I'm not BN's ATM, says deep pocket MP

Tycoon turned politician Tiong King Sing who has been opening a 'bank vault of worms' regarding his charitable acts towards MCA has denied being a cash dispenser for the ruling coalition.

The 49-year-old politician, who owns a fleet of companies, landed in the spotlight last week with the allegation of having donated RM10 million to MCA through its president Ong Tee Keat.

Since then, Ong has denied the claim, lodged a police report, sent a legal letter and gathered his grassroots leaders, who came armed with banners of support, to explain the issue.

When he came under fire from MCA Wanita chief Chew Mei Fun, the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) treasurer retorted by saying that she too had received money from him.

Yesterday, Tiong revealed to several newspapers that he allowed the MCA-owned TAR College to utilise eight of his four-storey shop lots in Sabah for a nominal rental of RM1 for each unit.

MCA was 'upside down'

The MP's deep pockets and reputation for providing financial aide to his ruling coalition colleagues had earned him the nickname 'BN's Automatic-teller Machine'.

However, Tiong looked surprised when quizzed on this.

"Don't say that... do you know how many Chinese schools that I am helping? What ATM machine?" he said.

Elaborating on the donation to MCA, Tiong said a 'friend' - whom he declined to identify - had asked him to help the party and so he met Ong to discuss the matter.

Tiong said it was necessary to help MCA as the party fared poorly in the last general election and Sabah and Sarawak BN component parties were worried about waning Chinese support in the peninsula.

"They (MCA) were 'upside down' (after the elections). I did it because of BN and the whole nation, especially for the Chinese community," he added.

Tiong said when he met Ong, the MCA president never asked for a specific amount.

To be fair to him, he didn’t ask (for a specific amount). I was the one who offered," he added.

According to Tiong, "three requests of support were made" and he provided "whatever he could afford" on each occasion, bringing the total to RM10 million.

'He's not disabled or a single parent'

He also clarified that the money was not meant for Ong's personal use but to be disbursed to the party.

"Why should I donate money to him? He is not disabled or a single parent. I respect him as a leader. I take it that he knows how to utilise the money for the party," he added.

Tiong also denied that he was trying to curry favour from Ong in his capacity as transport minister in relation to the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project.

The businessman said his company Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, which is linked to the project, had already fulfilled its contractual obligations.

Ong had initiated an audit into PKFZ which found a slew of irregularities, including Kuala Dimensi allegedly inflating claims between RM500 million to RM1 billion.

Detractors claimed that Tiong's revelation about the RM10 million donation was an attempt to deflect attention from the PKFZ fiasco, which the audit report estimated may cost tax payers up to RM12 billion.

Kuala Dimensi has repeatedly cried foul over the Transport Ministry's insistence to go public on the matter as they were never given a chance to defend themselves to the auditors or the committee investigating the PKFZ scandal.

THE TIONG INTERVIEW

Part 1
RM1 rental: Tiong feels 'conned' by MCA

Part 2
I'm not BN's ATM, says deep pocket MP
Q&A: PKFZ sizzled like 'koay teow'