Thesun 2009-03-24 Page04 Company Paid For Shopping Trip

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theSun

| TUESDAY MARCH 24 2009

news without borders 10 held in RM61m Eramin bust by Charles Ramendran

‘Company paid for shopping trip’

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RM17,000 SPENT ON AIRLINE TICKETS AND RM206,000 ON ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS AND 2,700 HATS by Maria J. Dass [email protected]

Abdul Karim chats with Teng during a break at the inquiry yesterday.

SHAH ALAM: Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd (KDEB) paid for the flight tickets of seven members of the now-defunct wives of Selangor assemblymen and MPs charity organisation Balkis for a “souvenir shopping” trip to Guangzhou, China in May 2007.

ANWAR FAIZ/THESUN

KUALA LUMPUR: Police nabbed four Taiwanese chemists and six Malaysians in the biggest seizure of designer drugs Eramin 5 worth a whopping RM61.3 million at a factory building turned laboratory at Tebrau 2 industrial estate in Johor Baru early on Sunday. The raiding party from the Federal Narcotics Department here seized millions of the hallucinary pills, raw material, ingriedients and machinery for making the pills following days of survelliance and intelligence gathering on the international drug syndicate. Department director Commissioner Datuk Zul Hasnan Najib Baharuddin said the raid was carried out at about 5.30am and, initially, the four Taiwanese and a local resident, who is a caretaker of the laboratory, were arrested. Simultaneous raids on other locations in Johor Bahru saw five more Malaysians, believed to be distributers of the drugs, caught. Zul Hasnan said the syndicate was behind the main supply of Eramin 5 in Malaysia and also smuggled the drugs out for overseas demands. Speaking at a press conference at the Palace of the Golden Horses, where he was attending a meeting by Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan for all state police heads, Zul Hasnan added that the Taiwanese suspects were responsible for the production of the pills and among the Malaysians arrested was the mastermind of the syndicate. The suspects are aged between 30 and 40 years. He said the Taiwanese men had also funded the activities, and checks showed that one of them had criminal records in his country. “The syndicate has been active for more than three months and the lab is the first of its kind exposed in Malaysia,” he said.

Helper who used ministry letterhead sacked by Opalyn Mok [email protected]

GEORGE TOWN: A helper in the office of the higher education minister’s political secretary had used the ministry’s letterhead to book some 70 hotel rooms for Umno members and was sacked for doing so. “This was done by somebody in my political secretary’s office without authorisation, so when we found out about it, he was asked to leave,” Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled

Nordin said here yesterday. Khaled denied he had any knowledge of the helper using the ministry’s letterhead to book the hotel rooms. “He had done it out of urgency because the hotel wanted an immediate reply. I didn’t know about it because I was not in the office,” he said. Asked how a helper could have easy access to the ministry’s letterhead and misuse it, he said the letter was not signed and was thus unauthorised. Khaled also explained that it

was not the ministry’s letterhead that was used but the political secretary’s office letterhead, which said “Political Secretary to the Higher Education Minister”. He also said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had not contacted him on the matter. Last week, Tian Chua, the PKR information chief and MP for Batu, lodged a complaint with the MACC alleging that the ministry’s letterhead was misused to book rooms for Umno Pasir division members.

The cost of the air tickets for one business class and six economy class seats was RM17,438, KDEB president Datuk Abdul Karim Munisar told the Select Committee on Competance, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) on the first day of its inquiry into contributions disbursed to Balkis yesterday. Abdul Karim said the company paid more than RM206,000 for the souvenirs from China, which included a few hundred stalks of artificial flowers in various colours, and 2,700 hats – 900 each in red, yellow and purple. This was despite the fact that the invoice showed the supplier had a branch in Kuala Lumpur. The entire cost was absorbed by KDEB, a state investment arm, under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. Abdul Karim also said KDEB had spent RM65,300 to buy songket material given as gifts to VVIPs at a function hosted by Balkis in February 2006, and about RM25,000 for souvenir chocolates. The company also contributed RM100,000 for a dinner organised by Balkis at Sunway Lagoon Resort and Spa Hotel on July 24, 2007. This was a week before the association co-hosted three dinners, costing RM450,000. The first two dinners, on Aug 2 and 3, were held at the same venue and the third, on Aug 4, was held at Sunway Lagoon Theme Park Hotel. The cost was borne by the state government with the approval of the financial officer and endorsement of the executive council (exco). Asked by the select committee, chaired by Selangor State Assembly Speaker Teng Chang Khim, why the payments were made under KDEB’s CSR programme, Abdul Karim said: “We do not question the relevance of this as it is determined by the previous state government and there are no criteria or guidelines. “Now, KDEB is under a new government and if they change the policy and stipulate guidelines pertaining to the CSR programme, then we will adhere to it.” Abdul Karim was one of the four witnesses who testified before the sevenmember committee, made up of five Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen and two Barisan Nasional representatives. He said that “if the president approves the appeal for funding from organisations like Balkis then the board would have to endorse it”.

Asked what would happen if he did not approve it, he said “susahlah” (that’s tough). Representatives of state-owned companies and their subsidiaries admitted at the inquiry that they were obliged to pay for the costs incurred by Balkis, saying it was a practice they did not question. During the morning session, State Secretary Datuk Ramli Mahmud said the CSR guidelines for state companies were determined by the companies themselves and that there were “no fixed guidelines”. “It is for the CEOs to decide on based on their budget allocations,” he said. Ramli also said that where the state was concerned, there was no special treatment for Balkis as the organisation had to write in to ask for financial assistance. He said the RM450,000 contribution for the Balkis dinners at Sunway Lagoon Resort and Spa Hotel and Sunway Lagoon Theme Park Hotel were a one-off contribution to the organisation, taking into account the fact that the organisation was run by the wives of state representatives. “We received the endorsement of the state executive council (exco) and the financial officer to host the three events, which the wives of elected representatives from all the 13 states attended, with Balkis as the co-host,” he said. Former Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS) general manager Datuk Harun Salim agreed with the committee that PKNS was a “tukang bayar” (pay master) for Balkis as the association would forward its bills to the company to be paid. However, Harun denied that he was concerned about repercussions if he did not endorse the sponsorships because he said his performance and the profits of the company were good and, therefore, this was not a reason he took into account when approving the sponsorships. PKNS and its subsidiaries had also contributed large sums to Balkis, including RM300,000 for the three dinners held on Aug 2, 3 and 4. Pebadanan Kemajuan Pertanian Selangor (PKPS) deputy general manager Mohd Nordin Darhan told the committee the company had, in January 2006, contributed RM46,000 for the officiating of the Balkis complex in Section 7, Shah Alam, including the cost of 150 fruit hampers for guests.