No transparency on RM100 mil for Indians, charges Ramasamy

P Ramasamy (left) says P Waytha Moorthy cannot cannot ignore the demands of accountability by staying silent,

KUALA LUMPUR: The DAP’s P Ramasamy wants Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waytha Moorthy to explain what has happened to the RM100 million allocated in Budget 2019 to help the Indian community.

Ramasamy said in a statement that Waytha had been entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the money was channelled to improve the quality of the lives of Indians who were still entrapped in the vicious circle of poverty and crime.

He said the fund had been dispensed to various organisations but that there had been no transparency.

“Waytha, who is supposed to present the information to the Elected Indian Representatives Council of PH (EIRCPH), has not done so, despite been invited to provide the disclosure.

”His refusal to attend the meetings suggests that he is not keen on a full disclosure of how the money was spent or he thinks that it is beneath his dignity to attend the meetings of the council,” he said.

Ramasdamy said Waytha, who served a short stint as deputy minister with the Barisan Nasional government, knew how funds were allocated during that period.

”Let us not repeat the mistakes of BN or MIC where funds meant for poor Indians were diverted to other parties.

”Now if Waytha thinks that by being silent, he can ignore the demands of accountability, he is certainly wrong or ill-advised.

”All he needs to do is publicly account for how the RM100 million in taxpayer money was spent, for what purposes and the names of organisations that received the funds,” he said.

Noting that RM100 million was not a big sum compared with the amount the government had given to Felda and others, Ramasamy, who is also Penang deputy chief minister II, asked why Waytha had settled for RM100 million. - FMT