DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.

CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

EMAIL ONLY
mike.fleming@balfourbeatty.com , 0207 963 42 17
andrew.mcnaughton@balfourbeatty.com , 0207 216 68 95
Dear Mike,
RE: FORMAL NOTIFICATION: Balfour Beatty plc (BBplc) has been seriously
compromised (civilly, reputationally, and, criminally) by its own expat staff on
at least one of the currently ongoing phases of the Penang to Pedang Bassar
Double Track Project (Project) (part of the Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok Double
Track Project scheme).
Further to our conversation of 13.02.14. This is the note that you requested in support of my
spoken explanation thatnot withstanding other work practises which are seriously
damaging to your BBplc brandthere are serious CRIMINAL financial irregularities in
operation on the Project.
Brief note on my expertise and experience
I am a firsthand witness to the facts which I report. I am a qualified quantity surveyor of ten years
experience, having a BScQS degree. I was a MRICS cardholder but ceased paying the fees when the
president of the organisation was caught doing tax fraud, and they covered it up, not even insisting
he stepped down. I have the CIArb arbitration qualification. More specific to this case, I am via
various turns of fate, an expert in fraud, and have substantial experience bringing actions in both
civil and criminal capacities. There are currently three criminal cases which are ongoing (two in the
UK and one in Australia, both worth tens of millions of pounds, which would not be happening if
were not for my work tirelessly embarrassing the corrupt authorities to act. I am happy to elaborate
upon request). I am writing as these idiot expat employees of one of your subsidiaries, BBAS, are
not only acting criminally, but theyre doing it in a very indiscreet manner. Then, theyre treating
those not in their clique badly, such as not paying them, as is what has happened with me; but there
are other disgruntled employees and agents who mean that this is something of a powder keg, which
will jeopardise your ability to attain future phases of a very large rail upgrade project.
This is not intended to be a comprehensive report. I am sure to state where:
o
I suspect (and why);
o
what I know, and,
o
what I can prove:

here and now, and,

with access to the existent or provably absent (due to having been deliberately
destroyed by BBAS onsite/systems data.
Of course, circumstantial evidence often brings peculiarities to light, and often the lack of something
that would normally happen or be in place, is where deeper truths can often be found.

Whistle blowing v excellent opportunity to exploit

During our conversation, Mike mentioned me having whistle blown on site in Malaysia
(thus having been told to leave and then not paid and not having had anything in writing as a
result). In case this was not totally put straight over the phone, whilst it is certainly true that
queries that I made in private to Graham Donald regarding irregularities certainly caused this
to happen, I never sought to blow any whistle, and in enquiring as to the protocols to adhere
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TOM CAHILL, 17 . 02 . 14

DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.
CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

to the law, this was not the same thing. Whistle blowing is a dangerous, gainless idiots
pursuit, which destroys employment prospects. Likewise, I am not whistle blowing here.
Im letting you know what the situation is in Malaysia, that you might have some time to
imagine a solution whereby you transparently cut out the cancer and remedy the situation,
whilst maintaining a semblance of control, and minimise damage to the Project, BBplc and
BBASs reputation. This house cleaning exerciseif managed correctlycan be used to
promote BBplcs reputation. Anti-corruption is the issue in Thailand, especially the South
of Thailand, where the next phase of the project is due to happen, and its no small bit of
work.
Anti Tipping Off Notice
This notification is made in accordance with my legal obligations under UK and Malay Law.
Whilst I appreciate that it is logistically difficult to accommodate, I hasten to warn you of the
challenges associated with the UKs criminal offence of Tipping Off, which have primacy
over any company policy or interests of your group. I urge You to familiarise Yourselves
with this factor when conducting your enquiries. I am aware that there is one lawyer working
(at least in part) for Balfour Beatty Ansaldo Systems JVSdn Bhd (BBAS) whos based in
Kuala Lumpur, who is a Balfour Beatty employee, but Im fairly certain that discussing this
with him would be considered a criminal offence. His names Julian (second name
unknown).
Personal information
I consider the offending individuals (which I dont pretend to have a comprehensive list of)
who are on the project are a rouge criminal gang. As such, whilst I dont mind giving you
both my contact details, I will not be happy if any of them are passed to them. Mobile
phones and IP addresses can be tracked very easily by criminals, and Im in a dangerous
country which is in the middle of a revolution which means there is an element of danger to
me in alerting you to my / our concerns. Further, I would like to remind you that Malaysia
has laws similar to our Data Protection Act, where all personal data can be retrieved and it is
illegal to use it improperly. On the other hand, it is obtainable, so destroying it is illegal
here, and I am entitled to have it, so if its destroyed then this will be discoverable upon my
request. I urge you to carefully restrict access or transmission of this and any other report,
recommending that you seek my written permission before any access is granted, which does
include bent lawyers who think they can ignore the law.
Not unforeseen ramifications
Suspect expat staff who I was most closely associated with were / are:

