Selangor seeks probe on Umno aid to Egypt students

By Yow Hong Chieh

March 13, 2011

Selangor Umno deputy chief Datuk Seri Noh Omar previously raised allegations of funds abuse by the state government. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — The Selangor government has asked the national anti-graft body to probe “indebted” Selangor Umno for giving over RM500,000 to help students affected by the recent Egyptian protests.

The mentri besar’s office questioned how Selangor Umno and Yayasan Kelana Ehsan (YKE) could afford the payout when the party’s Shah Alam division still owed Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) RM236,000.

Selangor Umno and YKE last week handed out RM500 to nearly 1,200 students forced to return from Egypt after popular protests there temporarily disrupted their studies.

“If Selangor Umno really wants to spend half a million (ringgit)... why didn’t it try to clear its debt with MBSA?” said Faekah Husin, political secretary to Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

She then urged MACC to look into YKE’s assets and businesses to see how it managed to raise the funds.

Faekah said the graft busters should act on the matter with the same expediency it had exercised when opening files into the Selangor government’s alleged misuse of public funds after receiving complaints from Umno.

Umno most recently accused the state government of using taxpayers’ money to foot the hotel bill for Sabah and Sarawak PKR delegates who attended the party convention here in December.

Selangor Umno claimed the state government, through Menteri Besar Inc (MBI), had spent RM80,000 on 100 rooms at a hotel in Section 52, Petaling Jaya.

The Selangor government defended its actions, saying it was “the norm” for the state to receive guests from out of state who wished to pay an official visit to the mentri besar.

“We also wish MACC will investigate [Selangor Umno and YKE] if MACC is truly acting to uphold transparency,” Faekah said today.

“Don’t practise double standards to the point where the institution’s credibility is brought down low.”