MOH's Gang of Four- memo to KSN, Part 1

Tan Sri Mohamad Sidek bin Haji Hassan is the KSN. He is Chief secretary to the government. He enjoys the stature of a cabinet minister. Small in physical stature but a giant in resolve.

He comes from a humble background. He was born in Kampung Cherok Paloh located on the border between Kuantan and Pekan. He was a studious fellow. During his younger days, he would paddle his dug out perahu to collect buah kuini- akin to mangoes, across the river, in Kampung Sawah.

I want to assume that he has been brought up nurtured with noble values- hard work, trust and honesty. Doing things right. Righting wrongs. I hope he has not forgotten his kampong roots. Once when he was staying in the Ahmad High School Hostel in Pekan, he kept staring at the ceiling fan- he has never seen one before. That’s how unadulterated he was. Again I hope, good living has not spoilt his basic untainted values.

So, when he appeared before TV with the slogan of walk the talk and talk the walk, I was very optimistic. God knows, the civil service needs a firm leadership. More so, when one realises, that the civil service remains the depository for mediocre talent and as this article will show, also of crooks and nut cases. Example:-

Failure to provide business plans
Failure to establish company policy and procedure
Failure to establish company strategic direction
Failure to provide financial budgets
Failure to distinguish between grant and income.
Failure to provide supporting documents for expenses.
Failure to comply to limits of authority.
Failure to seek board approvals for 6 Variation Orders (VO).
Failure to seek board approvals before awarding contracts.
Failure to carry out financial due diligence before signing agreement
Failure to manage the company due to too many payments made to external consultants
Failure to establish clear scope of works for appointed consultants.
Failure to manage and incorporate internal controls
Failure to comply treasury rules and regulations
Failure to cooperate with the board of directors
Failure to manage staffs and company resources
Failure to focus on business development
Failure to seek board approvals for taking leave and travel (52 days in 2007)
Failure to provide reports and update for overseas travel (no justification and purpose)

I thought these are tomfooleries of a typical class F contractor. Actually, these were committed by a medical doctor!. Now, who’s mental?

Tan Sri Sidek must now walk the talk and wield his stick or dick or both. Every public spirited citizen in this country wants to know what actions has he taken or plan to take against the persons who screwed up taxpayers’ money in a scam involving the Ministry of Health. There appears to be a crime and serious offence committed by the former CEO of a company called 9Bio Sdn Bhd. The CEO is one Datuk Dr Nor Shahidah Khairullah. It appears that in executing the dastardly act of screwing up the government’s money, she was aided and abetted by a few other people in the MOH.

Nine Bio Sdn Bhd proposed to the government to build a manufacturing facility producing halal vaccine. Strange, but anything relating to Allah is almost always more expensive than the same product, where Allah is not involved explicitly. Perhaps by inserting Allah’s name in any undertaking, infuses halal into it. Taking bribes is halal if done by saying Allah Akabar. Screwing up China Dolls is halal if its considered a sedekah.

A few people high up in the Ministry of Health lobbied the Prime Minister into approving a fast track RM 350 million projects to set up a halal vaccine production facility. It was just the start of another financial scam. Halal vaccine production has been given top priority as an area for collaboration among member countries, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the official launch of the Kuala Lumpur OIC. Health Ministerial Conference 2007 on 14 June 2007. In his keynote address, the Prime Minister identified the Malaysian National Institute for Natural Products, Vaccines and Biologicals (9bio) as the focal point for R&D and the front-line agency to promote further self-reliance in vaccine production. Expressing concern for the high rate of infant and child mortality, Abdullah said “Deaths due to diseases such as measles, malaria and respiratory infections – could have been averted and prevented.” Calling it a public health tragedy that confronted Muslim nations, Abdullah urged religious leaders to mobilise communities to ensure access to childhood vaccination and to alleviate fears about effects of vaccines. In addition, he said, areas of common interest among OIC nations included influenza preparedness during Haj pilgrimages, global polio eradication, malaria, HIV./AIDS, biosecurity, emerging infectious diseases, international health regulations, and others.

That was to become a license for a group in the MOH to perpetrate an elaborate scam, all under the name of Halal and something urgent in the name of Allah.

9bio got the license from the government. It becomes a GLC that’s suppose to carry out feasible businesses related to health industry. Like almost all other GLC it roped in a technology partner. That itself is OK, because you bring in people with knowhow. I am not going to argue with the wisdom of bringing in a technology partner. For that purpose 9bio brought in Emergent BioSolutions.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc is a multinational biopharmaceutical company which develops, manufactures and commercializes immunobiotics, consisting of vaccines and therapeutics that assist the body’s immune system to prevent or treat disease and other medical conditions. The company’s product, BioThrax, is the only vaccine approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of anthrax infection.

Dr Nor Shahidah said 9Bio would ensure that BioThrax and other vaccines and products jointly manufactured and supplied in Malaysia and OIC countries were endorsed by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) as halal. She said they would be registering BioThrax with the Drug Control Authority soon.

But who is to build the manufacturing plant? Enter Ekovest Bhd. The project was secured on a turnkey-basis by Ekovest Bhd a public listed company. Now of course Ekovest is not in the business of manufacturing health products; its forte is enhancing its financial health. The management of 9bio acted in concert with the managing director of Ekovest Bhd Datuk Lim Kang Hoo to inflate the project cost into an expensive development project of RM 1.9 billion.