Cancellation of the ECRL project need not cost too much;if anything at all: Any third rate lawyer could have told Guan Eng so..

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Newly appointed Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng insists that the ECRL cannot be cancelled, because RM 20 Billion has already been paid, despite hardly any work being done.Elsewhere it has been reported that some RM 22 Billion is payable in penalties if the contract is cancelled, to the lender Exim Bank of China.
Malaysian Insight reported:
Even more onerous is the contract with Exim Bank of China. The loan with the financial institution has no termination clause and termination of the contract results in a default of the loan that needs to be repaid within 30 business days.


Any third rate lawyer could have advised Lim Guan Eng that there is enough there to not have to worry about penalties.


However,before we go there; let us not forget that the ECRL contracts are probably illegal.Recall the Sarawak Report story


OUTRAGE! - Najib's Secret Deal With China To Pay Off 1MDB (And Jho Low's) Debts! - SHOCK EXCLUSIVE OUTRAGE! - Najib's Secret Deal With China To Pay Off 1MDB (And Jho Low's) Debts! - SHOCK EXCLUSIVE


And then there are these issues:
1MDB borrowings may almost all be illegal, but will Najib accept blame or will he have Johari Ghani take the fall?


END


ECRL project gets a reprieve from government as RM20 billion has already been paid

The controversial China-backed ECRL project has been given a reprieve from the government as RM20 billion of the project cost has already been paid, subject to a re-negotiation of the price tag, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told online news portal The Malaysian Insight. Pic by NSTP/ROSLI ZAKARIA.

By Suzanna Pillai - June 23, 2018 @ 3:36pm

KUALA LUMPUR: The controversial China-backed East Coast Railway Line (ECRL) project has been given a reprieve from the government as RM20 billion of the project cost has already been paid, subject to a re-negotiation of the price tag, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told online news portal The Malaysian Insight.

Earlier the PH Government had announced plans to scrap the project because of its exorbitant cost of RM60-RM70 billion, which various estimates claimed could be completed for under RM40 billion.

Lim was also quoted as saying in the interview with the news portal that the government was “still undecided” on whether to proceed or defer the KL-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR).

Prior to further discussion with Singapore, Lim said the Attorney-General had been tasked to investigate the legal aspects of the projects.

“In the ECRL, we have already paid RM20 billion. So it doesn’t really make sense to just scrap it because we’ve already paid RM20 billion,” Lim reportedly said.

Lim, however, could not reveal the terms of the ECRL contract and how much recduction in cost the government was trying to negotiate.

“Let us discuss this first. We cannot have these discussions in public. The negotiations have to be done behind closed doors.”

In an earlier media report Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad described the ECRL project as a strange contract, as Malaysia has to fund the project with a loan from China, while also hiring contractors from China, as opposed to drawing down the loan in Malaysia and paying it to the foreign company’s local subsidiary.