TRANSPARENCY BN STYLE? Accounts for Olympic expenditure not for public - Zolkples

KUALA LUMPUR - The pledge of openness on the expenditure for the London Olympics by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek has been turned into a hollow promise by National Sports Council director-general Datuk Seri Zolkples Embong.

In August, the minister at a packed press conference declared that there would be full disclosure of the records of the RM20 million spent on Olympic preparations if the public wanted to see the records.

Yesterday, at the National Aquatic Centre where both men were present, the minister asked Zolkples to explain after he was asked about the undertaking he had given.

Zolkples took the view that the public does not have access to the expenditure and deemed it non-obligatory: "We cannot give to the public every detail of the accounts. It is not necessary."

He explained that the accounts have been tabled to the National Sports Council board and have been audited by the auditor-general.

He said there was no procedure in the National Sports Council Act to allow accounts to be presented to the media.

The issue was first raised by theSun columnist R. Nadeswaran immediately after the Olympics, asking for full disclosure of how the RM20 million allocation was spent in the run-up to the 2012 Games as well as the Olympics proper in July-August.

Following Ahmad Shabery's statement, he wrote to Zolkples on Nov 6 asking to inspect the accounts but there was no response. In a subsequent column last week, he lamented that he did not even receive an acknowledgement of his letter, let alone a response.

Zolkples was adamant that the public cannot access the accounts despite the promises made by the minister.

"Our accounts must be presented to the cabinet first, and then to parliament. You just tell me what you want to know, we will tell you what you want to know. The questions must be valid," he said.

-thesundaily