Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Explanation needed from Selangor Exco - Why Renovate? Why Spend So Much?

I was disturbed by the amount of monies that have been expended by the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor State Exco members for 'office renovations' - some having spend monies that could have build a few lost cost homes.

Logically, the offices were already there most probably with the necessary furniture, etc - so why was so much money spend for renovations? Please explain more and justify this expenditure...A renovation expenditure of RM5,000 may be justified - but this really is too much...surely these monies could have been better spend. Is there no check and balance to prevent such excess spending? We are all geared up to kick out the BN - for their excesses...and now it saddens me when this Pakatan Rakyat is also spending wastefully the people's money..Please explain. Who approved it?

Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said today former exco member Hasan Ali had spent more than his colleagues for the renovation of his office.
 
Revealing this in the Selangor assembly in Shah Alam, Khalid said Hasan’s expenditure topped the list at RM329,000, followed by Ean Yong Hian Wah at RM 146,000 and Rodziah Ismail at RM119,000.

Other exco members listed included Xavier Jeyakumar (RM70,000), Ronnie Liu (RM53,000), Yaakob Sapari (RM32,000), Teresa Kok and Elizabeth Wong (under RM25,000) and Iskandar Abdul Samad (RM21,000).

This flies in the face of Hasan's defence yesterday that his colleagues Xavier and Halimah Ali had spent significantly more than him to renovate their offices.

On the same day Jeyakumar denied the allegation while Halimah clarified that her office had never been renovated.
 
However, Khalid reiterated that the spending by Hasan was according to procedure and urged the House not to dwell on the matter.

"When he left as exco member, those assets remained with the government, so there is no need to question further," he said.

Aside from this, Hasan yesterday clarified two other allegations against him, on excessive spending for a conference and for not implementing open tenders for the routine road maintenance jobs of the Public Works Department.

Hasan said the RM550,000 spent on the conference included expenses for other programmes that had been approved by the state government, while the move not to implement open tender had been approved by the state treasury.

However, Khalid said Hasan did not obtain through proper means the approval from the state treasury not to implement open tender for routine road maintenance jobs in Selangor.

Hasan ali pc"We found that Hasan did not perform his duties as he should have, by not adhering to procedures on good governance.

"To receive approval, he must get it from the state financial officer. But he got it from a lower ranked officer from the treasury, which is not according to procedure," Khalid said.

Only the menteri besar or the state financial officer, he added, could approve any move on expenses that was contrary to state policies.

The allegations against Hasan, who was dismissed as an exco member after he was sacked by his party, PAS, were first levelled by Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyperson Azmin Ali.

Hasan has since gone on the offensive against Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, making a series of old allegations against him.- Malaysiakini, 27/3/2012, Hasan Ali's renovation costs highest, says MB  

1 comment:

casper c said...

Surely there must be sufficient reason/ground that warrant action beyond this battle of words.

Let me reiterate, early days of Pakatan Rakyat taking over Selangor state assembly, why didn't they pursue or initiate a concerted effort to bring to book former MB Khir Toyol ?

Hundreds of millions went missing from PKNS' books, and what happened next totally shifted the focus - remember, much was made for the removal of Mdm What's her name, that Chinese woman who was duly removed from her role of investigating questionable dealings within PKNS and stable of companies !!!

Why does it seem like MB Khalid went soft on corruption from previous admin, only to allow then ACA to accuse DAP rep Ean Yong of unsubstantiated alleged corruption - investigating purported CBT amounting to RM$2000 that had Teoh Beng Hock having to account/explained on the eve of his engagement ?

We all know what happened next don't we with Nazri responding with "How are we to know he would jump ?" - the morning after.

I've always suspected Nazri himself for calling the shots that triggered the cycle that lead to Beng Hock being detained till early hours of his "MURDER".

So much for then ACA, rebranded MACC, and its independence but we know better don't we that the lembu's and monkeys within ACA/MACC can't think for themselves without prodding from their UMNO masters.

Heaven's sake Charlie, no more verbal sparring with Hasan Ali - just make a report and let him sweat it out.

Please take action Charlie, Pakatan reps et tal.