The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) is currently investigating whether CMS Cement Sdn Bhd (CMS) has met the license requirements issued and obtained prior permission to increase cement prices.
Its minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (pix) said it had sent a notice to obtain information on the significant difference in the company’s cement prices and that of other industrial players.
This comes following the high cement price issue in Sarawak where CMS holds a monopoly in cement production in the state.
KPDNHEP in a media statement yesterday also said the ministry found that there were several price changes done by CMS in 2011, 2014 and 2016.
Based on data supplied by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and analysis by the Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC), there is a price difference of about 57% for 50kg bags and 40% for bulk cement between Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia
This investigation into the Taib family monopoly over cement through CMS, a former state company that was swiftly ‘privatised’ into their hands, is a dangerous development for the present Governor.
His manipulation and control over this core building material is not only emblematic but connected to his entire plunder and mismanagement of the state. Not only did he grab the monopoly, but he used it to squeeze Sarawakians into paying nearly 70% more in some cases than they needed to.
The state has been scarred by controversial and destructive mega-dams built out of billions of ringgit worth of the inflated product, providing a major incentive for Taib’s decisions to construct them in the first place. The other incentive was the opportunity plunder great swathes of jungle, through concessions given (naturally) in large part to his children.
Start digging into CMS Minister Nasution and you will find yourself reaching into a very extensive web of rent seeking, patronage, self-serving contracts, ever-increasing acquistions of state assets at ludicrously advantageous prices and all the rest. The phenomenon known as gross kleptocracy is encapsulated in CMS and the network of associated concerns owned by Taibs and assorted cronies.
CMS has been handed just about every lucrative contract going in the State of Sarawak and anyone who thinks that the economic grip of the Taib family might have lessened under the administrations of his successors as chief minister need only look at how jobs are still being handed out.
Just this week the massive CMS contract to maintain the majority of roads in the state was again extended. As the Borneo Post put it, ‘Business As Usual’.
Malaysians will recall that share prices at CMS fell off a cliff in the days following the election, as people assumed that the advent of a reforming government must inevitably result in the rapid investigation of Taib and this tainted company.
However, as the weeks went by and the old kleptocrat was regarded as having ‘reached a deal’ with the new administration, confidence returned. Let’s see what this new announcement does to the share price going forward and let’s see how it affects all the other Taib controlled businesses, up till now guaranteed all the plum contracts in the gift of the state government.
Who needs Najib when you already have Taib Mahmud willing to work with any KL government that allows him to continue accumulating wealth, whilst showering enough dedak at the state’s YBs and MPs to keep them fawning and obedient?
Let the investigations begin.