Elegant Advisory, the company which was implicated in the Barisan Nasional poll merchandise scandal, has abandoned their office shortly after a report on the issue was published in malaysiakini two weeks ago.

Malaysiakini, in investigating the matter, had traced the company's office to the first floor of a three-storey building at the 2-2, Jalan 2A/6, Taman Setapak Indah in Setapak, about 5km north of Kuala Lumpur.

The office then was still active, and was staffed by two individuals.

However, when malaysiakini visited the office again today, it was discovered that the company's signboard had disappeared and office's main door locked.

A worker with another company which is located in the same building told malaysiakini that he had not seen Elegant Advisory's staff lately and that the office was closed about two weeks ago.

However, it cannot be ascertained whether Elegant Advisory had relocated its office or it had stopped operation altogether.

On July 7, malaysiakini disclosed that a group of suppliers - which had provided posters, badges, banners, caps and mineral water for the ruling coalition's election campaign - had claimed BN owes them an estimated RM100 million.

The suppliers - some of them are major printing and mineral water firms - struck a deal with Kuala Lumpur-based Elegant Advisory Sdn Bhd, a company which had claimed to have secured a lucrative 'government contract' to supply the ruling coalition with campaign paraphernalia.

Donations 'normal'

However, the BN secretary-general Radzi Sheikh Ahmad denied that the ruling coalition had entered into a deal with the company for the campaign materials.

He said the ruling coalition did not intend to take any action against any individuals who embroiled the coalition in the embarrassing scandal and advised the suppliers to lodge police reports against Elegant Advisory.

Some BN leaders have however conceded that they did receive the poll merchandise during their election campaign in the March 21 general election.

They argued that it was normal for them to receive 'donations' and other free items during the election campaign.

The company's chairperson Hasan Ayoub, who claimed that he had stepped down from the post recently, blamed other Elegant Advisory's executives for placing the orders for posters and other campaign materials even before it held any negotiations with the state Umno and BN liaison committees on the matter.

However, several suppliers said that Hasan had told them he was backed by an 'influential' Umno politician who had been tasked to raise funds from BN-linked tycoons and companies for the polls.

According to the suppliers, they met Hasan numerous times before and after the March 21 general election when no payment was made as promised by him.