Parliament’s Reply On Najib’s Trip to Europe & United States is Dubious

If this is the case that the entire PM’s staff travelled to both Milan and Dubai on route to KL, then does spending almost half a million ringgit on taxpayers’ money for his staff to holiday and shop in these places justifiable – especially if all the expenses involved public funds. 

Teresa Kok

The Parliamentary reply by Minister in the PM’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz, with regard to the expenses of PM Najib Tun Razak’s trip to Europe and US from 13.5.2012 to 25.5.2012, is incomplete and dubious to say the least.

In the reply, Nazri said that the PM was in London from 13-5-2012 to 15-5-2012. From there, Najib is said to have gone to New York from 16-5-2012 to 18-5-2012 and thereafter he went on a private visit to Washington from 19-5-2012 to 24-5-2012.

My first question is why was it such an expensive trip to London and New York involving almost RM2.5 million just to attend two events, as per Nazri’s reply, which are “Working visit to attend reception hosted by Prince Charles” in London and “Working visit to attend meeting of Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council” in New York? Is not that a waste of the taxpayers’ money and waste of Prime Minister’s time for these unimportant events?

Did PM’s entourage have private visit to Washington or Milan?

Nazri has further claimed that the government only spent RM452,985.74 for the PM’s officers to accompany his private visit to Washington. Please find the details as follow:

1. London Working visit to attend reception hosted by Prince Charles, 13-15 May 2012, RM 849,175.33
2. New York Working visit to attend meeting of Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council, 16-18 May 2012, RM 1,606,402.75
3. Washington Officers accompanied private visit of Prime Minister, 19-24 May 2012, RM 452,985.75

TOTAL 2,908,563.82

Click for Breakdown of expenses in Parliamentary Reply

However, I have come to obtain some aeronautical evidence via flight plans on www.flightradar24.com/2012-05-20/03:22/NAA, which shows that the official PM’s aircraft (9M-NAA) travelled from Washington to Milan, Italy, on 20 May 2012 – just a day after arriving in Washington. The entourage remained in Milan for four days. The flight plan also shows the plane had stopped over in Dubai and then returned to Kuala Lumpur.

My next question is – why did Nazri lead the Parliament to believe, in the Parliamentary reply, that the contingent had stayed in Washington for almost five days? Further, I would like for the PM to openly declare to the public information on who travelled with him to Milan and were the expenses paid for by the PM personally or from the taxpayers’ coffers?
Here I would want to call on the PM’s office to specify in detail the breakdown of the RM452,985.75 in Washington/ Milan/ Dubai and as well tell us why was it necessary to conceal this information of the Milan trip in the Parliamentary reply.

If this is the case that the entire PM’s staff travelled to both Milan and Dubai on route to KL, then does spending almost half a million ringgit on taxpayers’ money for his staff to holiday and shop in these places justifiable – especially if all the expenses involved public funds.

Finally, to my understanding, the role of 9M-NAA, being an official aircraft, is to carry Malaysia’s PM and the King for official visits, and not meant for personal travel. Therefore, can the PM justify using the nation’s official aircraft for his family and staff holiday?

For the detailed flight plans and info please refer to the chart and links below;

http://www.flightradar24.com/2012-05-24/20:38/NR1;

www.flightradar24.com/2012-05-20/03:22/NAA.