`


THERE IS NO GOD EXCEPT ALLAH
read:
MALAYSIA Tanah Tumpah Darahku

LOVE MALAYSIA!!!


 


Thursday, June 25, 2015

MPs: Sack Mara Chairman Annuar Musa

The Ketereh MP has been making oxymoronic statements and is either confused, incompetent or both.
Annuar, Steven Sim, Zairil Khir Johari
KUALA LUMPUR: Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) Chairman Annuar Musa’s oxymoronic statements on its controversial investments in Australia clearly reveal that he is either confused or incompetent.
Either way, said two MPs, the Ketereh MP was clearly unfit to lead a government agency entrusted with an annual budget of RM4 billion. “As such, he should be sacked as chairman of Mara with immediate effect.”
“Annuar Musa should also be sacked as Mara chairman following his failure to rid the institution of corruption and mismanagement.”
With such a blemished record, they said, the Dudley House scandal could very well represent the tip of a very large iceberg; bearing in mind that Mara has invested about RM600 million in properties overseas.
When Annuar took over the helm of the agency in 2013, recalled Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim and Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari, he conceded that Mara had a tarnished reputation owing to many problems including rent-seeking, mismanagement and corruption.
Consequently, they reminded, Annuar pledged to set the house in order by revamping the institution in order to shed its “stigma.”
However, they lamented, after two years in the top job, it would appear that nothing much has changed.
Worse, they pointed out, in the wake of the Dudley House scandal, Annuar seems to be making contradictory statements.
On the one hand, he has been reported to have said that Mara Inc’s AUD22.5 million purchase of the hostel building was a bargain; while on the other hand, he claims to have personally highlighted serious concerns about the deal following his visit to Melbourne last year, leading to an internal investigation by Mara that apparently started two months ago.
Does Annuar even know what he is saying?
If the deal had been value for money as he alleges, then what concerns did he bring up to the council, and why was an internal investigation conducted?
Furthermore, said Zairil and Sim, Annuar also implicated Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in the Dudley House scandal by revealing that the final green light had been given by the latter as the chairman of the National Economic Council.
While this is ultimately true, they said, laying the blame at the Prime Minister’s feet sounds like nothing more than a disingenuous attempt to shirk responsibility, especially when it would never have materialized had the Mara Council, of which Annuar is chairman, had not approved the deal in the first place.
The current Dudley House scandal, in which Mara officials are said to have used the public trust council’s funds to purchase a hostel block in Melbourne at an inflated price of AUD22.5 million (RM65 million), from which AUD4.75 million (RM13.7 million) was purportedly siphoned out as kickbacks, was not the first time Mara has found itself embroiled in allegations of corruption and fund mismanagement, charged the MPs.
“Previous property transactions have also been controversial, including the acquisition of three properties in London, namely the Ashley Hotel near Paddington Station, student hostel Beaumont House and service apartment Atelier EC1, as well as three other buildings in Melbourne’s CBD worth about AUD63.5 million (RM183 million), reportedly purchased through offshore shelf companies.”
Meanwhile, they noted, the 2013 Auditor-General’s Report highlighted discrepancies amounting to RM124.55 million in Mara’s procurement process.
In the same year, two senior Mara officials, Mara Education Foundation CEO Abdul Shariff Hamid, who was also a former Overseas Umno Club secretary, and programme manager Zainal Rashid Zakaria were convicted of forgery pertaining to claims amounting to RM304,650.
This year, four Mara officials were charged in the High Court of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur for false travel claims amounting to tens of thousands of ringgit.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.