Former exco member Hasan Ali wasted hundreds of thousands of ringgit while he was in office, particularly to renovate his office, PKR's Bukit Antarabangsa representative Azmin Ali told the Selangor assembly today.

NONEDebating the royal address, Azmin (right) said the sacked Selangor exco member for Islamic affairs, Malay customs, infrastructure and public amenities spent RM300,000 for his office renovations.

“He also spent RM550,000 when the Selangor Malay Customs and Heritage Corporation (Padat) organised a conference. The money could have been better channelled to rakyat,” he said.

Hasan was then chairperson of the state body.

Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, lambasted Hasan also for bypassing the state’s open tender policy for road maintenance sub-contracts.

Citing a contract awarded to KPS-HCM Sdn Bhd by the previous administration, Azmin said Hasan was supposed to hold open tenders in selecting the consortium’s sub-contractors, as the contract was worth RM35 million a year.

“When Pakatan took over in 2008, MB Khalid Ibrahim already made it clear that the consortium must stop appointing sub-contractors directly. However, Hasan ignored the order and directly submitted 83 names to JKR Selangor.

“I have documentary evidence to prove my words,” he said.

"Now that he has been expelled, he is chanting about Islam everywhere. But what kind of Islamic value has he been upholding all this while?" asked Azmin.

At this juncture, Sulaiman Abdul Razak (BN-Permatang) interjected and demanded why Azmin had failed to expose Hasan while he was still in the state administration.

Azmin’s explanation was that he had only received the evidence recently and had requested the PAS leadership to look into the matter before Hasan was axed from the party.

Word of caution

Meanwhile, Azmin also sounded a word of caution to Selangor government to watch out when asking its subordinate officials to attend certain functions.

He said Selangor government had in December 2011 issued letters to its JKKK village heads, inviting them to attend a 1Malaysia seminar on security by former Umno assemblyman Fuad Hassan and former inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor.

“I wouldn’t mind if they were being giving real training but this was not. This was a pure political event.

“You ask Rahim Noor, someone who behaved like a gangster during his tenure as IGP to talk about security?

"You might not even safe to be with him,” he said, taking a sly dig at Rahim’s infamous assault on his party boss Anwar Ibrahim in 1999.

On a side note, Azmin commended the Selangor government efforts in reducing the state’s direct tenders - from the RM190 million in 2005 when it was under BN control to RM4 million last year.