Two reps called before Selcat's sand mining probe

Two Selangor assemblypersons were called before the Select Committee of Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) today, as the state legislative committee began its probe into allegations of abuse of power with regard to sand mining contracts.

PKR’s Seri Muda assemblyperson Shuhaimi Shafiei (right) and Batu Caves assemblyperson Amirudin Shari were called to answer allegations that they assisted a company in which they formerly sat on its board of directors, Double Dignity Sdn Bhd, to obtain sand mining contracts from state-owned sand mining consortium Kuala Semesta Sdn Bhd (KSSB).

Shuhaimi, however, repeated his denials of the accusations made against him by a well-known self-exiled blogger.

“To my knowledge, I never assisted in obtaining any contracts from KSSB (for Double Dignity).

“These are planned accusations, by a hired writer with no integrity who ran away from the country and his responsibility.

“I believe these accusations are made to disparage the state government in the run-up to the general election,” said Shuhaimi, hitting back at his accuser.

He was referring to allegations by blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, popularly known as RPK, implicating Shuhaimi and Amirudin as the ones who had helped Double Dignity obtain sand mining contracts from KSSB via a support letter.

Both the Batu Caves and Seri Muda assemblypersons were investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the same matter in 2010, but with no follow-up since then.

Shuhaimi reiterated that Double Dignity is a plantation firm and not a sand mining operation.

Amirudin (left) explained that the letter was a mistake on Double Dignity’s part, which had mistakenly issued it for a project that had nothing to do with sand mining. However, it was withdrawn after Amirudin informed the firm’s owners of the mistake.

The third witness called to assist Selcat today was KSSB CEO Wan Ab Halim Wan Ismail, brought in to answer allegations that the service of several members of the state GLC’s workforce had been terminated after they lodged complaints about misconduct in the firm.

Wan Ab Halim  repeated his denial in several press statements, insisting that the firm had not wrongfully fired nine workers for lodging complaints against it.

He explained that four of the staff terminated were disciplinary cases into which a domestic inquiry had been conducted. They were found guilty.

The rest are contract workers whose tenure was not renewed because of discipline problems or lack of mining activity in their sectors.

“Those who said they lodged reports, they never did so.”

Wan Ab Halim (right) also explained that the reports of sand theft actually occurred outside of KSSB-controlled areas and as such were not under its purview.

“In such cases we do report them to the Land Office, but I told my staff not to go to places outside of our control (where sand is being stolen).

“Or else if they were hit by a shovel, they’ll just die for nothing,” he jibed.

Today marked the first day of the recent round of Selcat public hearings, investigating allegations of wrongdoing in state-owned companies.

Tomorrow, Yayasan Selangor will bear the brunt of Selcat scrutiny over allegations of lavish spending.

On Wednesday, two state GLCs under the Perbadanan Kemajuan Pertanian Selangor will  be investigated for allegedly misusing federal grants from the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry.

'No documentary evidence'

At a press conference afterwards, Selcat chairperson Teng Chang Khim, who is Selangor speaker, said the body cannot investigate mere allegations alone without documentary evidence.

He said that no one from the public had stepped up to provide evidence of the allegations, and the three witness called were summoned by Selcat.

Teng (left) added that Selcat cannot afford to hold a public inquiry into every complaint because of lack of resources, financing and manpower, and some cases are investigated by the committee on its own.

He said that the practice of committees like Selcat and four other committees in the state assembly is to help educate assemblypersons in governance and how to monitor state government machinery.

“Unlike Parliament which has only the PAC and can accommodate only seven MPs, we have five committees which can involve 35 assemblypersons.”

Such efforts and courses overseas to which Selangor assemblypersons are sent, he said, are good ways to educate them about the parliamentary process and good governance.

He lamented that this is something which is sorely missing in Parliament "where even some ministers are ignorant of the role of the House:.

“If that is the standard of a minister, just imagine the standard of regular government MPs,” sniped Teng.

Teng’s comment on the “ignorant minister” was made in relation to a question on Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries Minister Noh Omar who did not turn up at previous Selcat hearings, despite claiming to have mountains of evidence on alleged wrongdoings in the state.

Teng said he is sad that a national leader and minister can make such allegations without going through the proper procedures.