Deputy MB: We got a Merc each, cheaper to maintain than old Protons

Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Mohd Amar Abdullah and other state leaders were also given new Mercedes Benz cars, which he said are safer and cheaper to maintain than the old Protons used as official cars before.

He said a total of 14 cars were purchased for the executive council members and state secretary.

According to the PAS leader, the cars were bought since 2018, with the last two purchased for Menteri Besar Ahmad Yakob and himself.

However, he said the models differed in engine sizes and were not the same as the menteri besar's, which is an S450L AMG Line with a reported price tag of above RM600,000.

“Yes, all excos, the menteri besar and myself, are now using Mercedes Benz cars as our official cars but with different engine capacities.

“I started using the car since the end of December whereas the menteri besar since Jan 1.

“We bought the cars because the previous official cars (Proton Perdana) were more than 10-years-old while some of the former excos had bought over their official cars after the last general election,” he said when met in Kota Bharu.

The deputy menteri besar, however, was clueless about the price of the new cars since it falls under the finance department.

“Price is not an issue because the (state) government obtained a 50 percent discount because there was no tax imposed. I don't know the actual price but there was a discount.

“The issue of us using Mercedes Benz does not arise because this has been used since the time of the late (Kelantan menteri besar) Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat,” he added.

Yesterday, the Kelantan Menteri Besar's Office described the suggestion that it had used the federal government’s special allocation to purchase luxury cars as a “malicious slander”.

This was after Kelantan Pakatan Harapan chairperson Husam Musa questioned the source of funds for the purchase of the menteri besar's new official car.

“For the record, the state government's decision to replace official cars for the state leadership was made through a statement by the deputy menteri besar as far back as Sept 12, 2018.

“The state government had decided to replace the official cars for the menteri besar and state exco members in stages, after evaluating the old vehicles that had been in use since 10 to 12 years ago,” it said. - Mkini