In yet another expose, a PKR-linked NGO is asking why a federal minister apparently helped a co-operative chaired by the wife of a BN politician to acquire special dispensation to circumvent restrictions imposed by Malaysian Cooperatives Commission (SKM) guidelines.

ismail sabri universiti malaya 161111 "Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaacob practised double standards and acted unfairly... in the ‘special extension' given to the Tanjong Keramat Kota Kinabalu Bhd Cooperative, while other credit co-operatives are prohibited from implementing credit schemes under model three as specified in SKM guidelines GP6 and GP7," Jingga 13 coordinator Faris Musa told a press conference in the Parliament lobby yesterday.

Jingga 13 further claims that according to its investigations and SKM records, the Tanjong Keramat cooperative is chaired by Jouyah Md Yunin, the wife of Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Yahya Hussin.

Their son, Norazli Yahya, is also the co-operative's chief executive officer, Faris said.

The SKM guidelines, which govern cooperatives that extend credit to its members, specify three methods of lending:

Model One: The use of internal funds;

Model Two: Borrowing from a bank to finance the loans; and

Model Three : A credit cooperative acts as an agent to facilitate loans from a bank to its members.

As of Oct 1, 2010, the regulatory body passed guidelines GP6 and GP7 to prohibit the use of Model Three.

Faris said this directive caused more than 7,000 credit cooperatives to suspend their operations as they must now find loans or internal funds to conduct their operations, some having to sell off their assets to seek for funds while others were in dire financial strait.

Why extension was given to Tanjong Keramat

This however, apparently did not happen to the Tanjong Keramat Cooperative, Faris claimed, because it had been given a special extension by SKM, following an appeal by the Sabah state government and an order from Ismail Sabri.

Distributing copies of SKM records on the cooperative and a letter from SKM in answer to an inquiry from the Malay Chambers of Commerce on May 6, 2011, as to how Tanjong Keramat Cooperative continued to operate using Model Three, Jingga 13 pointed out a paragraph from the regulatory commission's answer.

"No other cooperatives was given an extension by SKM except for the Tanjong Keramat Cooperative. The extension was given based on the following:

(i) An order from the the honourable minister of domestic trade co-operatives and consumerism to give adequate consideration to the appeal; and

(ii) An appeal letter from the Sabah state government signed by its deputy chief minister asking fro an extension to all co-operatives in the state."

This, he said, begged the question of why the minister had sanctioned the appeal by the cooperative and why it was the only one given this special extension out of the 7,000-plus others affected.

The involvement of a deputy chief minister in a matter involving a commercial entity operated by his kin, the NGO posited, smacked of conflict of interest.

"Jingga 13 urges Ismail Sabri, SKM and Yahya to explain this issue to the people and other credit cooperatives... for this special extension given to the lone co-operative," concluded Faris, hinting that such an apparent double standard, if not explained adequately, may hint of abuse of power or graft.