Shangri-La records Najib birthday ‘private’, not daughter’s do, says PKR

By Shannon Teoh

March 14, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — PKR insists Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s daughter’s engagement dinner was paid with public funds by comparing against a banquet event order (BEO) for the prime minister’s birthday which was recorded ‘private’ by the hotel that catered both events.

PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli pointed out today the BEO for the June 2, 2011 engagement of Najib’s daughter which cost RM409,767 was billed to the Prime Minister’s Office’s (PMO) account and labelled as “Pejabat Perdana Menteri — OCS dinner.”

The PMO and Shangri-La have denied the allegations, saying Najib paid for the engagement dinner.

“Compared to his daughter’s engagement, this event is clearly recorded as the prime minister’s private event. This raises questions over why his daughter’s engagement was not clearly stated as private but instead a ‘PMO event’,” Rafizi (picture) told reporters in parliament here.

The purported birthday BEO he distributed to reporters today state that Shangri-La Hotel catered for a “Private Dinner hosted by PM” on July 24, 2011 worth RM79,053 in conjunction with Najib’s birthday, which falls on July 23.

Rafizi also questioned how Najib could “insist he paid for them on his own... based on his salary” of about RM23,000 per month.

“In the space of about a month, the prime minister has spent half a million ringgit for two grand events at Seri Perdana,” Rafizi said, referring to the PM’s official residence.

The alleged BEO showed that RM21,495 was spent on food and drink for 100 guests, RM31,800 on flower arrangements, RM13,038 on two bands performing that night as well as a RM12,720 handling charge.

Shangri-La had said in a statement yesterday Najib paid for his daughter’s engagement dinner despite PKR producing a banquet event order (BEO) charging the RM409,767 dinner to the PMO.

The hotel management told The Malaysian Insider in an email that it received a confirmation on June 2, 2011 for event catering at the PM’s official residence Seri Perdana 15 days later.

“As per normal procedure, event order number 14511 was issued on June 13, 2011 for the said event. The said event was completed on June 17, 2011 and the full settlement of the said event was paid by the Honourable Prime Minister on June 30, 2011 and not by the Prime Minister’s Office,” it said.

Rafizi showed reporters on Friday the BEO as proof of his claim that the prime minister spent RM409,767 on the June 17, 2011 event to celebrate his daughter’s engagement to Daniyar Nazarbayev from Kazakhstan.

This comprised a bill of RM18,792 for 36 VIPs — who were served Wagyu beef and marinated scallops — RM309,975 for 862 guests and RM81,000 for handling costs.

But the PMO denied the same evening footing the bill for the event.

“The engagement bill of PM’s daughter, Nooryana Najwa, was not taken up by the Prime Minister’s Office as alleged by some quarters. PKR’s strategic director Rafizi Ramli should apologise for his allegations, which are false, defamatory and a deliberate smear on the Prime Minister’s reputation.

“No public funds were used to meet the costs of his daughter’s engagement reception, which was paid for personally by the Prime Minister and his family,” it said in a statement.

But PKR demanded Najib to provide evidence that public funds were not used to pay the RM409,767 bill.

Rafizi said in a statement that the demand for an apology by the PMO “is premature at this junction as the two-paragraph statement consists of only a mere denial, without any hard evidence or facts that can support the denial.”

He called again today for the PM to produce evidence “instead of just a bare denial.”