Police uncover syndicate stealing, shipping cars

Police here have uncovered a syndicate stealing and shipping cars overseas via containers following the seizure of four 4WD vehicles in two containers in North Port.

Selangor CID chief Senior Assistant Commissioner II Mazlan Mansor said the four Toyota Hilux vehicles, estimated at RM360,000, were found in two separate containers when a police team with the help of the Customs Department raided the North Port yard on Jan 18.

Two men, aged 20 and 33, were detained on Jan 21 in the Klang Valley in connection with the thefts.

One of the vehicles was reported stolen on Jan 17 in Subang Jaya, while the three others were stolen in Johor and Malacca on Jan 14 and 15.

SAC Mazlan said police were questioning the suspects and trying to trace the head of the syndicate.

He said the stealing and shipping activities were so quick that the vehicles were already in containers in Port Klang ready to be shipped just one day after they were stolen.

“Their main modus operandi was to transport the vehicles through forwarding agents.

“The vehicles are to be shipped out through the port to Dubai,” he said.

Source: The Star
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No automatic parole for prisoners

PUTRAJAYA: The long-awaited parole for prisoners will be implemented beginning this July, Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow said.

He said a total of 2,388 prison inmates would be eligible for it but they still had to apply for their release on parole to the Parole Board that would convene thrice a year.

"There is no automatic release of prisoners on parole though under the law (Prisons Act [Amended]) some 10,000 inmates could qualify for it this year," he said.

He said of the 10,000 inmates the Prisons Department found only 2,388 ready to be released on parole.

"Those who are not fully rehabilitated would not be released or considered for parole," he said, adding that the parole period for any inmate would only be the remaining one sixth (1/6) of the inmate's jail term.

Fu said a total of 667 prison officers would be trained to supervise inmates released on parole.

He said those on parole would also be monitored by the police from time to time to ensure they did not breach their parole conditions.

"Those who breach the parole conditions will be sent back to prison," he told a press conference at his office on Thursday. Also present were the Internal Security Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof and Prison director-general Datuk Mustafa Osman.

He also said those convicted for sexual offences and serving life or death sentence or detained under the pleasure of the state Rulers, King or Governor would not be eligible for parole.

Fu called on the public to give their fullest co-operation in accepting those on parole back into society.

Prison director-general Datuk Mustafa Osman later said that parole officers would be unarmed and wear a new set of uniform (light blue shirt and dark pants) when meeting inmates on parole.

"We don't want the public to be suspicious and also shed the hard appearance depicted by the normal uniform," he said.

Mustafa said the parole system had been adopted from Australia's system and it would eventually reduce overcrowding in prisons and save up to RM20mil from the current operating cost of RM394mil a year.

"We have selected a total of 50 centres nationwide to implement the parole system that is also aimed at reducing repeat offenders, by providing a comprehensive rehabilitation programme," he said.

Source: The Star
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Man in video clip knew official secrets

KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the V.K. Lingam video clip was left wondering as to how the man in the clip knew “official secrets” privy only to the Prime Minister, Chief Justice and Chief Secretary to the Government.

Commissioner Datuk Mahadev Shankar pointed out during the testimony of former Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Samsudin Osman that the “man in the video” knew the details of a letter sent by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed to the then Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah regarding the nominations of High Court judges.

Samsudin, the sixth witness in the inquiry, was testifying on the correspondence in late 2001 between himself, Dr

Mahathir and Dzaiddin on a list of proposed candidates for the appointments

These correspondence, he said, were official secrets that even ministers and deputy ministers had no access to.

In his testimony, Samsudin said the names of two lawyers originally proposed by Dzaiddin were dropped along the way.

Mahadev, who clarified with the witness on the date of this omission, pointed out that the man having the telephone conversation in the controversial video clip already knew about the matter 15 days later.

According to the transcript, the man in the video clip said in a telephone conversation:

“Then, there is a letter. It ... according to Tengku, I'm going to see him tomorrow, there is a letter sent to ... ah ... CJ ... ah I mean to Tan Sri Dzaiddin that Datuk Heliliah, Datuk Ali ... and Datuk Ramly Datuk Ramly and Datuk Maarop be made judges, ... and aa ... he rejected ah ... that Dr Andrew Chew and apa itu Zainudin Ismail lah because Zainudin Ismail who condemned your appointment and Tan Sri Mohtar's appointment.”

Mahadev: By Dec 5 (2001), the rejection of the two names (Dr Andrew Chew Peng Hui and Zainudin Ismail) were already an established fact. The event had already taken place and the only people who knew were the parties to the correspondence?

Samsudin: Yes.

Mahadev: Allegedly on Dec 20, 2001, according to the video clip, Dr Andrew Chew and Zainudin Ismail had been rejected. How did he (the man in the video) come to know about it?

Samsudin: I honestly don’t know. But I assure you whatever in the Cabinet we guard very closely. Security there is very, very tight.

Mahadev: If it is so tight, how it is that somebody can mention in the video clip something so confidential?

Samsudin: I’m puzzled too.

Mahadev: If he knows this, he might know a lot of other things too.

