Open letter to Tan Sri Fong Chan Onn

Dear Tan Sri Chairman,

I think your reply ( http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/10/26/Fong-Allegations-are-utter-lies-Reports-on-sale-of-Stars-assets-spread-with-intention-to-tarnish-ima.aspx ) to the allegations in this blog was so funny, I can’t believe you were a former Minister. But you are from MCA, so it’s okay.

You only beat around the bush but never answer the questions / issues / controversies. You may be able to bluff some people, but not everyone stupid like MCA leaders like to think we are.

You said the Bukit Tunku land was sold to a royalty who is relative of Tunku Abdul Rahman. Do you dare to name that person or his or her company? I bet you won’t dare to. Please do not think Star’s staff does not know about the real story to the deal. If the land not for property development, the owner paying millions to do what? Build Disneyland? Vincent know the whole story. He is part of the conspiracy.

On LiTV, you also never answer why Vincent Lee paid an expensive premium for the stake. RM35 million is a lot of money. That’s over RM20 million more than what it is thought to be worth. Where did the RM20 million go to? Vincent use the kickback to fund CSL to topple Liow Tiong Lai? If divide by 2,500 delegates, one person will get RM8,000. Still a lot of money.

About newsprint, you said the company has been very careful. Then, why is our competitor (like NST) paying average of US$560 per tonne when we pay US$650 per tonne? Ok, you said we didn’t pay US$650 per tonne. So, how much did Vincent pay? Show proof, don’t just talk and try to hide!

Star Chairman who must answer to the corruption in the company

Star also manipulate figures to mislead. We know Vincent issue directive to Finance to magically inflate the profits by factoring in the RM135 million sale of the old office in Section 13, PJ. This is under accounting principles, wrong because the building hasn’t even been built. This is to cover the huge drop in profits from operations.

Enough of this nonsense, Tan Sri. You and I know all this is due to the siphoning taking place right under our noses for political purposes. This unholy partnership of Chua Soi Lek, Vincent Lee and Chun Wai is treating Star like a bottomless ATM machine. But poor Chun Wai gets the smallest portion.

There is only one way to clear the air. Publicise the cash reserves and net tangible assets and compare between Steven Tan, Clement Hii and Vincent Lee. No need to be afraid if you are right.

Say what you like, Steven Tan is tops in terms of building this company into what it is. Now, I am sure he is upset at the destruction and pilferage committed by the corrupted trio who knows no shame.

Thank you.

Chua Soi Lek – Vincent Lee sell heritage asset for obscene profit

My previous posting has created such a stir in The Star. At the coffee machine to canteen to printer room, people are talking about it in hushed tones. They know it is the truth. When staff morale is low, this is what happens.

But I will continue to expose all the wrong doings. As I said, I know a lot of things happening due to having served about 20 years in Star. As a PLC, we have a lot of property. One of them was a property with 3 detached houses sitting on a 2.2 acre land in the elite Bukit Tunku area (people from my era call it Kenny Hills).

The house was used by first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman. He was the chairman of The Star at one point and the place hold historical and heritage value. The Star has owned the place for quite a long time. In fact, for many years, it was the playground for the top bosses. Other people cannot get in, even if you are senior management in Star including Linda Ngiam who was barred from using the place.

And because the land is at a prime or elite area, it fetches very good prices. In 2005, a valuation was done and the property was valued at RM20 million. For many years, The Star has turned down offers to buy the land. Because although we are corporate, we had a sense of social responsibility. We cannot allow a place with heritage and historical value be turned into a commercial enterprise.

In fact, Star directors had agreed to turn the place into a public gallery to showcase Tunku Abdul Rahman’s contributions to this country. It was supposed to be a Corporate Social Responsibility on the part of The Star.

But when Chua Soi Lek and Vincent Lee took over The Star, one of the first things they did was to sell off the property! They don’t care about historical value or sentimental aspect of the building which was once owned and occupied by our father of Independence, Tunku Abdul Rahman.

To add insult, the place was sold at a loss!!! It was sold to Vincent Lee’s friend for only RM15.8 million although easily can sell for RM43 million. Everything was hush hush. So, why did we sell the place below market value? Vincent Lee must answer who pocket the extra. Did CSL ask him to do it? Why do we have to sell the property which got high historical value to a developer which will turn it into a development project? Are we so hard up for money??

CSL got to answer all these queries. Please stop treating Star like your grandfather’s company where you can plunder as you please. You and Vincent do this at the expense of Star workers’ welfare and morale.

Mr Porn Star MCA President, this is not your MCA Bangi land which you can sell to Mah Sing for dirt cheap of RM8 million but pocket the balance through kickbacks. Just like the Bangi land has sentimental value as it was donated by the late Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew for building MCA HQ, this Bukit Tunku land also has sentimental value.

Please stop all these nonsense!!

How about Vincent Lee’s abrasive behavior as boss in the Star and his terrorising staff he doesn’t like? Do you not know how June Wong got promoted to replace Wong Chun Wai? Because she is having affair with Vincent!!

Want to read more in the next posting? Watch out for more!!!

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.