total of nine business ventures have reported losses that runs into millions of ringgit, through bad management practices and questionable dealings.

Pempena has filed reports with MACC as well as with the Police Commercial Crimes Division for investigations.

The unanswered question remains; who should be made accountable and responsible for this business fiasco that seemed to have failed even before it started doing business. Will the former Tourism Minister be called to question? Or will the investigations end with the famous NFA?

The taxpayers awaits the outcome of the investigations.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION

10 comments:

EAGLE said...

Blog steadyaku47 is on a campaign trail "Bring Him Home"
Dato', a very interesting views and opinions, are you on it?

Mohd Arshad Raji said...

Dear Eagle,

Will read. But seriously, I am against the return of Chin Peng. That's the general feeling of all soldiers who were around during the insurgency period. It can't be help. Many have died in the prcoess.

abdulhalimshah said...

Dato' Arshad Raji,
The only action against individuals that ended with jail terms as far I knew was when two billion ringgit went down the drain in the BMF scandal, and ironically it happened in Hong Kong from start to finish. But we only circulated the report to MP's with hardly a whimper after the 3-man comittee headed by the late Tan Sri Ahmad Noordin finished it's work.
But when we lost in the London metal Exchange and in the foreign currency speculation by the Central Bank, nobody was prosecuted. PETRONAS coffers was used in bailing out Bank Bumiputra and in rescuing a privately owned shipping company that was about to go belly up. The list of taxpayers money being spent on failed ventures are just too many to be enumerated. We are just numbed by the failure of the authorities to bring the responsible people to book for their blunders.Let us see what will happen under the present Administration on the PKFZ scandal. If the culprits are let off the hook, then the slogan of 1Malaysia is just a lot of hot air.

Mej. Dr. Nor Ibrahim bin Sulaiman PTU TUDM (B) said...

Eagle,
I started writing my blog solely because of the polemic to bring back Chin Peng-'Mengapa Saya Menentang Chin Peng Kembali' and 'Pengalaman Ke2 to Ke5".The last-'Suatu Ketika Dulu'. In fact, the 1st 2 articles became an assignment for the undergraduates of an IPTA.

Those who are interested to know the views of about 180 students, please read their comments(xnuripilot.blogspot.com).

Unknown said...

My dear friend,

1. In order to stop corruption or reduce it to zero level, the Government MUST ensure CORRUPTION DOESN'T PAY.

2. Bringing the culprits to justice MUST also include getting all the money back. Getting the money back should be the first priority, punishment comes second. There should be no such thing as writing off the amount swinddled. The balanced MUST recorded as the amount the corrupted ones owe and MUST be repaid. Investigations MUST cover a wide range of related and associated persons of the culprits.


3. Every cent taken or stolen has to be returned and paid back and the bigger the amount swinddled, the greater the punishment.

4. Private companies MUST be set up to specialise in Crusade Against Corruption. The Government MUST awared contracts to them, to investigate corruption, with payment based on shared profits of money returned.

5, Incentives MUST be given to those responsible to bring the culprits to justce and informers are to be protected. Rewards MUST be attractive.

6. Overseas Sections in MACC Must be established or upgraded to investigate and tackle Malaysians residing overseas, especially those in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore. UK. You can see rich Malaysians living there or owning big houses there. It is not difficult to check and find out.

Capt's Longhouse said...

my take,,,

,,,some of the best lessons we learn, we learn from our mistakes and failures. The error of the past is the wisdom and success of the future.
,,,lets see if our new leadership will learn from past experience cox there's one thing more painful than learning from past experience, and that is not learning from experience !

Question Datok ?..how do we help push this message across !. I just had a talk with the Trengganu UMNO Youth Head yesterday about issues raised by most bloggers, like yours as an example BUT I don't see any positivity or any proactive action to change their mentality !. Its a fund raising business as far as they are concerned, which is corruption to our eyes !! Geee !.
,,,Ali Baba is the right word for UMNO ?.

I rest my case.

Mohd Arshad Raji said...

Dear Capt Longhouse,

Our voice is being heard loud and clear. Just wait and see!

Capt's Longhouse said...

QUESTION again Datok ?; ANY MORALITY and CHARACTER in UMNO leadership line-up presently !?.

,,,unfortunately, i don't see much of MORAL values with most if not all of existing UMNO leaders presently !
,,,Moral values are written by GOD within one's hearts, and as a result we all have the individual power to recognise right and wrong. We must maintain a strong conscience and uphold solid morals all of our life. Only with a complete set of moral values, we can acquire grace and virtues/altruism/truthfulness and finally strength of character.
,,,can't name a single person in the present line-up that i can termed as a wonderful person, to be loved and respected by all Malaysian and be blessed from God.
,,,Again where is the INTEGRITY ? dON'T ANYONE OF THEM realised that there is no substitude for truthfulness and there will be no real success in life without it ?.
,,, In my 58 years of living, I have seen people prosper through shady manipulations of facts and figures or by taking undue advantage of others and bloody true enough, their success did not last their life time !.
,,,my take here is you can fool some people sometimes BUT PRESENTLY with IT technology, you just can't fool any of us any longer !.
,,,Its real sad to admit as a MALAYSIAN that tricks/cheats/corruptions are indeed so rampant in our societies, that many people suffer losses or even poverty unfairly.
,,,I preach to my children only just 2 simple things i.e. honesty and knowledge, you are powerful and bloody rich.

In summary, "the spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom - they are the pillers of society."

Datok, after reading through your blog, I salute you SIR !! Am apolitical by nature and served as a professional soldier (o.k. Pilot) and does not take sides to whom is the political masters, in fact I don't give a rat shit ! All am interested is a fair game with rules to be followed. Just can't play football with rugby rules yaa ??.
,,,about time, we kick some balls ?? hehehe.

Capt.

komando said...

If one wants to see and read the long lists of SCANDALS, my goodness the total will be able to pay off ALL our debts and have surplus to feed the whole country for many many years !

1. PERWAJA
2. BANK BUMI ( TWICE BANKRUPPT! MIND YOU IT MAY BE A WORLD RECORD FOR A BANK TO GO BUST 2 TIMES )
3. MAYBANK - INDON BANK - THEY SAY THE WRONG BUY !
4. THE LEOPARD TANK !
5. RMAF FIGHTERS IN COCOON ( NEVADA DESERT )
6. THE PROTON - EON & ...ITALIAN BIKE MAKER WRONG BUY...ANOTHER MOCKERY !
7. PAPER LOSS - MONEY MARKET BANK NEGARA FIASCO!
8. TABUNG HAJI
9. MANY MILITARY BUYING... OF NO GOOD HARDWARE..
10. MANY THAT WE CANNOT BE TOLD..SILENTLY KEPT AWAY

PKFZ - GOD IS ANGRY..HE WANTS TO SHOW US THE DIRTY HANDS THAT HAVE BEEN PLAYING DIRTY TRICKS & RUNNING AROUND FOR FAR TOO LONG!

komando said...

Not to mention all other deals which are shady..like the YELLOW submarine... !

Many Naval Crafts
Army A-Vehicles
Weapons
Clothing/Webbing
Food & Rations

MINDEF is "THE POT OF GOLD"

Computers - Education Ministry !
Text Books - same people..all cousins and relatives

THIEVES IS a better word!

IF ONLY WE HAD HUDUD WE COULD SEE ALL OF THEM HAND-LESS!
MAYBE THAT IS WHY UMNO BEING A MALAY AND A MUSLIM PARTY CANNOT AND WILL NOT IMPLEMENT HUDUD LAWS!

CHOP CHOP CHOP...UMNO MELAYU MEMANG BOLEH SAHAJA!