COMMENT | To the protagonists involved, the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal had been put in the back-burner – unlikely to cause any heat. The billions that had been spent or milked from the project had been overtaken by even a bigger scandal – the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Over the years, “1MDB” replaced “PKFZ” as the buzzword on government spending, accountability and transparency. When the last of the many legal actions initiated - criminal and civil - ended last week, it was certain to be the end of the PKFZ saga.

After the Federal Court dismissed the government’s application to forfeit RM37 million (a pittance compared to the actual spending) from nine parties, it was thought that PKFZ had been finally declared dead, buried and entombed.

But a resurrection of sorts has come from an unlikely foreign source - Wikileaks - which has been dumping hundreds of documents in the public domain. They expose bad governance, wheeler-dealing, sham transactions and other clandestine activities of governments and organisations around the globe.

Among the documents that surfaced recently was a gem - a cabinet memorandum from the Finance Ministry dated June 22, 2007. It gives a detailed account of the...