Two years on, only silence...
Fauwaz Abdul AzizPublished: Jul 18, 2007 4:37 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
Two years after lodging a corruption report against a senior official of a premier school in Kuala Lumpur, the complainant is still waiting for the enforcement agencies to respond.
Two years after lodging a corruption report against a senior official of a premier school in Kuala Lumpur, the complainant is still waiting for the enforcement agencies to respond.
School maintenance worker Kanapathy Krishnasamy lodged the report in September 2005 and provided related documents to the police, Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and Public Complaints Bureau in the Prime Minister's Department.
He alleged that the official of SMK St John's had siphoned off RM150,000 from school funds, after tampering with documents such as invoices and audited reports.
When there was no outcome, Kanapathy, 57, took the same documents to the education ministry which responded by denying the official a promotion or increment in salary, he claimed.
"Other than that, nothing has been done. One ACA official told me investigations are going on. But after two years? How can someone like this be allowed to remain in such a senior position at the school?" asked Kanapathy, who retired from St John's in 2005.
He filed a new report in April this year at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters and in May at the Federal Territories ACA office in Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin.
In these, Kanapathy alleged that the official had received:
- RM3,900 for allowing a local production company to carry out some film shooting on the school grounds; and
- RM2,000 from a contractor for awarding him a RM33,000 contract to carry out repair works on the school front porch.
Receipts and invoices - copies of which were made available to malaysiakini - indicated payments for repair jobs. These had addresses and contact numbers of different contractors based in Batu Caves, Selangor - while the contact numbers were identical, the addresses were different.
When contacted, Federal Territories ACA director Abu Zubir Mahfodz said he would only comment when he has checked the status of the investigations.
Denials all round
When contacted, the film producer said he had used the grounds many times for shootings, but no 'inappropriate payments' were made.
One payment was made to the senior official for which no receipt or payment voucher was issued, but only because the school was about to close for the holidays and the film crew was rushing to carry out filming the next day, he claimed.
"I've heard that there's been some bad history between (the senior official) and Kanapathy. These reports could be a result of that," said the producer who asked not to be identified.
Similarly, the contractor denied any wrongdoing on the official's part.
"He took nothing from me. He's a very good person. That RM2,000 was a discount to St John's on the total bill. It was not given to him," he said when contacted.
When met, the school official dismissed the claims, saying these were made by certain "jealous" quarters who want to see him transferred.
He also said the claims had been investigated by the ACA and the ministry which had cleared him of any wrongdoing.
"I do not want to answer any questions pertaining to that issue. It is in the past," he said, declining further comment or identification by name.
It is learnt that the official's promotion and salary increment had been frozen in 2005 because the ACA had not cleared his status in time for the ministry's promotion exercise in September that year, but that clearance has since been given.
Kanapathy denied that he had an axe to grind with the official, saying the latter had made a few enemies when the repair and maintenance contracts were given to different companies.
"All the earlier contractors were sidelined and a set of new ones took over," he said.
Corroborating this, the contractor involved in giving the 'discount' said certain quarters were not happy with St John's open-tender exercises.
"I was called by the ACA the other day. I told them this is just a matter of certain people playing dirty because their cronies didn't get the contract," he claimed.
School maintenance worker Kanapathy Krishnasamy lodged the report in September 2005 and provided related documents to the police, Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and Public Complaints Bureau in the Prime Minister's Department.
He alleged that the official of SMK St John's had siphoned off RM150,000 from school funds, after tampering with documents such as invoices and audited reports. When there was no outcome, Kanapathy, 57, took the same documents to the education ministry which responded by denying the official a promotion or increment in salary, he claimed.
"Other than that, nothing has been done. One ACA official told me investigations are going on. But after two years? How can someone like this be allowed to remain in such a senior position at the school?" asked Kanapathy, who retired from St John's in 2005.
He filed a new report in April this year at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters and in May at the Federal Territories ACA office in Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin.
In these, Kanapathy alleged that the official had received:
- RM3,900 for allowing a local production company to carry out some film shooting on the school grounds; and
- RM2,000 from a contractor for awarding him a RM33,000 contract to carry out repair works on the school front porch.
Receipts and invoices - copies of which were made available to malaysiakini - indicated payments for repair jobs. These had addresses and contact numbers of different contractors based in Batu Caves, Selangor - while the contact numbers were identical, the addresses were different.
When contacted, Federal Territories ACA director Abu Zubir Mahfodz said he would only comment when he has checked the status of the investigations.
Denials all round
When contacted, the film producer said he had used the grounds many times for shootings, but no 'inappropriate payments' were made.
One payment was made to the senior official for which no receipt or payment voucher was issued, but only because the school was about to close for the holidays and the film crew was rushing to carry out filming the next day, he claimed.
"I've heard that there's been some bad history between (the senior official) and Kanapathy. These reports could be a result of that," said the producer who asked not to be identified.
Similarly, the contractor denied any wrongdoing on the official's part.
"He took nothing from me. He's a very good person. That RM2,000 was a discount to St John's on the total bill. It was not given to him," he said when contacted.
When met, the school official dismissed the claims, saying these were made by certain "jealous" quarters who want to see him transferred.
He also said the claims had been investigated by the ACA and the ministry which had cleared him of any wrongdoing. "I do not want to answer any questions pertaining to that issue. It is in the past," he said, declining further comment or identification by name.
It is learnt that the official's promotion and salary increment had been frozen in 2005 because the ACA had not cleared his status in time for the ministry's promotion exercise in September that year, but that clearance has since been given.
Kanapathy denied that he had an axe to grind with the official, saying the latter had made a few enemies when the repair and maintenance contracts were given to different companies.
"All the earlier contractors were sidelined and a set of new ones took over," he said.
Corroborating this, the contractor involved in giving the 'discount' said certain quarters were not happy with St John's open-tender exercises.
"I was called by the ACA the other day. I told them this is just a matter of certain people playing dirty because their cronies didn't get the contract," he claimed.
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