How did Warisan Harta buy the 3,000 lots of NBT?
1998-01-07
More questions await answers in Warisan Harta's curiously
inexplicable purchase of 3,000 lots of North Borneo Timber. It does
not appear to have been bought at the market. The record of deals
done on the stock exchange does not record this large number of
shares on the day the shares were bought. It appears to have been a
private deal. If it was a private deal, what were the compulsions
that required Warisan Harta to "invest" in it? Could it not have
been possible that NBT's Dato' Joseph Ambrose Lee forced the sale on
his former law partner, Dato' Yong Teck Lee? Especially when his
attempt to inject one of his companies into NBT backfired when the
share turned sharply bearish. So far, Warisan Harta's chairman --
one Dato' Yong Teck Lee -- insists his actions were overboard.
If it was a private deal, which on the face it appears to be, there
surely would have been a conditional guarantee against losses. If
there was not, why not? If there was, which bank gave that
guarantee, and what recourse has Warisan Harta for the loss of 90 per
cent of the value of NBT since the purchase, or more than RM80
million? In private deals like these, there is usually a guarantee
to sweeten the pill. Was the conditional bank guarantee, if given,
given before or after the sale was effected? It does appear, on the
little that is availabe, that Dato' Joseph Ambrose Lee was strapped
for cash. The deal enabled him to have the money. Were Dato' Yong
Teck Lee and Dato' Joseph Ambrose Lee ever partners in the same legal
firm?
In any case, these questions and more await answers that are not
forthcoming, with threats of libel actions against any who do demand
answers. Dato' Yong has filed a libel action against a PBS vice
president for his comments on the purchase. But, something clearly
does seem to be wrong. Even Dato' Yong's coalition partners question
the purchase. Or is Dato' Yong suggesting that as chief minister his
actions should be as transparent as clear vision through an opaque
glass, and his probity in public surpasses that of Ceasar's Wife?
M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my
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This archive was created as a tribute to the late veteran
journalist MGG Pillai. We believed his writings are useful to develop a critical
thinking analysis.
By the way, the original mggpillai.com web site (2001-2006) was actually created
by one of us.
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