Samsudin: I don’t know. That’s the simple answer.

Mahadev: You can’t speculate?

Samsudin: I don’t even know this gentleman.

Earlier, Samsudin testified that Dzaiddin wrote to Dr Mahathir in October 2001 regarding the proposal to appoint five individuals as High Court judges.

He said Dr Mahathir forwarded the list – comprising the names of then Solicitor-General Datuk Heliliah Mohd Yusof, judicial commissioners Datuk Ramly Ali and Datuk Ahmad Maarop, and lawyers Dr Chew and Zainudin – to him to ask for his opinion.

“I asked the Attorney-General for input on the first three names. I also noticed that several judicial commissioners had been appointed at the same time as the proposed two.

“So I forwarded the names of these judicial commissioners together with the original list back to the Prime Minister for him to decide,” he said.

Samsudin said Dr Mahathir then wrote to Dzaiddin on Dec 5, 2001 and consented to the candidacy of Heliliah, Ramly and Ahmad.

“He also proposed to the Chief Justice for two more candidates to be selected from the list of five serving as judicial commissioners,” he said.

When commissioner Tan Sri Steve Shim asked why Dr Chew and Zainudin’s names were dropped, Samsudin replied that he did not know the reason.

The witness then said that Dzaiddin subsequently wrote to Dr Mahathir on Jan 11, 2002 to thank him for consenting to the appointment of the first three names he had proposed.

He said the Chief Justice also asked the Prime Minister to reconsider the two lawyers.

“But in a letter dated January 2002, the Prime Minister chose to nominate Datuk Sulaiman Daud and (Datuk) V.T. Singam for the appointments and refused the other two lawyers’ names,” he said.

Samsudin, who said he did not know Lingam, added that he had only seen the segment of the video clip shown on television.

He said he knew business tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan as he often met people from the private sector in the course of his work.

As for Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Samsudin, who is now Putrajaya Corporation president, said he knew him because he had been a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department before becoming a minister.

“I interact with him a lot nowadays because he is the Putrajaya MP and Tourism Minister,” he said.

Source: The Star
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Teaching community concerned about missing girl

IPOH: The Education Ministry is looking into the possibility of installing closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) to beef up security in view of the recent child kidnapping cases.

Referring to the case of the missing five-year-old Sharlinie Mohd Nashar, Education Director-General Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom on Monday said, "Schools that can afford to install CCTVs should do so at strategic areas of their compounds."

He said the proposal to install CCTVs had been discussed at the ministerial level and he hoped the ministry could obtain some allocation for them.

The move was among several other measures proposed at a two-day management meeting here attended by state education directors, senior education officers and 26 teachers' unions.

Last week, Sharlinie was reported missing while playing about 200m from her house in Taman Dato Harun in Petaling Jaya.

She was the second child to be reported missing in the Taman Medan area after a six-year-old girl had been abducted while playing about 2km from where Sharlinie had disappeared.

The other girl was located a few hours later in Wangsa Maju, Setapak.

Alimuddin said the disappearance of Sharlinie had caught the attention of the teaching community.

"We understand the concern of parents for the safety of their children, particularly when they are travelling to and from school," he said.

He added that the ministry would remind all school heads to take extra precaution to ensure the safety of the pupils.

School heads had been instructed to remind pupils of the need to safeguard themselves such as not to trust strangers and to refrain from receiving gifts or getting into the cars of strangers, he said.

He also urged school heads to discuss with members of the Parent-Teacher Association, non-governmental organisations and the local community on measures to boost security.

Source: The Star
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Johor MIC deputy chief Krishnasamy killed by hitman

JOHOR BARU: Tenggaroh state assemblyman Datuk S. Krishnasamy was shot dead point blank by a gunman in a lift at the state MIC headquarters in Jalan Segget here.

The State MIC deputy head was shot once below the left eyebrow, a mark of a professional hitman. The bullet went through to the back of his head.

Police are looking at all angles and have not ruled out political or business rivalry, or even money lending and gangsterism as motives.

The brutal murder occurred at 2.30pm just as Krishnasamy arrived at the party headquarters for a committee meeting and had entered the lift.

The killer is said to have followed him in and shot him while they were in the lift.

Eyewitnesses saw a man, dressed in a black shirt and jeans, running away from the building carrying a package and a helmet. He then rode off towards Jalan Wong Ah Fook on a red motorcycle.

Johor Police Chief Deputy Comm Datuk Hussin Ismail told a late night press conference that the suspect was in his 30s, medium-built, about 152cm tall and was an Indian.

Cops have thrown a dragnet around the state to prevent the killer from escaping as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi expressed his outrage and demanded that the killer be caught quickly.

Source :Bernama
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IOI Prop unit buys Singapore land for condo project

PETALING JAYA: IOI Properties (S) Pte Ltd (IOIP), a wholly owned unit of IOI Properties Bhd, together with its joint venture partner, Ho Bee Investment Ltd, have successfully tendered for a 5.3-acre land parcel in Singapore’s Sentosa Cove, for S$1.097bil cash.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, IOI Properties said a new joint venture company, Pinnacle (Sentosa) Pte Ltd, which is 65%-owned by IOI Properties, had been set up to acquire the land and undertake its development into an upmarket condominium project.

