Posted on 8 November 2011 - 08:37pm
Last updated on 8 November 2011 - 10:10pm

R. Nadeswaran

MORE than a year ago, braving the cold weather on foot for the Tottenham Court Road Tube station, several gems were uncovered in searches conducted at the Companies House where records of all business entities in the UK are archived. Among them were investments made by Malaysians and Malaysian government agencies in local companies. Over the past year, the same route was taken several times to get details of other dubious involvements of Malaysians.
One of the first columns that came out from London involved the Awana Chelsea Restaurant, in which the Tourism Malaysia-owned Pempena Sdn Bhd had a 45% stake. The documents showed the poor state of affairs and that the restaurant was bleeding and on the verge of insolvency. Despite owning such a huge stake, there were no Pempena representatives on the board to help steer it on a winning course. An offer to look into the affairs of the restaurant for a token RM1 sans free meals was rejected. Instead there was talk that the Malaysian High Commission in London was asked to nominate two people to the Awana Chelsea board. This had not been done when a search at the Companies House was carried out two months ago.
After the publication of the column, email and letters were sent to various parties and phone calls were made as if to stifle efforts to bring the matter into the open. When money belonging to the rakyat of Malaysia is used, there’s no reason why anyone should be prevented from having knowledge of how our money has gone down the drain.
These issues were raised once again when I met acting Tourism Malaysia director-general Azizan Noordin at the World Travel Mart last November. Nothing happened. A few exchanges of email with the Tourism Ministry secretary-general Datuk Ong Hong Peng did bring about some desired results. Pempena CEO Datuk Idroes Mohd met me in London in February and gave me a run-down of his plans for the restaurant.
Since an undertaking was given that everything would be off-the-record, it would be unethical to reproduce what was discussed, lest this write be accused of not honouring his word. But the exchange of email with Idroes continued periodically with copies extended to Ong. The last communication from Idroes said that there were no new developments.
Two weeks ago, the Auditor-General’s Report vindicated this writer and confirmed what had been previously published. The report stated: “Pempena’s venture of opening a Malaysian restaurant in London also brought dismal results, raking in only £13,000 in 2007, falling far behind its annual target of £520,692. Pempena has yet to get any returns from its investments worth RM3.73 million.
“To date, the Coca Restaurant has offered to buy over the restaurant for £52,000, but the offer was rejected by Pempena as it was too low.”
Today, after more than a year of bringing shortcomings to the notice of the powers-that-be, the problem has yet to be solved. No one seems to be interested in looking after the assets of the country and they seem to be oblivious to the fact that they have to account for every sen. Even the AG’s report has not jolted them into action and the rejoinder has been: “Investigations are still in progress.”
If this is the case, can someone tell us when investigations will be completed? And shouldn’t the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) be making a trip to London to get the facts?
Doesn’t Section 66 of the MACC Act empower the investigation and prosecution of offences committed abroad? If officials do come, they are sure to open a Pandora’s Box which should keep them busy for a few weeks. By the way, could someone tell us whose bird-brained idea it was to get Tourism Malaysia involved in business when its primary objective is to promote tourism? Let’s not hear the overused and misused cliché – we want to lure tourists through their stomachs!
R. Nadeswaran is frustrated that after a year of exposing the shenanigans, there’s nothing to write home about. He is theSun’s UK correspondent based in London and can be reached at : citizen-nades@thesundaily.com