RANTAU POLLS | Pakatan Harapan candidate Dr S Streram has denied involvement in a 2016 scam which allegedly caused some 21,000 investors to lose around RM80 million.
This was in response to allegations on social media which named him as being part of the Yayasan Usaha Ventures scam.
Speaking to Malaysiakini, Streram explained he had once owned the charity foundation but later discovered that he had been ejected from his directorship role without his knowledge.
He claimed he had only found out about this after MIC secretary-general S Vell Paari exposed the foundation for its dubious dealings.
“I can’t remember when we established the foundation, it’s been a long time. To be honest, the foundation was not very active. We only did charity work through it.
“However, in 2016, I was shocked when Vell Paari exposed how two people were using the foundation to cheat the public of RM80 million.
“When we looked up the Registrar of Societies (RoS), we realised that the directors of the foundation had been changed without our knowledge,” Streram said when contacted today.
The anaesthesiologist subsequently told Vell Paari about all this.
The latter then directed him to a MIC lawyer who helped him lodge reports with the RoS and MACC.
Three years ago, Vell Paari alleged that businessperson G Gnanaraja and his spouse G Geethanjali had tried to convince people to invest money into Yayasan Usaha Ventures in order to obtain a banking license.
He further alleged that the couple had told investors that the foundation was linked to the Finance Ministry, name-dropping former premier Najib Abdul Razak and his spouse Rosmah Mansor in the process.
With a few more hours to go before the Rantau by-election polling day tomorrow, Streram characterised the allegations as an attempt to sully his credibility.
“To link me with this scandal is hilarious because it was Vell Paari and MIC lawyers who helped me at the time (when the scandal happened).
“BN cybertroopers are now accusing me of all sorts of things but these are attempts to ruin my credibility,” he said.
Come tomorrow, Rantau voters will choose between Streram, Umno acting president Mohamad Hasan and independent candidates - homemaker R Malarvizhi and former lecturer Mohd Nor Yassin -as their next assemblyperson.
The Negeri Sembilan state seat fell vacant after the Federal Court upheld a decision to void Mohamad's walkover win last year.
This stemmed from the returning officer's move to block Streram from filing his nomination papers in the 2018 general election. - Mkini
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