Graham Donald (Commercial Manager, my boss);

Adam Stuart (Grahams boss. Maybe other duties on project or on other projects);
and,

Conrad Fawcett (Boss of Project, Adam Stuarts boss).

Definitely Graham, Im certain Adam, and slightly less certain of Conrad, are incumbent
expats from the UK, who have been working on similar jobs in Malaysia for a long time,
with families and children in school there, etc.. Publication and rumours of corruption or
horrendous incompetence being discovered will destroy any chances of them ever getting on
any large-scale government funded jobs there again, and theyll presumably be totally ruined
by it, having to go to even worse places to work.

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TOM CAHILL, 17 . 02 . 14

DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.
CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

None of the three are management material. Grahams not got any overt personality
problems, but definitely Adams has, being a loud mouth know nothing, who keeps
bellowing things out to create a surprisingly well subscribed illusion that hes important and
masterful. OVERT CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR: This extended to shouting that he
wanted the security guards to know that if anything else went missing, hed burn them
to death in their security hut. That particular outburst was in front of an entire open
plan office. He didnt mean for it to be a joke. Conrads very anxious, hysterically snapping
at people for saying hello to himagain in front of an entire workfource in an open plan
officeand cant handle any degree of pressure. Other incidents of telegraphed weakness
were common in the one or two times I saw him, and were twinned with an equally
unappealing and totally inappropriate sarcasm and smirking, which I witnessed when hed
invited the Balfour Beatty Rail Sweden (BBRS) to attend the office in Malaysia from Sweden
to sort out the remaining money owed to them; which he proceeded to tell them he couldnt
agree after all as there was a board that needed to be consulted and that he was not going to
pay them according to their agreed fixed price as he wanted to look into their accounts as
well and have them substantiate where theyd got their fixed price fromsmirking all the
time. Consider how many times youve raised your voice in work, and what the general
thinking is on people who cant control their temper. Ive certainly never raised my voice, as
it shows weakness. These type of people can only be relied upon to compromise your wider
group and destroy any perception of a team mentality.
Compromised trainees and the termination technicians
There were around ten trainees from Loughtborough University. Some were in construction
related courses. Two were on RICS accredited QS courses. They were all being badly taken
advantage of. In the instance of the QS students, they had been told that their RICS
diary could be signed off, but no one at BBAS was qualified, so this was a lie, so theyd
been tricked into attending a hardship location, only to be paid ten pounds a day (one
pound per hour for ten hours. Lodgings were included and a share of a car to be
precise). They were not long having been there, and from what I noticed, were all
consumed doing pointless exercises that had no final aim and they werent learning anything.
They were not only being trained into a culture of doing nothing and having no accountability
or interest in their work; they were lose lipped about various things which technically could
land them in trouble. OVERT CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR: I include in this was their
assurances that the ex-police security boss had been hired to ease any problems with the
police, by bribing them, and it helped with other aspects of cutting corners.
The courses in Loughtborough didnt attract the same calibre as John Moores, there can be
no doubt, but I none the less intend to do something to remedy their situation when I chased
up what I am owed. For a start, they need to be paid a substantial amount more, and where
in the case of the QSs, there is no one whos appropriately experienced to teach them
anything, since I left, the concept of their being a RICS training course is actually totally
fraudulent. Another worrying thing that I noticed is that they all seemed to know that
the technicians imported to do the terminations were charging four hundred pounds a
day. A fact which incensed them. However, more worrying is that they thought that the
technicians shouldnt get so much, as opposed to seeing that they were getting paid way too
little and were being made total idiots of. I pulled one of them up on his criticism of his
colleagues (who Ill note had displayed concern that the trainees were being abused); citing
Once the boy. Always the boy, etc., and that the more money that his colleague got paid,
the more money he would generally stand to make. He said that it was bollox and that I

