RM81 million for Pos Malaysia to hand out rebates?..Wasted public funds.

I just received an e-mail containing some matters of concern:-

a) Why did Pos Malaysia Berhad (a private company that allegedly will earn 10 sen for every RM10 given out) given the Business of handing back the fuel-rebates to car and motor-cycle owners, and not JPJ or some other government department? From the whole exercise, PMB will allegedly make about RM81 million if all vehicle owners go and take their money.

b) ECM Libra, who just declared a net profit of RM84-4 million compared to RM20.2 million the year before, allegedly directly or indirectly owns a significant stake in PMB. Hence, out of that RM81 million, how much would ECM LIbra get.... (We all remember how our Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, through his one and only son-in-law, was associated to ECM Libra some time back).

c) I do not understand the logic of wasting that RM81million - which is public money, which could have been saved if the JPJ (or some other government department) was used to pay out the rebate.

*** I have attached the said e-mail below, but wish to state that I cannot yet the verify the truth of the said allegations. Hope that the said allegation may lead to some person/s starting out and investigating the matter (or alternatively be something that one of our Wakil Rakyat may want to ask the government...)


"ECM Libra's revenue for the financial year ended January 31 2008 rose to RM205.1 million from RM144.5 million in the same period last year.

Net profit rose to RM84.4 million from RM20.2 million previously.

Executive chairman/chief executive officer Datuk Seri Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan said the group would try to better the fourfold increase in net profit in the coming years. He said although 2008 would be a challenging year given the increasing price of oil and inflation, there would still be opportunities for the group." - Business Times Online 18/6/2008

The said E-mail (truth unverified - could contain untruths or could be all true...)

"...(PMB) through it's acquisition of Avenue Capital Resources in 2006.
That deal left a bitter taste in the mouths of those knowledgeable in
the financial world as it was a clear case of insider's trading. Note
that Khairy Jamaluddin was a Director of Investment in ECM Libra in
2004 before he tendered his resignation after this infamous debacle.
However, Pak Lah's closest crony, Dato' Seri Kalimullah is currently
the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ECM Libra.

Recently, PMB was given the job of giving out the cash rebates to
replace of fuel subsidy. It is quite odd on why JPJ was not given this
role but instead it was given to a postal service company. Instead of
the more efficient and more relevant job function of the JPJ, these
cash handouts responsibility were thrusted into the already
mountainous variety of services PMB had to handle. The only defence
that Pak Lah might see the appropriateness of this move is the many
branches of post offices nationwide which the public can easily have
access.

But now, let's see how Pak Lah and his cronies get extra money out of
this purportedly 'for the rakyat' act of selflessness.

For every transaction, PMB will get 10 sen commission on every RM10 of
that RM625 and RM150 (for cars and motorcycles respectively). That
means, for every transaction, PMB will get RM6.25 for cars and RM1.50
for motorcycles in the form of transaction fees.

There is about 11 million cars and 8 million motorcycles in this
country at the moment. Let's do the math :

RM6.25 x 11 millions = RM68.8 million (for cars)

RM1.50 x 8 millions = RM12 million (for motorcycles)

A cool total of RM81 million for the whole exercise per year. Even if
we use pareto principle and apply the 80/20 ratio, RM65 million (80%
out of RM82 million) would still fall in their hands. And this does
not include the commission from RM200 subsidy to be given to each
fishermen in the country!

With RM117 million already paid out during the first day, I wonder how
much PMB will collect by March 2009. This role was given to PMB and
not JPJ because PMB is a public listed company (read: profit oriented)
while JPJ is government owned entity (read : no cost to public). It's
even funnier that those who own cars 2,000cc and above were told to
claim their RM200 rebate from the JPJ, not PMB. Why is this? Well,
there are not many people with cars above 2,000cc in Malaysia anyway.
And JPJ do not impose any fees.

This cunning way of trying to 'help' the poor while at the same time
enriching one self is very much prevalent in Pak Lah's administration.
What's worse, they are emptying the nation's coffers (from the
Treasury) in the form of cash rebates and transfer a percentage of it
into their own pockets (through fees paid into PMB and ultimately into
ECM's bank accounts).

And that my friends is how the poor get screwed to help the rich get
even richer! (Orang kaya menjadi bertambah kaya kerana orang miskin).

These poor people did not realize that they had helped finance Pak
Lah's cronies indirectly

ECM Libra FInancial Group Berhad has a stake in Pos Malaysia Berhad...."