High Anxiety For Bukit Antarabangsa Residents As Fear Of More Landslides Mounts

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 (Bernama) -- The landslide which occured in Bukit Antarabangsa on Saturday has left its residents in a state of high anxiety.

They fear the area is no longer safe as similar landslides could recur in the near future.

Standley Jayabalan, a resident of Taman Bukit Jaya, said he was always worried that landslides would recur, adding that although his house was not in the danger zone, he did not feel safe.

"I am scared, worried ... after the incident on Saturday, we feel even more unsafe. We would like to move out, if possible, but where could we go? We have already bought this house," said Jayabalan, in his 40s.

He said after the incident, the value of houses in Bukit Antarabangsa had gone down.

"After the Highland Towers tragedy in 1993, the value of houses here had dropped, but it increased after some time. However, with this latest incident, the value of our houses is becoming lesser," he added.

The Highland Towers incident on Dec 11, 1993, claimed 48 lives. On Nov 20, 2002, an incident involving a bungalow in Taman Hillview saw eight dead.

Last Saturday's landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa left four killed.

Another resident of Taman Bukit Jaya, Arif Abdullah, in his 40s, said the landslide has made him want to move out, a move which was postponed previously.

"It is a strong enough reason for us to move out as we worry about our safety," he said.

Meanwhile, a resident of Oakleaf Park Condominium, Mohd Nurul Faizin Abdul Rahim, said any feeling of fear and trauma experienced from the landslide would have to be pushed aside.

"I forked out my hard-earned savings to buy this house. I wouldn't know where to rent a house if I had to find another place," he said.

However, he said he would decide otherwise if specialists deemed his housing area 'dangerous' to reside.

Another resident of a bungalow in Taman Bukit Mewah, Datuk Syed Taha Syed Mohamed, said his housing area was still safe as it was located on a gentle slope.

"The authorities should take precautionary action so that the incident will not happen again," he said, adding that he was grateful his house was not affected by the landslide.

-- BERNAMA

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Swiss probe $430 million payments in Alstom case

BELLINZONA, Switzerland (AP) - Swiss prosecutors are investigating suspicious payments totaling more than 500 million Swiss francs ($430 million) as part of a corruption and money laundering probe linked to the French engineering company Alstom SA, according to court documents released Tuesday.

Prosecutors allege that Alstom funneled bribes worth 70 million francs ($60 million) a year through its Swiss subsidiary, hiding the payments as "consultancy fees,'' the documents released by the Federal Criminal Court said.

Swiss police searched premises linked to Alstom in August and arrested one individual, who is suspected of corruption and money laundering. The raids across Switzerland included offices belonging to subsidiary Alstom Prom AG in Baden, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Zurich.

The arrested individual was a former compliance manager of the Alstom Group, who also was a member of the management of Alstom Prom. Authorities declined to identify the manager. He was released on Oct. 10 because prosecutors said there was no danger he would suppress evidence in the case.

Prosecutors suspect that Alstom used Alstom Prom to make payments to foreign officials in order to win international contracts for the French group.

The transactions under investigation go back to the year 2000 and were recorded as "consultancy fees'' worth more than 500 million francs ($430 million), according to the documents.

Alstom officials in Paris had no immediate comment.

Prosecutors said they regard a large share of these transactions as suspicious because numerous consultants did not provide any services for Alstom. Instead, their bank accounts were used to transfer payments to third parties.

Prosecutors said that in some cases there was proof that money was paid to foreign officials, including for projects in Italy, Zambia and Mexico.

They allege that between January 2001 and April 2003, bribes of around 1 million euros ($1.25 million) were sent via different offshore companies to an official in Zambia.

Prosecutors also said two Swiss companies had billed Alstom for more than 10 million francs ($8.6 million) and 300,000 euros ($374,000) respectively. The sums were allegedly used to pay cash bribes.

The Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona approved a request by one company that prosecutors have to share copies of the documents they seized.

Alstom, a maker of high-speed trains and power stations, was saved from bankruptcy in 2004 when French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was finance minister then, organized a state bailout for the ailing firm.

A related French inquiry was opened in November 2007, following a tip received by Swiss authorities.-AP
Source:http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/28/apworld/20081028215029&sec=apworld

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Former Entellium execs nabbed for fraud

PETALING JAYA: Multimedia Development Corporation — guardian of the country’s MSC Malaysia initiative — is keeping a close eye on the alleged fraud in the United States involving a prominent MSC Malaysia-status company, Entellium Corp.

MDeC is monitoring the situation, said Ng Wan Peng, vice-president of its capability development division, after news of the alleged crime came to light in Malaysia.

Two former top Entellium executives were arrested in the United States recently for allegedly overstating the company’s revenue in order to attract more funding. The arrests were reported by The New York Times this week.

“Everybody is still in shock over this,” Husni Salleh, Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd (Mavcap) chief executive officer, told In.Tech on Tuesday. Mavcap, a subsidiary of the Finance Ministry, has RM7mil invested in Entellium.

Entellium also has an R&D grant of RM7.5mil from MDeC, of which RM1.2mil has been disbursed.

“There are policies and processes in place to manage and monitor the grant of MSC Malaysia-status and other incentives. Such policies and processes are constantly being reviewed and updated,” said MDeC’s Ng.

According to The New York Times, former Entellium chief executive Paul Johnston and former chief financial officer Parris Jones are accused of overstating revenue by more than 400% over the last three years.

They allegedly inflated 2007 revenue from US$1.74mil (RM6.09mil) to US$5.22mil (RM18.27mil).

The report also said that the customer relationship management software company had laid off 50 of its 68 employees at its Seattle headquarters due to financial problems.

In this country, Entellium has its R&D operations and helpdesk at the Petronas Twin Towers. Local Entellium officials could not be contacted for comment last week.

Entellium offers sales, customer service, and marketing automation solutions that are hosted over the Internet.

It was set up in Malaysia in 2000 and expanded to Seattle in 2003. It received MSC Malaysia-status last year.

Entellium was named “The One to Watch” in the US CRM market leader awards (salesforce automation category) in the Sept 2004 issue of CRM magazine. -The Star

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