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DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.
CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

had a shit attitude. He became venomously angry at me. Obviously this is exactly the kind
of attitude people being abused often take as theyre in denial, so I dont hold it against him.
OVERT CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR: None of them saw that clearly the story about
them not being able to pay them better and then having one of their mates provide all of
these overpriced (for the region) technicians at huge expense, was inconsistent.
Definitely they didnt seem to think that it spelled out an underlying criminal motive, with
there never having been any competitive tender to take them on board. They also appeared to
believe that the propagated myth that the locals were totally useless and couldnt do anything
properly, despite the fact that they were often being supervised by UK staff waswho would
generally be responsible, was just a racist policy in order to create a fairy story to allow for
corruption to occur.
From what I understood. There were between seventy five and one hundred of these
technicians. It was rumoured that their boss got twenty-five percent (one hundred
pounds) out of the charge out rate. That means he would be making ten thousand
pounds per day for doing absolutely nothing. Whilst this was technically done via his
company, I read the offer letter, and it looked like it had been written by a foreigner.
The man, who I dont know, was clearly semi-literate at best, but it got worse. Two
clauses were incredibly poorly written. One about insurance guaranteed to cover the client
for anything they wanted them toan insurance policy that doesnt exist. The second
clanger which I immediately noticed was something about agreeing to do anything that was
contracted and anything else that the cli8ent wanted. I forget the wording and appreciate that
my explanation doesnt show how uneducated and compromising the phraseology was.
In case it needs to be said. The money being paid to that company (a.k.a. one of their
mates) is totally at odds with anything aligned with proper practise and I am certain
will not all remain in his pocket. Possibly this money will be retrievable from MC
Germuda if they turn a blind eye to its dubiousness, as it may be that they will be able
to fudge the figures and claim it from the Malay government. I kept hearing it called
acceleration. When taken alongside the lies told to me about not having the finance to
pay the going rate, the lies told to the students about funding, the low going rate paid
to the local staff, and the non-payment of BBRS, board or no board, there can be no
doubt that this non-competitively tendered misappropriation of BBAS funds for
workers to undertake repetitive semi-skilled tasks under close supervision, for which
training was supplied, is clearly totally bent.
Cultural concerns
Malays and their resident Indians and Chinese are polite and quiet, and seem to have a lot of
fear of the whites who occupy all of BBASs senior management. They dont offer
suggestions or object to doing anything. Malaysia is a corrupt country, but the serf class are
in no position to question anything. They dont appreciate being shouted at and dont seem to
understand that their bosses are incompetent thieves who would be happy to blame them for
things or inveigle them in things that could get them in trouble for plausible deniability
reasons, then sack them, blaming them, if they got caught out. This is very, very different
in Thailand. Thais are very suspicious of foreigners and are aware that foreign parasites are
their nations biggest danger. If they see white people wandering about with spanners, they
wont be long in working out that they are taking their jobs and must be ripping the country
off, if theyre seen on a public railway. I would go so far as to say that they would be likely

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DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.
CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

