Transparency International (TI) Malaysia Chapter's Secretary-General Prof Mehrun Siraj today broke her silence over the controversial resignation of the organisation's president Param Cumaraswamy two days ago in a statement which conspicuously avoided mention of the latter.

"TI-Malaysia was established on the principles of transparency and integrity. It is with deep sadness that most of us at TI-Malaysia watched the unfolding of the events that have taken place in the last couple of days," she said in a statement issued on behalf of the organisation this evening.

Confirming that TI deputy president Lee Chong San had retracted his resignation, Mehrun said the "whole unfortunate event is the result of certain parties who did not use the proper channels of solving a problem".

She rebutted allegations made by 'a certain person' about alleged irregularities in organisation's finances. "All we have to say is that it is baseless. All accounts of TI-Malaysia are audited both internally by two members who are experienced auditors and also by an external auditing firm," she said.

Former TI president Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim was quoted by press reports today as saying TI-Malaysian was not transparent as it declined to declare some expenditure for activities to Param.

Mehrun said as in all organisations, TI had a proper structures in place to deal with issues of governance. "We have an executive committee which is elected by the general body every two years. The exco meets every month to discuss governance and policy issues.

"As it is with any organisation, decisions are made either collectively or by a majority vote. All monthly accounts and projects activities are tabled and discussed at these meetings. All members of TI-Malaysia are welcome to view these documents at any time," she added.

Split in exco

In a strongly-worded resignation letter on Monday, Param singled out Mehrun as the main cause of his resignation.

"The conduct and behaviour of the secretary-general of the (TI) Society have become intolerable to the extent that I have decided to tender my resignation, which I hereby do, from the office of the president and membership of the Society with immediate effect," Param had said.

Meanwhile, Mehrun's statement today raised the ire of fellow TI executive committee member Josie Fernandez

"I think it is highly irregular, an outrage and not respectful of the exco members because we were not consulted on this statement," she told malaysiakini, adding that it was an 'underhand tactic' which could not be condones.

Fernandez said the 'unconstitutional' resolution proposed by another exco member Anwar Fasal yesterday recommending that Param's resignation be accepted had failed as it was only endorsed by Mehrun.

"She could not achieve her unethical intention yesterday. Today, she issues this statement without consulting the exco members,"said Fernandez.

Yesterday's resolution sent to all TI exco members had also proposed that Lee be appointed president of the organisation and that the exco authorise him "to take all the necessary and appropriate actions for the benefit of the society"

Fernandez called on TI members to demand for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to resolve the ongoing internal crisis.