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No. 4841 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)

Wednesday
September 9, 2009
TELLING IT AS IT IS www.sun2surf.com

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‘Chan bypassed cabinet’

PKFZ TASK FORCE REPORT ALLEGES
BREACHES BY EX-TRANSPORT MINISTER
by R. Nadeswaran and Terence
Fernandez
citizen-nades@thesundaily.com
ETALING JAYA: Former trans-
Jafzi and to seek Jafzi’s advice before
deciding to enter into the develop-
ment agreement.
Treasury guidelines state that
approval from the Finance Ministry

P port minister Tan Sri Chan Kong

Choy is said to have bypassed the
cabinet and sought approvals for
projects related to the Port Klang Free
Zone (PKFZ) directly from the prime
minister.
This breached a directive by the
cabinet secretary. Besides, he is
alleged to have also ignored
Treasury guidelines by not getting
must be obtained with regards to any
variation orders for sums exceeding
RM20 million. It also requires that ad-
ditional works must be implemented
via an open tender process.
Sources tell theSun that the report
also states that PKA general manager
Datin Paduka O.C. Phang entered
into agreements for additional works
without any proper documenta-

advice from the Ministry of Finance
before approving variation works
to contracts entered into by the Port
Klang Authority (PKA).
Cabinet ministers, who will
receive the report prepared by the
Special Task Force on PKFZ today,
will be informed of how their former
ZULKIFLI ERSAL/THESUN
tion which shows the government
approved that the project, which
was originally meant to be self-
financing, would become
government-financed.
Apparently she had relied on a
letter with the words “saya setuju”
(I agree) from the prime minister,

Curry house wins ‘Mc’ battle

cabinet colleague had kept them in
the dark regarding approval of the
project which eventually led to
colossal losses.
The task force report also accuses
Chan, who did not seek re-election
at the last general election, of not
seeking advice from the Attorney-
General’s chambers on eight key
agreements that PKA entered into
with PKFZ turnkey developer Kuala
Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB).
The report, which will be tabled
at the cabinet by Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak,
also details how Chan had relied on
a one-page letter from then project
manager Jebel Ali Free Zone Inter-
national (Jafzi) to seek the prime
minister’s consent to appoint KDSB
as the turnkey developer and to
develop the project in one phase.
He is also alleged to have failed
to wait for the master plan from
given by Chan to proceed with the
agreements.
The report also states that the
Transport Ministry and PKA ignored
the Finance Ministry’s financial
structure by acquiring the land
compulsorily.
The Finance Ministry had
suggested that the government pay
for the land and lease it to PKA,
with the development cost funded
by government-guaranteed bonds
issued by PKA, subject to certain
conditions including that the award
of development contracts be done by
open tender.
This would have cost the gov-
ernment RM1.2 billion. Instead,
the Transport Ministry and PKA
bought the land directly from KDSB
on deferred payments for RM1.808
billion. (The land was bought when
Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik was the
minister).
PUTRAJAYA: It is the end of the road
for world fast food chain McDonald’s
Corporation’s battle for exclusivity to
use the “Mc” trademark when it failed
to stop Indian restaurant McCurry
Restaurant (KL) Sdn Bhd from using
the prefix.
The Federal Court yesterday
unanimously dismissed McDonald’s
application for leave to appeal against
the Court of Appeal’s findings over
the usage of the prefix ‘Mc’, on the
grounds that the questions posed by
McDonald’s were not properly framed.
Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin
Zakaria, who sat with Federal Court
Judges Datuk Wira Mohd Ghazali Mohd
Yusoff and Datuk James Foong, also
ordered McDonald’s to pay RM10,000
cost to McCurry which has an outlet in
Jalan Ipoh, Bernama reported.
The two questions framed by
McDonald’s were that once the
prefix “Mc” was used by McCurry, the
public in their mind, would associate
McCurry with McDonald’s; and the
usage of “Mc” would reduce the
importance of “Mc” to McDonald’s.
McCurry’s director AMSP Suppiah,
55, (pic) told theSun after the judgment:
“We’re very much relieved the eight-
year saga is over. We have plans to
expand and franchise McCurry locally
and overseas, something I couldn’t do
earlier because of the suit.”
He said McCurry, which opened in
2001, was running the business based
on Indian food and had nothing to do
with the fast food.
McDonald’s had filed a leave
application to appeal after the Court
of Appeal on April 29 ruled it was
wrong to assume that McDonald’s
had a monopoly on the use “Mc”.
The High Court on Sept 7, 2006
ruled in favour of McDonald’s but Mc-
Curry appealed.
McDonald’s, in its statement of
claim, said it created the prefix “Mc”
as a trademark and that its usage of
the prefix, together with the word
“Curry”, McCurry Restaurant, which
was formerly known as Restoran
Penang Curry House, had misrepre-
sented itself as being associated with
McDonald’s business.
McCurry Restaurant, in its defence,
contended that McDonald’s could not
claim monopoly or exclusive rights to
the use of the prefix “Mc” which was
extensively used around the world as
surnames, particularly by people of
Scottish origin.