PARLIAMENT | M Kulasegaran (Pakatan Harapan-Ipoh Barat) has urged Human Resources Minister M Saravanan to issue a formal statement clarifying the alleged involvement of MIC members in the RM100 million PenjanaKerjaya scandal.
The former human resources minister said Saravanan, who is also MIC deputy president, should clarify his initial statement that follows developments surrounding an MACC probe into the corruption scandal.
"Saravanan had said employers training providers who had made false claims should refund the money to avoid severe action taken against them.
"He also said that there was a possibility of several individuals from MIC being involved in the scandal. So, I think this matter requires an explanation," said Kulasegaran in debating the Social Security (Amendment) Bill 2022.
Kulasegaran also alluded to Malaysian Indian Community Transformation Unit (Mitra) funds which were allegedly embezzled, also linked to MIC and under the MACC probe.
"The Mitra scandal shows abuse of trust by individuals given trust [...] we don't want this.
"YB (Saravanan) should at least deny the matter, or it’s really true there are high-ranking MIC members involved," he said.
Kulasegaran stressed that the matter concerned funds allocated for benefit of the people, including poor Indians, but embezzled by a select rich few including allegedly from political parties.
Other MPs who stood up to interject in relations to the PenjanaKerjaya and Mitra scandals were RSN Rayer (Harapan-Jelutong) and Sivarasa Rasiah (Harapan-Sungai Buloh).
‘No further comments’
In his winding-up speech, Saravanan reiterated that matters surrounding the PenjanaKerjaya scandal are under MACC's probe and Socso will not be making further comments.
"At the same time, this operation is a joint operation by Socso and the MACC. This is our effort, many don't understand and think the MACC had come for us," he said.
Saravanan also confirmed a reported raid involving 66 companies, leading to the arrests of 37 individuals.
On Mitra, Saravanan said the matter is not within his ministry's purview, prompting Kulasegaran to allege a "cover-up" and demand an explanation based on his position as MIC deputy president.
PenjanaKerjaya was introduced in 2020 under the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana), offering financial incentives of between RM600 and RM1,000 to employers for each employee or apprentice employed for up to six months.
The MACC and the Social Security Organisation (Socso) have launched an operation codenamed Ops Hire to probe claims that certain employers and training providers submitted false claims under the programme.
Socso also previously announced that it was suspending payments totalling RM423mil for the PenjanaKerjaya programme following the probe. - Mkini
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