Poser over the EC's 'missing' RM360 MILLION : Shahidan goes head to head with Azmin

UPDATED VIDEOS INSERTED KUALA LUMPUR -  A brouhaha has kicked up over a RM360 million budget allocation to the Election Commission to cover the costs of the recently-concluded general election.

So much dust has been kicked up that newly-minted Minister in charge of Parliament Shahidan Kassim decided to hold a press conference to clear up the confusion.

"The money was never spent. Only a warrant was issued and it has expired. Don't listen to those who tell lies and twist facts," Shahidan told a press conference on Thursday.

However, he could not back up his answer well and many of the reporters present were left more confused than before.

"Excuse me, I want to ask you. Why do you ask the questions? Because you suspect they spent the money? I am telling you they didn't use the money. Habis, finish," said a frustrated Shahidan.

He was responding to the barrage of questions from reporters who had pressed for further details such as when was the warrant cancelled, how long was its tenure, was the cancellation documented, would the unspent allocation be tabled and duly put back into the government's Consolidated Fund for future spending.

And to be fair to Shahidan, he tried his best to explain but the matter was rare and rather technical, hence the difficulty the reporters had in understanding the issue.

Are you hiding anything?

The minister had on Wednesday gone head to head with Opposition MP for Gombak Azmin Ali.

Given that the May 5 general election was the most divisive in the country's history and the EC accused of helping Prime Minister Najib Razak's government to cheat at the ballots, there is widespread suspicion amongst the Opposition and its supporters over the huge sum.

A recent slew of expose's by MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli alleging corruption among the EC and government top officials did not help lighten the mood either.

Against this background, the EC's request for an additional RM60million was scrutinized by Azmin, who found "several discrepancies". When he asked Shahidan for clarification, he said he was given a flimsy and incompetent reply.

"They (the EC) came back to the Dewan asking for RM360 mil in anticipation that GE13 would be held in 2012 but now they are coming back to the Dewan asking for an additional RM60mil. So my basic question was how did they spend this amount of money because this has been budgeted and he (Shahidan) failed to reply to this part of the issue but according to him, this money has already been returned by the Election Commission and what they had already spent was RM60 million," Azmin told reporters at the Parliament lobby on Wednesday.

"The issue is if you have this amount of money and you required only RM60 million, why are you coming back to the Dewan asking for money when you already have this amount of money which was allocated for election to the EC. Point no.2, he claimed that the money has been returned back to the government by the EC. Where in the 'usul' (motion) to suggest this amount has been returned. If the money has been returned, then the 'usul' must be amended because it is clearly stated in this 'usul' that RM45 million was allocated and the first supplementary budget was approved RM360million. Nothing was mentioned of any money returned to the government."

"We will demand to know how they spent this. If they claim they have already returned and if they did then they have to amend this 'usul'. When you say supplementary, it implies that the earlier allocation has been spent, otherwise why come back for additional funding? First they have to tell us how they spent RM360 million plus 45 million, then second, if they claim EC has returned the money, why doesn't it appear in the 'usul' the EC has returned the money.

Make sure you put it back into the Consolidated Fund

When asked how should the paper trail be like if it was true the EC did not spend the RM360million, Azmin said that whatever money budgeted for must be put through the federal government's Consolidated Fund

""You have to table back in the budget and this is the right time to show that the EC has returned the money and that money will go back to the Consolidated Fund of the federal government for future spending but it doesn't reflect in this particular motion. That is my point," said Azmin.

"So now, he is responsible to reply to the Dewan the date the EC returned back that amount of money and if they have that amount of money, why are they coming back asking for that amount of money (RM60 million). They claim they spent only RM60 million but why are you asking 60million when you have in actual fact 405 million in the account which they can use because it has been budgeted."

Malaysia Chronicle