I invested fixed deposit funds in businesses, says sacked athletics chief

 

SM Muthu admits he cancelled the fixed deposit account of Selangor Athletics Association to invest RM110,000 in various businesses. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Embattled athletics chief SM Muthu has revealed that he invested RM110,000 from the fixed deposit account of Selangor Athletics Association (SAA) in various businesses.

He said the money went into his personal bank account to make the investments on behalf of SAA.

“I have brought in RM55,000 in profits for the association from the investments over the past three years and it’s ongoing,” said Muthu, who is also the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president.

“If the investments are to derive profits, it has to go into my personal account,” he said, declining to state the nature of the businesses he had invested in.

He said there was now RM180,000 in SAA’s current account and asked: “So, what are they talking about siphoning of funds?”

“I am the president and have the right to generate money for the association, so there was no need for me to seek the approval of the affiliates and executive committee members.”

He rejected claims that the current account was frozen by the bank following five police reports made by the association pertaining to the alleged abuse of funds.

Muthu was yesterday stripped of his position as SAA president and membership for life over alleged financial impropriety at the association’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM).

The meeting also passed similar motions against SAA’s former secretary Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor and former treasurer Mohd Fauzi Manivannan Abdullah.

The trio have also been asked to explain the “missing” RM16,000 in athlete incentive and development funds given to the association by the Selangor sports council.

Muthu said the EGM, attended by 39 members of SAA’s 54 affiliates, was illegal and was provoked by people with “mischievous intentions” ahead of the association’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Nov 7.

“They are nobody to strip me of my presidency,” he said, adding he will not bow to calls for him to step down as MAF president in the wake of his sacking.

“Who authorised the EGM?” he asked, saying the absence of key officials at the meeting raised questions over its legality.

“I was prepared to declare everything at the AGM, so I believe the motive for having an EGM was to tarnish my name and remove me from the association,” he said.

He said he would be making a police report today to set the matter straight. - FMT