Kedah MB, MCA asked to explain state funds for Umno office
Kedah Menteri Besar Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah was issued with a legal notice seeking an explanation on the alleged channelling of public funds into an Umno branch office in the state.
Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Leung sent the notice on behalf of Teoh Boon Kok, the Kota Darulaman assemblyperson, who claimed that up to RM40,500 in allocations for his constituency had been misused.
"The amount includes RM20,000 used for maintaining the Umno branch office in Kota Darulaman, RM17,000 used for activities which Teoh never received, and RM3,500 was used to buy walkie-talkies for the Umno office, which Teoh had no knowledge about," Gooi claimed.
Teoh had raised the issue on the allocation in the last Kedah state assembly session in August...
Kedah Menteri Besar Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah was issued with a legal notice seeking an explanation on the alleged channelling of public funds into an Umno branch office in the state.
Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Leung sent the notice on behalf of Teoh Boon Kok, the Kota Darulaman assemblyperson, who claimed that up to RM40,500 in allocations for his constituency had been misused.
"The amount includes RM20,000 used for maintaining the Umno branch office in Kota Darulaman, RM17,000 used for activities which Teoh never received, and RM3,500 was used to buy walkie-talkies for the Umno office, which Teoh had no knowledge about," Gooi claimed.
Teoh had raised the issue on the allocation in the last Kedah state assembly session in August.
In a written reply, the state government claimed that RM100,000 had been disbursed to each state constituency – including Kota Darulaman – but that it was controlled by Umno state executive councillor Badrul Hisham Hashim.
"Clearly, areas won by the opposition were still receiving allocations, but unfortunately the allocation was kept away and not managed by the state assemblyman but by an Umno coordinator.
"It was also discovered from the answer given to Teoh in the last state assembly sitting that the public funds had been abused and misused to maintain an Umno branch office for Kota Darulaman," Gooi said.
According to Gooi, Ahmad Bashah has seven days to reply to the letter, failing which Teoh will take legal action to recover the public funds for his constituents, and lodge a report with MACC.
Gooi also accused Kedah MCA of "constantly lying, misleading and threatening voters" by saying that seats won by the opposition will lose development allocations from the government.
"The fact is every year the Kedah government has been giving RM100,000 allocation to each state constituency, including those areas won by the opposition.
"Instead of misleading and threatening voters, MCA owes them a public explanation on why the party has no say at all in how the allocation is managed," he said.
