Topic: LYNAS Waste Disposal Site
Coverage by: Free Malaysia Today
PETALING JAYA: An anti-corruption watchdog group has raised concerns over royal and political links behind a company in charge of developing a RM400 million industrial waste site in Pahang.
The Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) questioned the choice of the company, Gading Senggara Sdn Bhd, as the contractor for the Multi-Category Industrial Scheduled Waste Disposal Site on 202.35 hectares of land at Bukit Ketam, Pahang.
C4 said a Malaysiakini report had listed the Pahang Regent, Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah, and Bentong Umno vice-chief Johari Harun, as being shareholders of Gading Senggara.
However, they had relinquished their shares in Gading Senggara by Feb 17, the group said, quoting company records from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM).
“The obvious ties to political and royal actors also present a very real cause for concern,” said C4.
It also questioned the appointment of Gading Senggara, given its financial history.
“In financial reports for the year ending June 2018, submitted two years late to SSM in May 2020, the company’s retained earnings appears to be negative, it had no revenue, and it incurred a loss after tax.”
Despite being listed as a government-appointed concessionaire for industrial waste disposal, Gading Senggara was not listed among the Environment Department’s licensed scheduled waste facilities or transporters, C4 said.
“Why was a company with questionable financial viability and limited public information selected for such a large-scale project involving hazardous waste?”
Lynas, which operates its rare earths processing plant at Gebeng, Kuantan, announced in late January that the Pahang government had consented to a site at Bukit Ketam for a permanent disposal facility for water leach purification residue.
