Do forensic audit in Star Publications!!

This is the new Star Publications logo

I have worked for The Star for over 20 years. It is painful to see where this company is going. We are going to sink further. All this due to the nonsense taking place under the new management brought in by Chua Soi Lek after he become MCA president. Yes, I blame it all on CSL because he is the top man who is responsible for the nonsense in the newspaper.

What Tong Kooi Ong revealed on his blog is only tip of the iceberg. I will expose the details. Let me just quickly list down some of the problems (or is it wrongdoings??) in the newspaper I spent almost my entire working life in. I know a lot of things going on here because I got contacts everywhere in the company.

First, Chua Soi Lek say MCA’s shares in Star has gone up from 41 % to 42%. Since that is the case, he needs to take bigger responsibility in Star. Anyway, the share increased because he bought from open market. Since Star prices is about RM2.40 now, that means MCA’s stake is worth around RM740 million from market cap of RM1.77 billion.

But back before he became president, Star prices were around RM3.50 / share, with a market cap of about RM2.4 billion. Even with 41% stake, it was worth RM984 million. In other words, despite the higher stake now, MCA’s assets in Star is worth LESS by about RM244 million!!

That is how CSL-Vincent Lee plays with words and tries to confuse Star employees, MCA members and the public. This is not the only example. Vincent also manipulate newsprint figures. Everyone knows newsprint is not cheap.

But the price has gone down quite a bit. Belgium, Germany, Sweden and UK have dumped their newsprint in Malaysia since early this year. If that is the case, why Star still paying US$650 per tonne but market rate is is US$580-600. Why pay more? Where the extra money go to? Whose pocket? Whose instructions ? Someone got kickbacks? Vincent please answer!!

Further, The Star also bought LiTV in 2011 at RM35 million for 51% share. Everyone know same channel was offered to KK Eswaran’s ABN Media for RM15 million. What returns come from LiTV? Before buying, did anyone do market research?

Obviously, there was some hanky-panky due to the price difference of over RM20 million. Kickbacks was again given back to CSL via his crony Vincent Lee. LiTV was a poor purchase. Eventually, we bought a stake in a loss-making company, that was already bleeding. You think Vincent’s Tan Sri come cheap?

Yes, Star has made some money. You can check Bursa announcement. But the profit is mostly because we sold our land in my old office in Section 13, PJ. We sold for RM135 million to JAKS Resource. Last year’s Star profit was over RM200 million compared to previous year about RM180 million. But when you minus the property sale, you can see profit is very little compared to the year before.

People in HR also told me Star employing staff for Chua Soi Lek and also Vincent for their own use. Bogus staff in Star is open secret. I don’t want to embarrass them because I still treat Star as my family. All I can say is this: I have worked under many MCA presidents since Star is owned by MCA. But none as worse as CSL.

They use blatantly for personal and political agenda. I know you are the owner and you can do it. But not at the expense of long serving and loyal staff like myself. Look at Star now. AC Nielsen results show Star readership DROPPED to only 1 million this year from 1.2 million before this. This is very bad. Times are bad and money still being siphoned off!

In fact, these are the main reason why Ho Kay Tat left Star. He was being paid RM3.5 million salary but went back to his old job which pay him less than half of what he got from Star because he did not want to be part of these nonsense / blatant abuses. Whereas Wong Chun Wai got promoted because he is complicit in the siphoning that takes place. What can I say… power corrupts!!

My conclusion: Since Chua Soi Lek say MCA’s share in Star rise to 42% from 41%, he need to answer to the low morale in the office due to money being siphoned off for his political agenda. See if he dare to do a forensic audit on the Star asset purchases and financial dealings. If he did nothing wrong, nothing to be afraid. But the hanky-panky is too obvious…

If he dare not, Liow Tiong Lai, should investigate and get to the bottom of this. Liow Tiong Lai should use professional help to uncover the truth and safeguard The Star and not let criminals run loose.