Corporate heavyweight Halim Saad did not have his arm twisted into taking over a toll concession company, he had allegedly wanted it for a long time.

Responding to the businessman's assertion of being forced into the deal, former Syarikat Teratai (KG) Sdn Bhd (now known as Metramac Corporation) project advisor Muhamad Fawzi Abdul Karim said this was not entirely true.

"Our records show that he was in fact interested in the project since the concession was awarded to STKG in 1987. He was eyeing STKG all along," he said.

Fawzi, the brother of then STKG director Fawziah Abdul Karim, stated this in a letter to The Sun newspaper published today under the title 'Response to Halim Saad'.

Last week, Halim had denied, via a nine-page media statement, of his involvement in the Metramac scandal, which also saw the name of former finance minister Daim Zainuddin dragged in.

The scandal came to light in a recent Court of Appeal judgment on the Fawziah Holdings Sdn Bhd vs Metramac Corporation Sdn Bhd case.

Halim and his ex-partner Anuar Othman were accused of siphoning RM32.5 million from Metramac.

According to Halim in his statement, the RM32.5 million was a 'reimbursement' by the government after he was 'urged' to take over the troubled STKG. He also attached a 1992 letter from the secretary general of the Works Ministry to back his case.

Share value skyrockets

In retrospect, Fawzi said STKG had won the concession to design, build and operate certain toll roads in Kuala Lumpur through an open tender invitation by Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL).

Five companies, namely STKG, Halim's UEM, GKM, Pernas and Hashbudin participated in the said tender invitation, he added.

The bid was evaluated by a steering committee comprising the Treasury, Economic Planning Unit, the Public Works Department and DBKL, which then awarded the concession to STKG.

According to him, Halim had participated in the tender through UEM but was unsuccessful.

After the concession was awarded to STKG, he claimed that Halim had on various occasions approached Fawziah to persuade her to allow UEM to take up equity in STKG or sell her shares in the company to UEM.

"Through a series of various meetings with Fawziah, the last being July 1990, where a copy of the information memorandum was forwarded and handed to him, Halim was aware that STKG was a profitable company and to say that he was 'arm-twisted' to take over STKG is incredulous," he said.

Fawzi also claimed that since the takeover of STKG in January 1991 by Halim, things did not stand still.

"In August 1993, Halim (through Metro Juara) injected the shares of Metramac via a reverse takeover scheme of Metacorp in exchange for 70,000,000 new Metacorp shares at RM2.50 per share.

"The monetisation (making the shares more liquid and easy to sell) of Metramac's shares via the reverse takeover of Metacorp's shares in the KLSE resulted in the value of Halim's 70,000,000 shares in Metacorp (at a conservative price of RM6.40) to be worth RM488,000,000," he added.

He alleged that Halim through the corporate exercise with Metacorp saw his share value go up 11 times in just a brief period of two years.

According to him, the figures do not bear out the suggestion that STKG was taken with reluctance and that Metramac was not a 'bankable' company as claimed by the tycoon.

"There is, therefore, absolutely no justification for public funds to be used to pay RM32.5m to Metramac or Metro Juara, which are companies controlled by Halim for his private investment," he added.

'Paragraph omitted'

Fawzi also claimed that Halim (left), in his press statement, did not produce the entire content of the letter dated Feb 13, 1992, from the Ministry of Works.

"The relevant part of the letter which is not reproduced sets out the condition for the payment of the RM32.5 million," he added.

According to Fawzi, the omitted paragraph reads:

Walaubagaimanapun pembayaran tersebut akan hanya dibuat selepas tuan mendapatkan persetujuan bertulis daripada peminjampeminjam tuan membatalkan perjanjian konsensi asal serta segala hak-hak dan tuntutan di bawah perjanjian itu pada atau sebelum 31.3.1992.

When this letter is examined in full, Fawsi said it will be seen that the note in the audited accounts of Metramac for the financial year 1992 as referred to by Halim in his press statement is incorrect.

The notes to Metramac's Accounts for the year ended March 31, 1992 stated that:

"The government of Malaysia has agreed (via their letter dated Feb 13, 1992) and has paid an amount of RM32.5 million to the Concession Company on the condition that the Concession Company pay the premium to the shareholders of the Company."

This is not found in the letter dated Feb 13, 1992 from the Ministry of Works, he noted.

STKG, stressed Fawzi, was successfully set up by his sister before it was taken over by Metro Juara.

"The success of Metramac was achieved through my sister's sheer hardwork, coupled with blood, sweat and tears.

"My sister was devastated, just like a mother who loses a child, after the takeover. It took her some 15 years to see justice being carried out," he said.