PROTON oh PROTON

I was waiting for my friend at Kelana Jaya on Monday when I saw THE EDGE special report on PROTON as a result of PWC report on its activities for the past 10 years. The 4 page report is likened to opening can of worms on the insides and goings ons within PROTON around that time. I think it is a shame to leak it out same as the Malay saying "membuka pekung di dada" i.e. washing dirty linen in public.

From Business Times article Legal action a possibility: Proton By Zuraimi Abdullah
PROTON Holdings Bhd says it is too early to decide whether any legal action would be taken against the previous management after a third party report may have showed mismanagement in the company's affairs from 1996 until late 2005. The report, revealed by a financial weekly and a foreign newspaper, pointed to one conclusion -- Proton's poor corporate governance in the past. It mentioned some projects that were implemented without proper consultation or consent, billions in expenditure spent without in-depth discussion, and the board being unaware of legal problems.

"It is natural for the new management to find any weaknessess if it wants to improve the company. We do a lot of reviews on the (company's) current and past operations," Proton managing director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said. Findings of the reports dated back to October 1996 when Proton bought a 63.75 per cent stake in Lotus Group International Ltd and included those related to investments in the Tanjung Malim plant, Italy's MV Agusta SpA, car ventures in China, PT Proton Tracoma Motors in Indonesia as well as research and development budgets and expenditure and potential troublesome operational issues.

The report also highlighted problems and issues with some vendors which were named in the report. Lim Kit Siang was quick to pounce on this whole issue on his blog;

In less than 24 hours, Syed Zainal seemed to have quickly backed off from the possibility in a formal statement which was reported by NST under the headline "Tighter systems for Proton now in place, says MD”, without any reference to the possibility of legal action against the previous management.What was the reason for the quick turnabout?

I say, if there was any fraud in the account or the system, I guess the auditor is also professionally responsible for it i.e. ENRON, MCI World etc. Who was the auditor then?