Exco denies ‘enriching cronies’ claim

Selangor's Dr Xavier Jeyakumar says that the construction of the Midlands Tamil school is not to enrich the state government or its cronies.

SHAH ALAM: Construction of the Midlands Tamil school in Section 7 here is not to enrich the Pakatan Rakyat-ruled state government or its cronies, a state executive council member said.

In a press statement, Dr Xavier Jeyakumar said there is no chance of the state enriching its cronies as the construction of the school was under the purview of the SJK (T) Midlands Board of Governors (Board) and not the Selangor state government.

On Wednesday, MIC Youth chief T Mohan and the Klang Consumers Association urged the state government to reveal details of the sales and purchase agreement with I-City, the owners of the land in which the school is being built.

The consumers association raised concern over the matter after it found that the state government allocated “only” RM3 million for the school when speculation was abound that I-City gave out compensation totalling RM20 million for the school.

Jeyakumar said that the school board had a choice over the issue which was either to accept the proposal of RM3 million and four acres of land at the present site or to maintain their claim for a four acre land within I-City, which now sat on prime land.

He said the state made an allocation of RM3 million to the school board through Majlis Perbandaran Shah Alam (MBSA).

The exco also shot down Mohan’s accusation that the new building was overpriced, saying that the state government did not intervene in the construction of the school.

“The board was given the option of constructing the school. The design consultancy, selection of the contractor and matters related to construction were entirely left to the school board,” he said.

Contacted later, Mohan said he was unhappy with Jeyakumar’s reply.

“It seems like he is trying to deflect the issue by blaming the school board.

“Our question is very simple, why did the state government order I-City to pay RM3 million as compensation when the land was sold to the company for more than RM20 million?” he asked.

The MIC Youth chief said the party would send a notice to the state government asking for details of the sale and purchase agreement to be made public.

“We will give them five days. If they fail to reply then MIC would hold a protest in front of the state secretariat,” he said.