The 99-year leasehold land parcel under the Pinnacle Collection has a maximum permissible gross plot ratio of 2.6.

The site would have a condominium of up to 20 storeys, the tallest building in Sentosa Cove. The maximum number of units allowed in the development is 357, while the maximum permissible gross floor area is 602,359 sq ft.

When completed, the project will offer panoramic views of the South China Sea, the Southern Islands, Tanjong golf course and the city skyline.

The site is the final piece of condominium land to be launched by Sentosa Cove. Pinnacle Collection is one of the two condominium parcels flanking the entrance of the marina leading into Sentosa Cove.

Ho Bee is also the joint-venture partner of IOIP for the successful tender and acquisition in March last year of a 3.6-acre parcel under the Seaview Collection in Sentosa Cove.

A luxury condominium development comprising two eight-storey apartment blocks of 151 units of various sizes is being planned on the site, and sales are expected to commence in the first half of the year.

A company spokesman said the two developments in Sentosa Cove would start contributing to IOI Properties from the next financial year ending June 30, 2009.

He said the designs for the Pinnacle condominiums were still being finalised. The residences would have an average built-up area of 2,000 sq ft.

Going by the existing market price of between S$2,000 and S$3,000 per sq ft for recent condominium projects in Singapore, the Pinnacle Collection project can expect to generate a gross development value of close to S$2bil while the Seaview project will gross around S$1.25bil.

In the statement, IOI Properties said Singapore was chosen as a platform for the group’s regional diversification as properties in the republic were presently one of the most sought after in the region.

“Our association with luxury landmark developments in Sentosa Cove will enhance the IOI Properties brand name and reputation as a luxury quality homes developer not only in Malaysia and Singapore, but also in the larger South-East Asia region,” it added.

-- BERNAMA

Source :Bernama
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MIC To Set Up Council Of Hindu Temples

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 (Bernama) -- The MIC will set up a Council of Hindu Temples in every state to protect the temples and resolve their problems through the state governments, MIC president Datuk Seri S.Samy Vellu said Saturday.

The formation of the council comes just weeks after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi instructed Samy Vellu to list the number of temples in the country and identify their problems.

Samy Vellu, who is Works Minister, said the council would be chaired by the state executive councillors from the MIC or the state party chiefs.

"The MIC considers the demolition of temples as a very serious political matter and it requires consultations from various parties," he said in a statement.

As such, the council would be tasked with several functions, among others, to safeguard temples and to protect the integrity of the Hindu religion; to register temples which comply with the requirements; and to obtain permanent and suitable alternative sites for temples.

Samy Vellu said that if a temple was found to have been built on private or government land, the council would seek an alternative and suitable site for it.

"The council will also ascertain that the plans for all the temples have been submitted to the local authorities to prevent future problems. The council will get the approval for the plans once they have been submitted," he said.

However, it would not interfere in the running of the temple or its administration, he added.

The council, he said, would list the number of temples in a locality and compile the problems faced by these temples.

The first meeting on the formation of the council was held in Perak last Dec 27, attended by 750 temple heads and chaired by Samy Vellu.

He said the Selangor MIC organised another meeting yesterday attended by Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Khir Toyo and more than 1,000 temple heads.

"I will chair another meeting of temple heads from the Federal Territory on Jan 13," he said, adding that many cases of temple demolitions are confined to Kuala Lumpur.

Samy Vellu said that without political support, the fate of temples, especially those built illegally would be in limbo.

-- BERNAMA



Source :Bernama
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FOREX: Ringgit To Appreciate Further Next Week

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 (Bernama) -- The ringgit is expected to strengthen further against the greenback next week amid rising concerns on a possible cut in the U.S. interest rate, dealers said.

They said traders believed that the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut the U.S. interest rate this quarter to boost the economy.

Dealers said the uncertain situation in the U.S. economy will continue to pressure the dollar but favour the ringgit and if the trend continues, the local unit is likely to breach the 2.7 level to a U.S. dollar next week.

One of the dealers said the uptrend of the local unit was also related to the strengthening of China's yuan after its government pledged to maintain a tight monetary policy this year.

The yuan touched 7.2930 to a U.S. dollar last week, the strongest since its depegging in 2005.

The market was closed on Tuesday for the New Year holiday.

During the week just ended, the ringgit marked a 10-year high against the US dollar on Thursday at 3.2885/2915, the strongest since November 1997.

It retained the strong note on Friday, closing at 3.2800/2840 against the dollar compared with last week's quotes of 3.3160/3210.

Against other major currencies, it was higher against the Singapore dollar at 2.2868/2914 from 2.2916/2943 the week before but was lower against the Japanese yen at 2.9987/3.0038 from 2.9270/9301 previously.

The ringgit also appreciated against the pound sterling to 6.4642/4731 from 6.6177/6250 and against the euro to 4.8299/8361 from 4.8583/8663 the Friday before.

-- BERNAMA

Source :Bernama
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