prone to bouts of vigilantism and that any such workers would be in danger. As for
bellowing about murdering their countrymen by burning them to death in their huts
there would be no pretending not to hear or cowering in terror, and the likelihood of
violence would be significant. In short, there will be no possibility of the BBAS
management that I mention (I cant speak for the others) succeeding in bringing about a
positive result, should they seek to remain on the scheme as it proceeds further North,
further into Thailand.
Subtle accommodation of the problems faced
Ive asked a load of local construction professionals. They tell me that the going rate for
workers doing terminations under limited supervision would be about ten pounds a day.
The railways immediately surrounding area is not bound by the same rules on visas and
passports. With a company ID card, BBAS staff and labour may travel up and down into and
out of Thailand, and Im certain visa versa. There are several advantages of using Thai
labour. They have a great deal of capable, experienced workers from their other rail
expansion projects, including the Bangkok Metro the Sky Train, etc.. As the next phase is
going to be in Thailand, the company managing successful completion of work using them,
would be a strong contender for attaining any future elements of work in their country. Thais
dont usually speak much if any English, so getting them used to things before the job goes
North would be better done in Malaysia. Thais are very patriotic and not blighted by any
limp wristed subversive concepts of multi-culturalism, making use of their own people a big
advantage. Tacsin Shinoa (Shinoatra) and his parasite sister have lost a lot of control in
Thailand, and there are none of their death squads operating in this part of the country. It
seems that their lack of capacity to murder people who mention their ethnic origin has let the
secret out that they arent even ethnically Thai, but Chinese. MC Germuda (MCG)s a big
Chinese company. Without support from their powerful countrymen who had a lot of control
in the government, it will be harder for them to succeed to bribe their way on to any Thai
phase of the scheme. Balfour Beatty has the advantage of being English. English is widely
regarded as top quality and not corrupt. You are in a very strong position to bid for work,
especially seeing as English companies did lots of the management on the other rail projects
which are highly regarded, proud national assets.
Witness Tampering offence of; & police complicity
Any physical or electronic attacks to me or my computer equipment, or the threat of
however deniable in their natureshall be presumed to be related to this and the police will
be contacted and my suspicions shall almost certainly be published. The City of London
Police are mainly in charge of all British offences relating to fraud, money laundering and
bribery. They are also all parasitic Freemasons who refuse to communicate with me since
Ive exposed their complicity in the ALPonz case which included refusal to investigate,
stealing and hiding of evidence, witness intimidation, a defamation campaign, vexatious
crime reports against victims, and proven links to the orchestrators of that fraud. Be careful
how you tred when dealing with them if they become involved.
Anti-Defamation / Blackballing Notice
Any furtherance of any unproven or misleading information about me in order to discredit me
or otherwise hamper me now or at any time in the future shall not be accepted. At some stage
in the not too distance future, I shall require a cover note signed by you Andrew, thanking
me for bringing these matters to your attention and exonerating me from any malicious lies
which will no doubt be in the pipeline.

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TOM CAHILL, 17 . 02 . 14

DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.
CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

Applicable Legislation
For the avoidance of doubt, the first principle matters which I hereby infom you of, are
text book examples of those which are specifically identified as being prohibited and
criminally punishable under the UKs Bribery Act (2010). They are therefore Your*
concern by law.
*You / Your / Yourselves being BBplc, as well as Mike Fleming & Andrew McNaughton
in your personal capacities with full criminal liability, being the only two Balfour
Beatty group employees / agents / etc. that have received this notification.
Definitely including sections: 7, 8 & 9 (concerning the obligatory active pre-emptive
and tangible prevention of Bribery (which Im told by Graham Donald that BBplc
provided a course for BBAS staff to attend, such is the seriousness with which BBplc
consider compliance with the new Bribery prevention legislation)), but in no way
exclusive to the mere prevention of. It is my understanding that BBAS are in fact
promoting the likelihood of such occurrences, as well as partaking in them in a very
indiscreet manner. Malay Law prohibits these practises, and, with the Project
extending to Thailand, all if not most of the criminal practises are criminally
punishable there, with those illegal in the UK, only so in some instances.
Other criminal breaches to note
Money Laundering, Bribery, Fraud, visa fraud, work permit fraud, fraud on the
Malaysian Exchequer relating to my own limited payments, intimidation amounting to
Harassment (1997, Protection from Harassment Act), criminal intimidation of staff
who arent in any position to defend themselves, threats of violence, including murder
of local staff, inveigling local staff into partaking of illegal activities through unfair
pressures where they will lose their jobs if they refuse to comply, and presumably not
get paid. Some workers wereI believefrom poor countries and werent permanent
residents, so would be powerless to object.
My status whilst onsite as well as up until the following time
Whilst my status as an employee as opposed to a contractor of BBAS is to the affirmative, it is
not safe for us to presume that this status was contractually or legally sound, which extends to any
visa, work permit, taxation, or, any other related matter. I add that I am certain, and have proof
that these are not and were never soundly put in place according to the Malay law, or any
general international contracting conventions for that matter. I had to leave Malaysia, sensing
that Grahams terrified voice on my last phone call to him, coupled with the conformation from
tone of the admin/personnel ladies, that I did not have a work permit, that something along the
lines of me getting fit up via their in-house ex-police corruption unit, for visa violations or
illegal working. Graham and Adam had told me that theyd had enough of me for comments
youve made but they didnt elaborate. They said that so far as they were concerned that theyd
just say Id moved on and that theyd sort the money out shortly. I said Id take the opportunity to go
visiting friends in southern Thailand, which Graham said was a good idea, and that Id be best
getting a bus. He said theyd arrange for an open ticket. Adam didnt want things to go smoothly and
started to go one about some nonsense about having a long hard look at [my]self, so I told him to
fuck off and that he needed to focus on the mess of a project he was mismanaging and to stop
telling people that Penang was a beach resort during interviews.
When the next day I heard from them again, Graham told me that hed send the trainees round with
the ticket. I knew he was being tricky. It was obvious. I kept ringing up until he sent an email with
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DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.
CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

