MIC man asks party treasurer to quit

Jaspal Singh is accused of giving confusing answers about a plot of land near party headquarters.

PETALING JAYA: A local MIC leader today called for the resignation of the party’s treasurer-general, Jaspal Singh, accusing him of confusing members about the status of a piece of land adjacent to the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The government granted the land to Maika Holdings Bhd some time in the mid-1980s. It is not clear whether Maika, MIC’s investment arm, still owns it.

Jaspal has been giving “contradictory replies” to party members asking about the land, according to V Thiagarajen, who heads the Taman Mujur MIC branch here.

He recalled that at the party’s annual general meeting last July, Jaspal responded to a delegate’s question by saying that the land no longer belonged to MIC or any of its agencies.

“However, at a recent Selangor MIC meeting, he said he did not know anything about the status of the land,” Thiagarajen added.

He said party members were confused and called on Jaspal to either “clear the air immediately” or give up his position to make way for “someone more credible”.

When it acquired the land, Maika had planned to build a 32-storey multipurpose tower on it, but financial problems forced it to abandon the idea. It turned the plot into a car park instead.