Waytha to Halimah: Let’s lodge report on missing Mitra funds

 

P Waytha Moorthy and Halimah Sadique, past and current ministers of national unity, embro8iled in controversy over Mitra funds.

PETALING JAYA: Former national unity minister P Waytha Moorthy has invited his successor Halimah Sadique to join him in lodging a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on mishandled government funds.

In a statement today, Waytha denied that approval of grants from the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) had been in his purview as unity minister and as well as with the Mitra director-general.

Waytha’s denial was made in response to a ministry statement yesterday, which came amid allegations that Mitra funds had been mishandled during the Pakatan Harapan era when Waytha led the ministry.

Waytha said that Mitra was already riddled with issues, including mishandling of funds, by members of the previous administration, as well as a lack of accountability and transparency.

To deal with these issues, Waytha said that after becoming the minister, he formed a new and transparent system in consultation with the Auditor General’s office, the finance ministry, the Prime Minister’s Department and the Chief Secretary to the Government.

This led to a four-tiered evaluation system consisting of various committees. Every grant recipient was briefed by the MACC and had to sign a declaration form.

“The final say in approving those funds lies with the controlling officer, which in this case, was the deputy secretary-general of the Prime Minister’s Department.

“On top of that, all justifications for any awards of grants were displayed in a website to enable the public to access them and also assess for themselves the courses and programs conducted for the socio-economic upliftment of the community.”

He claimed this system was dismantled following the change of government in March 2020, when Perikatan Nasional took over after the Pakatan Harapan government collapsed in February.

Waytha said that as the ministry said it was ready to cooperate with the MACC, and Halimah appeared to be certain that there was been no misuse of Mitra funds under her watch, she should join him in lodging a MACC report on the matter.

“(Then) the authorities can investigate both of us. This will prove she has nothing to hide nor fear as I do. She can pick a date and time and I will make myself available,” he said. - FMT