the ticket. Obviously upon calling the travel firm, they said it wasnt open and seeing as it was about
16.00, the time I got through to him (he was having his little helpers screen calls) at about 17.00 he
was in a flap and as hed done on some other occasions, he sobbed that he had thought it was
open when hed told someone to book it, then squealing that I just want you oo-----------t of the
country as soon as po-----------ssible. I asked him what he was so upset about. He said Id cost
him a lot of money, which I didnt understand, but may be significant, as he does have a
tendency to panick and the truth seems to come out. I told him that he needed to focus on his own
short comings, like not putting the scope of works in the scope of works, at which point he became
even more upset but the anger subsided. He practically begged me Dont even go there. I told
him that Id made arrangements to visit someone and that I had stuff in the laundry, so couldnt go to
catch a plane at 05.00 in the morning the next day. I also had no way of getting the (unspecified
amount of) cash he proposed to give me into the bank; consult a Malay tax advisor, which was
stipulated under the contract. This whole situation was becoming very suspicious to me.
Getting sacked and sacking people in construction jobs is a very common occurrence and
theres no need to annoy the person theyre sacking or whatever it is they were doing. There
was a reason for the blind panick, of that there can be no doubt.
Imperfection in my reporting
Where I say my first day, or something else similar, seeing as I attended the office on the day that
I arrived in Malaysia, it has to be remembered that having travelled all that way at short notice, I was
far from on my best form, and my memory of the three weeks spent between the BBSs Bukit Tengh
Office / Depot in Butterworth and the Hotel in Penang, was all prior to me synching with my new
environment, time zone, etc., and may be subject to slight errors, but not in a way which effects
anything that I report here. Indeed, with access to the records on my Hotmail (which Im unable to
access right now) or my BBAS emails, there would be a lot to jog my memory and help substantiate
my accusations.
Destruction of data
I was told by more than one person that it was the standard practise to delete emails of staff
who had left. Specifically, the Indian (possibly a Malay Indian) gentleman who was in charge
of IT, was ordered to delete emails of outgoing staff. This was confirmed in my mind when
Grahams agreement to seek out details of a claim against BBRS kept not getting lined up as he
initially agreed at my behest, then, ended with him insisting that I cease the exercise with zero
progress having been achieved, stating that:
...youve spent two weeks on it, so that should be long enough.
(emphasis added)
referring to emails of staff who had left who were dealing with that particular BBAS gaff (a.k.a.
claim) which they sought to blame solely on BBRS. In my experience any claim which is worth
pursuing is worth considering on its meritsthats in the case of a personal issue or in terms of a
privately owned business. This is much more relevant in the context which BBAS are supposed to be
working for two main reasons:
REASON ONE: They are ultimately receiving money from a government job. Any payments
ultimately come from the Malay government via main contractor, MCG (a Chinese Malay or
Chinese company), much of which would require substantiation for the employer of BBAS, MCG,
to be paid. It is definitely significant to note that unlike the UK, where pay when pay is totally
illegal, in Malaysia it is not, and in fact is specifically formalized in the all of the agreements that I
had sight of.

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DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.
CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

