The Third Force: Here’s the thing – Right after Pakatan Harapan won the 14th general election (GE14), Dr Mahathir Mohamad insisted that the national debt was RM1 trillion despite the actual figure being less than RM700 billion. He went on to add that the Debt-to-GDP ratio, which was then 50.8%, had breached the 80% mark and was almost bankrupting the country. His statements and those of Lim Guan Eng frightened a large number of local and foreign investors off.
The minute these investors fled, our share prices spiralled downward and afforded Mahathir’s cronies the luxury of picking them up at dirt cheap prices. One of these cronies was none other than Tan Sri Vincent Tan, the guy behind Magnum Corporation and the local gambling scene. A report published by both The Third Force and Malaysia Today yesterday revealed that the gambling tycoon snapped up 22.2 million of Syarikat T7 Global’s shares between the 15th of May to the 18th of May 2018. Then, all of a sudden, we were told that the ECRL project, which was previously announced as scrapped, was for some reason or other, on.
In a bolt from the blue, the government increased the cost required by Syarikat T7 Global to run the project from RM55 billion to RM70 billion. What this means, is that Vincent’s entry ballooned the cost up by a whopping RM15 billion for absolutely no rhyme or reason. Question is, will that RM15 billion now end in Vincent coffers before wending it’s way into PPBM’s war chest?
PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad denied today claims that his government had decided against scrapping the East Coast Rail Line project because his friend Tan Sri Vincent Tan has a stake in it.
Dr Mahathir said he has no knowledge of Tan’s involvement, and maintained that the decision to keep the project going for now was purely a fiscal policy decision.
“I don’t know about it maybe you should ask him,” he replied when asked about the matter at a press conference here.
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