
300,000 COPIES DAILY
Going
gaga over pg19
the lady
Two tenders
for World Expo
contract, says MP
by Tim Leonard
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: The award of a contract to
drug firm Venturepharm Asia Sdn Bhd to build
Malaysia’s pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in
Shanghai has raised more questions, with a
member of Parliament asking why the first
tender process in which Venturepharm did not
participate was cancelled.
Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong, who
first raised questions on Venturepharm in
Parliament last month, told theSun yesterday
that Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen
must explain why she cancelled the first tender
exercise.
“In the first tender opened on March 13 and
closed on April 3, nine companies submitted
proposals. Venturepharm was not on the list,”
he said. “It was opened during Datuk Azalina
Othman’s tenure as tourism minister. But when
the new minister took office, a fresh tender
was opened on May 13 and closed on June 4.
Venturepharm came in only in the second ten-
der and its proposal was not the cheapest.”
He said the decision to award the contract
to Venturepharm was not disclosed to the
public and companies which lost the bid were
notified only later. Wee asked why Venturep-
harm, which has no prior experience in this
field of work, was given the job.
theSun yesterday reported that the Malay-
sian Anti-Corruption Commission was investi-
gating the manner in which the RM19 million
contract was awarded following a complaint.
Wee said the contract was RM19.998 million.
Ng, when contacted last Friday, denied any
political link that could have influenced the
decision to appoint Venturepharm. She also
said that the contract was awarded via an open
tender and she was not involved.
Venturepharm director Chen Oyan Yun
Shai was unavailable for comments as she is
believed to be overseas.
Two losing bidders in the tender contacted
theSun to express their disappointment over
the way the ministry handled the issue.
“We lost some RM80,000 just preparing for
the bidding as we had to pay the architect’s
fee and come up with two sets of proposed
models for the Malaysia Pavilion as we had to
go through the tender process twice,” said a
bidder, who declined to be named.
The World Expo is scheduled for May 1 to
Oct 31 next year.
Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations (Malaysia)
» Saudi princess granted asylum in Britain pg9
Five immigration
officers nabbed
4 OTHER SUSPECTS ALSO HELD FOR INVOLVEMENT IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING
UALA LUMPUR: Nine
K
people, including five Johor
Immigration Department
officers, were arrested in
several locations in the state
since Friday, for alleged involve-
ment in an international human
trafficking syndicate.
The suspects were believed to
have received payments from a
30 SEN for delivery to your doorstep
TELLING IT AS IT IS
syndicate for the “sale” of a group
of people, comprising mostly
Rohingya refugees, as forced
labour in various sectors like the
fisheries industry.
Bukit Aman CID director Datuk
Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin said the po-
lice had been monitoring the activi-
ties of the suspects, aged between
25 and 40, since March this year.
2009 AWARDS
Award winning newspaper
for excellence in
investigative reporting
No. 4806 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)
Tuesday
July 21, 2009
www.sun2surf.com
» Not a box office hit but… pg15
“According to a victim, the
suspects were directly involved in
human trafficking, starting from
the Malaysia-Thai border to the
rat trail believed to be their exit
point to international countries.
“Upon reaching the exit point,
the victims were handed over to
a syndicate before being taken to
a neighbouring country or sent
U!
back to Malaysia to work as forced
labour,” he told a press conference
here yesterday.
The suspects have been
remanded until Friday, and would
be investigated under Section 13 of
the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act
2007 which carries an imprison-
ment for a term which may extend
to 20 years and fine, if convicted.
Bakri said the suspects were
believed to have worked closely
with the syndicate which had been
active since last year, adding that
the police were in the midst of
tracking down syndicate members
and their accomplices.
Last month, the United States
put Malaysia back on its list
of countries suspected of not
doing enough to combat human
trafficking, together with six African
countries, namely Chad, Eritrea,
Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland and
Zimbabwe. – Bernama
Seeking justice ... Mourners
bearing a giant banner lead
political aide Teoh Beng Hock’s
cortege as it heads for the
main road in Alor Gajah en
route to Semenyih for burial
at the Nirvana Memorial Park
yesterday. More than 1,500
people attended the funeral of
Teoh, whose body was found on
the fifth floor of the building in
Shah Alam housing the Selangor
MACC office.
» Stories and pictures
on Pages 2 and 3