REASON TWO: Further, BBAS is not a free agent in any way. It is joined at the hip with a totally
alien company (Ansaldo Systems), derives from a Malaysian company itself, in Balfour Beaty Rail
Malaysia, and that in turn is linkedpossibly via further tiers of the groupto BBplc in the UK. I
know that to complicate things more, that there was a board which I kept hearing about, which
had to approve everything (to what extent this is practically true, and not a rubber stamp I dont
know, but the story was, they were very fussy about every penny).
BOTH REASONS: In the case of both of the wide and potentially complex and far reaching
reasons stated, what is undeniably clear is that auditability would be of the utmost importance.
The Sweden Foundation Claim as it was known, was worth something in the region of 1M,
so Grahams comment needs to be viewed in with this in mind. That isof courseunless
something bent was going on, which might extend up down or sideways in the supply chain.
My role on the Project
My job was to be to do various things, which werent written in stone, but roughly speaking could be
understood by my position under Graham, as one of two quantity surveyors who would in turn
manage two of a total of four main contracts that BBAS would be overseeing, which were doing what
if we keep things in relatively generic terms might be termed the icing on the cake of what had been a
substantial job prior to BBASs involvement. There had been earthworks; concrete bridges;
permanent way (1000mm gauge track), ancillary concrete cable trays (I think these were in before
BBAS were involved), and the overhanging power cable and the poles which held it up, line side
buildings, inspection holes, and massively upgraded stations and associated platforms. The gist of
the project as a whole is to provide an overhead electric supply, more accessible associated
infrastructure in place of an old fashioned hodge podge where theres no proper planning and
everythings a bit of a mess, all of which ran on obsolete Japanese trains, which were diesel driven
(which Ive travelled on before (and again since leaving)). It all seemed a bit of a waste of time as
the trains were fine as they were, and they werent going to be running that much faster, and most of
all, despite the decision to use the 1000mm gauge track (which may sound strange, but does run in
lots of Asian counties, so Im told), there was only to be two tracks laid side by side for all of the
massive effort of redoing everything else which I have to admit makes me wonder what the whole
point of any of the project is.
Im not a train enthusiast but the point apart from giving the reader a feel for the general bearings is
that this would be a highly politicised job as it is very visible to many people, crossing different state
lines and is due to continue past Thailand, thus having huge potential for those concerned with
building it. The leg that BBAS were working on was the Penang (Malaysia) to Pedang Bessar
(Southern Thailand on border. Thailand being directly above Malaysia) leg, having in one
incorporation or another previously been involved with the southerly Kualar Lumpur to Penang
stretch. I think it was the same BBAS on the last leg.
BBAS were going to be performing a large part, but in the scheme of things, a small proportion of
the work. This said, their job wasin basic termswire the whole thing up, make sure it worked,
and do it in time with the overall project plan. This involved various things, but largely cable laying,
terminating, and, testing and commissioning (which is the final testing) which is just like wiring
anything else up such as a house, but the cables being much bigger and longer, take lots of people to
put them into the conduits, which in this instance were concrete trays which were dug into the ground
just below the level of where the track was laid, which had concrete covers which were very much
like 1x2x2 paving slabs. Some of the cables, where they went off the main trunks in the trays

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DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.
CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

(running parallel to the tracks) to connect to this or that thing werent in trays, but were buried just
below the surface of the ground or possibly below the shingle layer that covered the track.
Hopefully all that makes it easier when I then explain that BBAS are on that project to deliver the
most technically difficult part of a large job. This would not be a proportionately high value aspect,
but one of high significance in terms of the overall product as well as in terms of the delivery timeline, as the job isnt finished until BBAS finish and the passengers can start using their newly
upgraded network. Similarly BBRS who represent BBplc were presumably selected for having
reliable, high quality products and a sound grip of designing things for the demanding Swedish
publics consumption in a safe and timely manner.
Graham: dangerously incompetent criminal by accident or on purpose?
On either my first day or maybe my first full day, the day after arriving, I was chatting to Graham in
his office and was concerned to make sure I was on message and how I was to focus my attentions
whilst I got my head around what my role would turn out to be. The logical place to begin being the
structure of the reporting, auditability, and the means to assure payments came in and claims and
delays to any payment were negatedstandard stuff. This was all a bit complicated, as it usually is.
It was clarified that BBplc was the ultimate parent / parent parent company, so we were not just using
their name (as with Woolworths in either Australia or Germany, who are still in business despite the
UK one having disappeared a few years back). I then pointed out that this meant that I would
presumably have to be aware of how the UK Bribery Act would have to be accommodated.
Graham enthusiastically confirmed that indeed it did and that Yes... we had to go on a big
course on that... its very important... I think I recall him saying that it was a three day
course, but I could be wrong. He was very keen to stress its importance.
Graham was polite, friendly and accommodating up until that point. However, this suddenly
changed when I enquired as to their mechanisms in place to negate any criminal liability under
the Act, to which he first gulped, and then squealed that he hadnt done one and that nothing
was in place. In hindsight I dont think hed meant to say / think that out loud. His eyes
widened. (This was not to be the last time that Graham squealed out something that he seemed
to immediately regret afterwards. If he is interviewed under caution by any authorities, presuming
he doesnt drop dead of a heart attack at the mere mention, there is no way hell be able to keep from
saying all sorts of damaging things. Hes not a leader, but firmly in the follower categoryawaiting
someone else to tell him what, how and when to do everything he is supposed to be doing himself.
He was the commercial boss on the project having said that. I calmly suggested that this wasnt a
big deal and that I was sure we could get something in place easily, offering to have a look at
doing it. He never got back to me.
Obviously under the parts of the Bribery Act mentioned above, Grahams not doing some
procedure makes him criminally liable of an offence, so he could be extradited and tried in the
UK for the subject of this admission.
Looking back at it, as has been the case when working for other criminal organizations, that moment
probably sealed my fate. They sometimes take a week or two to get really worried, but then the more
clued up stranger becomes a liability to continued criminal operations and has to go; generally with a
great deal of fabricated tales of their being useless or some other criticisms of their behaviour that are
impossible to disprove once theyve left.
Safety course
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DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.
CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

