MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: New Straits Times

Kuala Lumpur, Sat. - Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ling Liong Sik today denied having offered a confidential survey map of the country to a foreign investor in exchange for shares as part of a RM100 million business deal which later turned sour.

"I don't understand why now, after six years, the investor is lodging a police report. I deny any wrongdoing," said Dr Ling who is also MCA president.

He added that he never ran away from the country and questioned New York-based Austrian investor Franz C. Heldwein's timing in lodging a police report against him (Dr Ling) yesterday.

Dr Ling, who earlier this month announced having tendered an undated resignation letter last August, said he did not remember Heldwein. "We meet so many people everyday. I cannot remember if I have met him."

Asked if Heldwein said he would file a suit against Dr Ling and businessman Datuk Soh Chee Wen soon to claim RM100 million following a breach of contract arising from a collapsed business deal.

He alleged he lost the money because a deal to supply black boxes for commercial vehicles in 1997 did not materialise.

Claiming that Soh introduced him to Dr Ling in the Transport Ministry in Wisma Perdana, Damansara, in 1997, Heldwein had alleged that Dr Ling promised to use his "connections and authority" to procure Malaysia's original survey maps.

Based on that, Heldwein said he and his business associates agreed to sell to Dr Ling and his son Hee Leong, a controlling block of Isuta Holdings Bhd shares at 30 per cent below the market values.

Isuta Holdings was a company controlled by Heldwein and his associates.

However, after consulting his lawyers, Heldwein said he felt it would not be prudent to take the survey maps as this would violate the Official Secrets and Internal Security Acts and decided to call off the deal.

Heldwein's revelation came nine days after Soh, Dr Ling's one-time confidante, told a Press conference that he and Dr Ling were business partners in the late 1990s and that the minister used the Transport Ministry and its facilities to conduct business deals.