Loke Defends Ph S Decision To Reimburse Rm555mil To Ltat

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Former transport minister Loke Siew Fook said that he saved LTAT from suffering a loss of RM555 million in a government bailout.PETALING JAYA: A former transport minister has defended the Pakatan Harapan government’s decision to reimburse the armed forces pension fund (LTAT) following claims that the move had cost it to lose billions in potential revenue.
Citing issues of legality, Loke Siew Fook said using LTAT to take over two concession companies, namely Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd and ATES Sdn Bhd, for the Automated Enforcement System (AES) was problematic as the contract did not go through an open tender.
“This basically privatises the role of the road transport department (JPJ) to these two companies.
“The entire project is also problematic from a legal point of view as summons cannot be issued by a private company. Therefore, its legality will be questioned.
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“It’s not true that LTAT can gain anything from this contract,” the DAP secretary-general told FMT.
Earlier today, Najib Razak rubbished Loke’s claims that PH saved LTAT from a loss of RM555 million in a government bailout.
The former prime minister argued that the PH government had in fact denied LTAT yearly profits which could have amounted to billions of ringgit in the long run. In 2018 alone, summonses amounting to some RM169 million were issued, he said.
This was after PH decided to reimburse LTAT, which had initially paid RM555 million to take over the concessions for AES for driving offences.
PH then rebranded AES to the Automated Awareness Safety System (Awas). Under the system, those who drive over the speed limit and run the red light will be hauled to court, instead of being issued a compound.
Loke also asked Najib if it was his plan to generate more profit for LTAT by issuing more summonses to members of the public.
“If he says LTAT can gain billions (of ringgit) from the AES project, it means that you are allowing LTAT to instal thousands of cameras throughout the country so as to issue summons to motorists every day.
“Was that your (Najib) plan, to issue summons to the public?” he asked the Pekan MP.
On Monday, Loke told the Dewan Rakyat that he had saved LTAT from suffering a loss of RM555 million in a government bailout after suggesting for it to be reimbursed over the concessions for the AES driving offences.
He said his Cabinet colleague, Mohamad Sabu, then the defence minister, had agreed with the suggestion.
He had also said that it was Najib, who was the prime minister at the time, who had proposed that LTAT take over AES from the concessionaires for RM555 million.
The Seremban MP said this suggested political interference at the highest level and that Najib was trying to use LTAT funds to resolve problems created by the then government. - FMT

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