Its only with hindsight that I conclude this. As previously explained, travelling across the world to
start work is very hard going on the worker for the first few weeks as theyre getting used to
everything being totally different. I therefore wasnt on my best form as this was happening, but
Adam had told me on the interview that the safety courses which took a couple of days were lined up
on Sundays (I think Sundays). He said that seeing as Id be good for nothing for a little while, Id be
best to get on the inductions where I could relax and acclimatise. However, they didnt put me on the
courses; so whilst I did ask about them, there was likely something afoot as early back as the first
few days. I forget which day I got there, but its all documented somewhere, as are the travel
documents and my log of days worked.
Mountain of copper
I kept hearing about stealing from the depots being a big problem. I said that if it was such a
problem, they ought to get those hunting CCTV cameras and install them some day when the
usual security staff werent around for some reason. They dont need to be wired up and
theyre cheap. There was a total reluctance to do this, which I think was due to them being
behind the stealing. Further evidence of this promotion of theft was bought to my attention one
day when I walked into the car park and saw a blazing light, like a piece of sun had fallen
down. It looked like something out of the Goonies, like apile of gold treasure, but in fact it was
a pile of copper connections in the back of a truck that was left unguarded, uncovered in a
totally reckless manner. In a country where people get less than ten pounds a day, having
thousands of pounds of stealable sized components struck me as very, very suspect.
Wooden freight boxes and their importance
All of the high value components from Sweden came in wooden boxes. In the two meetings that I
attended concerning construction management, run by one of the construction people. I think his
name was Jim (New Zealander, apparently replacing someone whod been invited to leave for being
allegedly useless) he said something which I found strange. Im not in any way pointing any fingers
at this man, as I have nothing conclusive to base any such feelings on, but he made three main points
to the contractors who hed not met before. One, was logical but standard, was that he wanted them
to finish each bit of work so he could get the testing done tightly in behind the progress of the work,
so it woudnt hang out. The second point was that in the event of any problem, he was to be called
personally if necessary, but that more BBAS staff were to be permanently overseeing the work, and
that they were there to support the work of the contractors in whatever way that might entail. Then
the strange thing. He started talking about how they werent allowed to leave bits of wood or freight
boxes around. He was very specific that they couldnt leave any boxes or bits of for any time at all. It
seemed very strange to me. Boxes are there to protect valuable stuff that cant easily be replaced,
seeing as it mainly came from Sweden. The idea that leaving a bit of box on a disused bit of ground
of a disused platform, being a priority is incredibly strange. Both meetings he went on about these
boxes as though they were unexploded ordinance. Something fishy was going on, but I think hed
been told to make a big fuss about this and that it was not his thinking. An ex boss of mine told me
selling the expensive wood from boxes is normally worth a fair cost saving on jobs, and that at a
minimum, it can fund a few good parties or staff outings. I really dont know, but it will
eventually come to me. I think the box hysteria was part of some cover to allow components to
be stolen in the mad rush to get rid of the totally harmless pieces of woodwhich have no place
on a building site!
Site visit

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TOM CAHILL, 17 . 02 . 14

DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.
CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

