FROM BAD TO WORSE: RTD gave me WWW15 for free, says Liow - another BN cover-up?

In what is widely perceived to be the latest BN cover-up, MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai now says the Road Transport Department has notified him that the WWW 15 number plate he successfully bid for would be issued free.

“I have received official notification from the department that the number plate is free. There is no payment involved. Any further questions, please refer to RTD. TQ,” Liow said on his Twitter..

The registration number had been valued at RM24,200 on the RTD website. News that Liow - who is also the Health Minister - had successfully tendered for it had sparked questions as to how he could afford to splurge such an amount based on his salary.

When grilled, Liow had insisted he did not have to pay for the number plate and neither did he pass on the bill to the Health Ministry.

"All ministers are eligible for one number; I didn’t exercise the option earlier. Numbers to me are not important; what is more important is service to the people,” Liow told reporters.

'Liar Liow' is back

However, a Chinese daily reported an RTD official as saying that the WWW 15 tender was in Liow’s name, and as such, the minister would be the party who was liable.

The official also told the newspaper that all the WWW registrations were sold through open tender and that the RTD did not reserve specific numbers for ministers unless directed to do so by their superiors.

The latest fiasco has not done Liow any good, raising the spectre of the July 9, 2011 Bersih 2.0 rally where he had stoutly defended the police, insisting that they had not fired tear gas into the compound of the Tung Shin Hospital. That turned out to be untrue, earning the MCA No. 2 his 'Liar Liow' nickname.

In 2009, Liow was accused of accepting a 'free' Toyota Alphard costing RM 574,884.10 from a contractor, Axis Construction Sdn Bhd. The Alphard car number plate WSB 15.

Liow denied the allegations and both he and his wife were later cleared by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission of wrongdoing.

Nizar accused of sedition

Apart from Liow, the Sultan of Johor has also come under fire for splurging RM520,000 for the coveted WWW1 plate.

When PAS leader Nizar Jamaluddin commented that the money could be better spent on helping the poor in Johor, he was investigated for Sedition.

Umno and MCA were accused of twisting the incident to discredit Nizar and other Pakatan Rakyat leaders to the Johor Malay community so as to stem the opposition's advance into the southern state.

Malaysia Chronicle