Reports lodged against Faekah

(The Star) - A new controversy is brewing in the office of the Selangor Mentri Besar following allegations that his political secretary had abused her power.

Faekah Husin had reportedly issued a letter of support to a company that applied for a state government contract.

The company belonged to a relative, according to several portals and blogs that carried the latest scandal to rock the state government.

Selangor Umno Youth chief Ungku Md Salleh Ungku Abd Jamal, accompanied by several officials, lodged a police report against her over the reports at the Kajang police headquarters yesterday.

“As a person who has power in the Mentri Besar's office, she should know that she cannot issue the letter to her family members.”

Ungku Md Salleh said the Youth wing would lodge a similar report against her with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission next week.

Faekah had reportedly influenced a state-government linked company to appoint a certain law firm to their panel of legal advisors.

She had allegedly used a letterhead of the Mentri Besar's office to support the law firm, where her nephew is said to have a stake.

Faekah had allegedly written in her letter, dated Aug 10, 2011: “The administration is of the view that (the law firm) should be given a chance, as long as it does not contravene any company regulations.”

Defending his political secretary, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said it was not wrong for government officials to forward letters of support to any state GLC.

“It is fine to forward such letters, even if the letterhead of the Mentri Besar's office is used as long as the officer does not recommend a particular firm or contractor,” he said in Shah Alam.

“It is normal to forward letters. I do it, too. After a while, nobody writes to me any more because I just forward them,” he said.

Khalid said, however, that it was wrong to recommend or instruct a GLC to make appointments.

On the resignation of PKR's director of strategy Rafizi Ramli as CEO of the Selangor economic advisory office, Khalid reiterated that there was no rift between them.

Khalid said Rafizi wanted to focus on becoming an MP and his dissociation from the state administration would allow him to comment independently on the efforts by the Selangor government.