I went to the site one day, under supervision as I wasnt allowed on my own due to not having done
the mandatory courses still. The entire stretch I saw had the concrete trays lids all smashed round the
edges (they had interlocking flanges). Hundreds of meters of them, all smashed round the edges,
and open, leaving much of the trays with the cables in, filled with weeds, in a right mess. This mess
was consistent all the way along all of the track that I inspected. I dont know what tool would be
appropriate, but there are tools available that could lift these lids without destroying them. The
weeds all growing was a terrible mess as well. Also the inspection pits, of which there were quite a
few, going down three or four meters, were all meters deep in water, with no covers on. Since
leaving, I have had cause to travel on the train to Pedang Bessar and saw that the trays are lidless
there with all weeds growing as well, all smashed round the edges. Further, I witnessed big piles of
boards and other mess all over the newly built station. This story about the boxes looked all too
unbelievable and inconsistent with the facts. I got off at that stop and had a good look about from the
over-track bridge which gave a good view. These shoddy working practises cannot be blamed on the
local contractors. They are being supervised and have been supervised to one extent or another from
day one. These lies about them not being capable of doing anything properly is simply racist lies. If
they do one thing wrong, and money is withheld or whatever, then theyre not going to keep doing it
incorrectly. This is not a matter which anyone can seriously entertain. The locals are useless myth is
all part of a plan to sabotage the job, so the management can get their mates in on massively high day
rates for the region, in return for backhanders, presumably.
Forgetting to put the scope of works in the scope of works times two or times four?
As I explained on the phone call which preceded this report, there were four main contractors
underneath BBAS. I was to manage two of these. Another QS was being sourced to look after the
other half. These main contracts were intended to involve the installation of cables and various
widgets which mainly meant cable laying and terminations. There were communications, signals and
power, all included in this. I have to say I forget how they split this up but I was to manage two of
the four contractors. The contractors were familiar to BBAS from previous work on the line further
South. No prizes for guessing that they were allegedly totally useless. They had had their contract
awarded and were already onsite, but Im not sure what they were doing, which may sound a little
strange, which is because it is strange. They had had their contracts awarded prior to me arriving. In
both of the two kick off meetings it transpired that whilst Id been told and everyone else had been
told that they were providing the entire product, supervision and all, they hadnt signed up to this in
their contracts. This was the cause of a lot of whispering and suspicion amongst the newer BBAS
staff, who couldnt believe the incompetence of Graham in managing to forget to make sure they
knew what they were to do, then awarding them the contract without reading it, or their bids. I
didnt really understand what was going on and was keeping quiet, but Graham then confirmed that
Id have to do the first variations, extending the scope of their works. This, of course is an
admission of liability, so it would seem that there was no argument that they had misunderstood the
requirement as BBAS had tendered. Ive never heard of anything so strange and doubt that it is
possible to even count such a massive shift in responsibility a variation, as it changes the entire story,
to the extent that the whole basis for tendering and selection would ideally be re-evaluated. Of
course, the contractor would have a massive upper hand in determining the cost of this new
aspect of their work, which of course may have been the entire point of the exercise; or maybe
its more incompetence? I am fairly sure the imbecile has left the scope of works out of the
other two contractors contracts as well. How can this have happened? Can he really be this
much of a total waste of space or is this all done deliberately to promote a panic so they can
claim to need to accelerate, and have to take on some expensive countermeasures, which

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TOM CAHILL, 17 . 02 . 14

DRAFT REPORT ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR & OTHER SERIOUSLY COMPROMISING

MISCONDUCT ON BBAS JVS PENANG TO PEDANG BESSAR DOUBLE TRACK PROJECT.
CIRCULATION BEYOND THE TWO NAMED INDIVIDUALS MAY CONSTITUE THE CRIMINAL
OFFENCE OF TIPPING OFF.

can be supplied by their friends at huge expense with no time for the normal check and balances
or competitive tendering?
Three named individuals
I really have no idea what purpose any of the three named managers has other than to blame things on
the locals and get drunk in the evenings. They could maybe get away with pretending to be thick, but
do you want them playing thick on your job? Incompetence is very prevalent in construction
wherever theres a profit motive. It always covers some kind of snide business. Leaving the scope of
works out of the (definitely) two or (most likely four) of the four contracts is definitely a stackable
short-coming for all those who are directly responsible. As Ive said this is not a comprehensive
report, albeit being quite lengthy. I do like to be accurate and accuracy requires proper positioning of
facts, that they not be misunderstood. Im sure you have the capacity on the job amongst your staff
to cut out the bad apples identified here and replace them with people who are a lot better.

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TOM CAHILL, 17 . 02 . 14