NO WATER CRISIS OR SHORTAGE IN SELANGOR! RUBBISH SPIN BY NAJIB/UMNO/BN. NAJIB/SPAN/SPLASH AT FAULT!

by E.S. Shankar, Donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for aquatic affairs

These are the FACTS:

1. SPLASH - Syarikat Pengeluaran Air Sungai Selangor Sdn. Bhd. was awarded a 30-year concession to build, operate and maintain a water plant in 2000 by the Selangor state government, which at that time, was under UMNO/BN. This SPLASH plant is called SSP3.

(a) Its shareholders are:

(i) 40% - Gamuda Plc (quoted on KLSE).

ii) 30% - Sweet Water Alliance Sdn. Bhd., controlled by Wan Azmi bin Wan Hamzah.

(iii) 30% - Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor (KPS), owned 100% by Selangor state government. 

(b). So, 70% control of SPLASH (Gamuda/Wan Azmi) lies in the hands of UMNO cronies who were given a sweetheart 30-year concession deal expiring in 2030. How sweet? They had invested $400 million, and by 2012, recovered $725 million in dividends!!! KPS is, therefore, a minority shareholder and passive investor. It does not have voting or board of directors control.

2. SYABAS - Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn. Bhd. is owned 100% by the Selangor state government. It's job is to purchase treated water and/or operate water plants and supply treated water to consumers in the State.

3. The recent 4-day water interruption in Selangor, affecting Shah Alam in particular, occurred because of failures at the SPLASH-owned SSP3 plant operated AND maintained by SPLASH. IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH SYABAS/SELANGOR STATE GOVERNMENT.

4. It transpires that SPLASH had not carried out repair on three pumps since 2016. A fourth faulty pump exploded after repairs and during the re-activation process, causing injuries to 5 workers. The following newspaper reports are proof of that:

(a) CLICK HERE. 'SPLASH to blame for extended water disruption'.

(b) CLICK HERE. 'Should concession deal with SPLASH be axed'.

(c) CLICK HERE. 'Don't blame state government for water supply disruption, says Azmin.'

(d) CLICK HERE. 'Azmin: If you dare, blame PM Najib for Selangor water cuts.'

5. SPLASH BUYOUT

(a) SYABAS has been in discussion since 2008 to buy out SPLASH.

(b) SPLASH is asking for $4 billion or $2.5 billion net of loans.

(c) Ex-Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim had offered to buy out SPLASH for $250 million, net of loans. This was not unreasonable since SPLASH was a sweetheart deal from which UMNO cronies had profited astronomically. Predictably, SPLASH had rejected that offer as "derisory"!

(d) SYABAS and the Selangor government hold a trump card in that they can legally terminate SPLASH for its poor maintenance record and debt. Click below for details of SPLASH valuation and sale offers.

CLICK HERE. 'The SPLASH issue explained'.

CLICK HERE. 'SPLASH In The Offing'.

CLICK HERE. 'Federal Govt Urged To Terminate SPLASH'.

6. Why blame Najib? Because:

(a) He and UMNO/BN's spindoctoring machinery spun into action and pointed the fingers at Selangor Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) Azmin. They manufactured a "crisis" where none existed.

(b) There is no water shortage or crisis in Selangor. All the dams are full and Selangor has just completed the $177 million Semenyih Water Treatment Plant in Dengkil!

(c) Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara (SPAN) or The National Water Services Commission, is a super-Quango created by Najib & UMNO in 2008. It has been negligent in monitoring SPLASH's maintenance lapses. But then, what can we expect from Quangos like SPAN and SPAD, comprising numerous committees. As we all know, a camel is a horse created by a committee.

7. In the final analysis, we know that Najib was really scraping the bottom of the barrel when he thought he had quite wittily replied to Azmin's question on wastage and opportunity cost lost in his debt interest budget of $31 billion, by saying:

" The water situation in Selangor is even more critical." CLICK HERE.

This is among the lows we have hit with serial liars and 1MDB/SRC $46 billion and ECRL $55 billion defrauders, looters and plunderers like Najib and his UMNO/BN government of thieves, as:

(a) The Selangor water interruption, caused by UMNO cronies' negligence, was never a crisis or critical. It was resolved in about 4 days! There was NEVER any water shortage.

(b) Last week, the US Department of Justice confiscated the $1 billion yacht 'Equanimity' owned by Jho Low and his family, in Indonesia. It also announced that Najib's step-son and Rosmah's on Riza Azizi, had agreed to pay a fine of US$60 million= RM240 million,  with no admission of guilt, stemming from kleptocracy and money-laundering charges. Both relate to money looted from 1MDB by Najib, Jho Low, Rosmah and Riza Aziz.

Yet 1MDB's Chairman, directors and CEO, the MoF, Najib, his Ministers and UMNO have the cheek to maintain the fiction that no money/asset is missing from 1MDB or that any fraud had occurred there. Astonishingly, the IGP rushed in with indecent haste to declare that there was no connection between the Equanimity and Jho Low.

How on earth could the water supply interruption in Selangor be remotely compared with Najib's 1MDB multi-billion ringgit national crisis?

Oh, how they will lie while wearing Islam on their sleeves!

Public flogging and castration may not be sufficient punishment for this government of thieves!