Koon Swan: Let bygone be bygone, no plan for any action
Written by Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com
Wednesday, 12 September 2012 18:27

Kuala Lumpur (Sept 12) – Former prominent corporate figure and MCA president Tan Koon Swan prefers to forget the painful past and said Wednesday evening he will not take action against any party responsible for his sufferings in the 1980s and 1990s.

“I thank Mr Glenn Knight for the courage to make this open admission of wrongful charge. I appreciate this action but would like to let bygones be bygones, and look forward to the journey ahead,” he said in a statement in response to news that he was wrongfully prosecuted in Singapore in the mid-1980s in relation to the collapse of the Pan-El Industries.

Glenn Knight, the chief prosecutor of the Pan-El case in Singapore then, confesses to having wrongly prosecuted Tan in 1985 in his just-published book “Glenn Knight, The Prosecutor”. And in the chapter on Pan El crisis, Knight mentions he had apologised to Tan Koon Swan two years ago at a function.

Knight slapped Tan with 15 charges after the collapse of Pan-El which had caused the Singapore stock exchange to halt trading for three days. Among others, Tan was alleged to have committed criminal breach of trust (CBT) and share manipulation, and a guilty verdict sent him to Singapore’s Changi Prison for two years.

The incident not only forced Tan to quit as MCA president but also the collapse of his huge Malaysian-Singapore business empire which comprised at least three listed companies then.

On Knight, Tan added: “I pray that the peace of God be upon Mr Glenn Knight. When we do meet again, we will meet as friends!”

In the statement, he also said: “I have no intention to pursue any action of whatever nature, against anybody, because God in His compassion has healed me and my family of all pain and sorrow, and has given us sufficient grace to carry on our lives with dignity and self respect. As such, I do not see the need or the wisdom to revisit those years of anguish.”

Apart from Knight, this statement could also mean his forgiveness for Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former premier of Malaysia.

A news report in Nanyang Siang Pau said Mahathir had told Tan to go to Singapore to help in the investigation linked to the collapse of Pan-El and promised that nothing would happen to him. But instead Tan was arrested and charged in Singapore, and later jailed in 1986.

The daily also said on several occasions before the Pan-El crisis, Mahathir wanted Tan to choose between MCA politics and business. Tan at the time was MCA president controlling at least three well-known public listed companies, including Pan-El.

After returning to Malaysia, Tan was jailed in Malaysia in 1988 and later made a bankrupt. In 1995, he was discharged from bankruptcy after arriving at a settlement with banks.

Earlier this week, in an interview with theedgemalaysia.com, Tan said he had not decided whether he would sue the Singapore government for wrongful prosecution, but following his statement it appears that he will not pursue any action.

He has said as a born-again Christian, he has tried to forgive all those who had caused hardship and anguish to him.

“I have no intention of returning to a life in the limelight as I am very happy doing what I am doing now, spending time with my family and friends,” Tan said in his statement.

Tan is now a property developer with many developments in China. He has been made an “honorary citizen” of Hainan for his contributions there. And his children are helping him in some developments in Malaysia.