Thursday, January 22, 2009

Korupsi, Kerbau dan Konflik Kepentingan Kepala

Malaysian Insider - Contractor charged with graft during Umno division polls (extracts only):

MALACCA, Jan 22 — A contractor, Johari Ibrahim, pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court to giving a RM200 bribe during the Alor Gajah Umno divisional election on Nov 1.

Johari, 46, from Kampung Panchor, Durian Tunggal, is charge with bribing one Nadiah Roslan as an inducement to vote for Datuk Abdul Kadir Daud for the post of division chief.

The former publicity officer of Perbadanan Ayer Melaka, who is also Kampung Panchor Umno branch chief, was charged under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.

He faces a maximum jail sentence of 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount of bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, if convicted.

Meanwhile, in Kuala Lumpur, an education officer who is also a senior assistant at a primary school in Raub pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court today to two counts of giving bribes during the Raub Umno divisional election.

Junaidi Abdul Hamid, 46, is alleged to have given RM200 each to two Umno members, Noranizah Abd Hamid and Adnan Samad, as an inducement to vote Datuk Mustafar Kamal Abdul Hamid for the post of Raub Umno division chief and Datuk Abdullah Bakar as the division's deputy chief.

kaytee’s comment: We know these alleged crimes better as ‘money politics’, which apparently runs rampant in UMNO party election (far more than the general election or a by-election).

‘…maximum jail sentence of 20 years …’? Wow!


Malaysiakini - Corruption report lodged against S'gor MB (extracts only):

Anti-graft watchdog Gerak has lodged a complaint with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) against Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim for allegedly misusing state funds.

According to Gerak chairperson, Mohd Nazree Mohd Yunus, Abdul Khalid had used state funds to sponsor 46 cattle to be slaughtered and distributed to Bandar Tun Razak residents in Kuala Lumpur for the Hari Raya Korban last December.

Abdul Khalid is also the member of parliament for Bandar Tun Razak.

kaytee’s comments: Is it okay for a Selangor pollie to use Selangor State funds (owned by Selangor-eans) to celebrate a festivity in a constituency of a different State (Territory), benefitting not Selangor-eans but people in another State (Territory) - 'coincidentally' Khalid happens to represent the non-Selangor constituency as its Federal MP?

The allegation of corruption is that Khalid Ibrahim has allegedly misused Selangor funds to promote himself in the non-Selangor federal constituency.

Khalid Ibrahim has denied the accusation.

Malaysiakini reported that Khalid asserted no state funds were used by him for this purpose, and that the cattle were donated by six subsidiary and associate companies of state development agency PKNS.

He said: "(But) we had sufficient cattle for Selangor and that is why when the associate company of PKNS wanted to donate more cows to the state, I suggested that they should instead donate the cattle to mosques in Cambodia or Bandar Tun Razak as I am the MP for the area."

I think Khalid is skating on thin ice here because as the MB of Selangor he has enormous power and influence and shouldn’t have proposed the two options of ‘mosques in Cambodia’ or ‘Bandar Tun Razak’.

It’s a no-brainer which option would be selected for a variety of reasons, one of which would have been the practicality of despatching the cattle to the named location. If you were a PKNS staff officer, would you have sent the cattle to Bandar Tun Razak or Cambodia (yeah, right!)?


Such a proposal by the State MB places him in an awkward position of ‘conflict of interests’ - on two counts, (i) as MB of a State which controls the PKNS, and (ii) as the Federal MP of Bandar Tun Razak, the beneficiary of the donated cattle.

Malaysiakini - Pakatan duo lodge report over KT 'corrupt acts' (extracts only):

Two Pakatan Rakyat MPs have lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over alleged corrupt practices by Barisan Nasional during the Kuala Terengganu by-election.

The report was lodged by Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut) and Loh Gwo Burne (PKR-Kelana Jaya) at the Federal Territories MACC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

In their report, the duo cited four instances of alleged corrupt practices and attached four newspaper clippings to support their claims. The four articles touched on:


(1) RM1 million fund for fishermen.
(2)
RM23.8 million allocation for SJK (C) Chee Wen.
(3) RM15.8 million projects for Class F contractors.
(4) RM300 each for journalists covering the by-election.

Speaking to reporters later, Loh said the funding announced during the by-election appeared to be a method used to fish for votes using the government machinery.


kaytee’s comments: Loh Gwo Burne, famed instant pollie and reputed producer/director of instant short video documentaries and also instant martyr when he was punched by his own PKR bloke a few months back, seemed to have taken to instant politics like duck to water ;-).

But I wonder what he would have made of Khalid Ibrahim’s cerita lembu.

I know!


Loh who pledged to learn instant Bahasa (see Bahasa Mělayu - a letter to Yang Běrhormat) is likely to say:

Aiyoh Lartoh, ta’usah berpuli-puli
Hal ini bisa saya senang selesai
Tepat tahun ni Lartuk derma sapi
Sebab Lembu punya Gong Xi Fa Cai

Moo-kakakakakakakakakaka-moo!

11 comments:

  1. Ada apa komen pasal kes pembunuhan tahanan dalam lokap polis ?

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  2. Saya rasa kes Khalid mungkin ada sedikit konflik kepentingan peribadi, tetapi tidak begitu berat hingga menjadi kes rasuah.

    Kes Najib dan BN menabur berjuta-juta wang rakyat di Kuala Terengganu, untuk memancing undi, termasuk buat loteri Kontrak Klas F, jauh lebih serious kalau nak dibandingkan.

    Maaf, ya, saya ni memang boleh membaca dan memahami blog Ktemoc, tapi kalau nak tulis komen dalam Bahasa Inggeris, susah sikit.

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  3. Intel closing down two plants in Penang, can this be Intel have no confidence in Penang state government that they are deserting Penang? will other MNCs follow suit.

    Since last year being telling those in power to manage the state appropriately that we have to brace and prepare for a imminent economy down turn and a potential recession, but felt to deaf hear, instead they spent their precious time tying to topple the Federal Government which destabilize the financial market. They do not care what happen to you and me, their aim is to get more power. Our financial market did not recover but went down further from US financial meltdown.

    With investors deserting Penang and no Federal fund, what will be the livelihood of Penangites, definitely intolerable hardship. Yet those in power and their supporters are still in denial and having a field day with their new founded empire.

    SIGH !..............

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  4. KT

    Khalid is indeed threading on thin ice. But for your information, the cattle meant for Qurban in Cambodia is not physically transported from Malaysia. In fact, every Aidil Adha, a major portion of the cattle is imported from Thailand, and even Cambodia. Malaysian Muslims wishing to donate cattle to Cambodia only need pay around RM1,300 per head of cattle (compared to around RM2,500 in Malaysia) to Malaysian companies who will arrange for Cambodian cattle to be given to the Cambodians. No shipping expenses are incurred, at least not for shipping from Malaysia to Cambodia.

    Sri Hartamas

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  5. Intel is having one of its worst years on record since it became a public company. The plant closure is nothing to do with any lack of confidence in the Penang State government.

    For some 4 years now (of which more than 3 years was under BN-UMNO-Gerakan-MCA rule) there has been no significant new investment by Intel in the Penang plant. There was limited new investment in the Kulim plant, and Intel built a spanking new factory in Vietnam.

    Penang has been losing its shine as a manufacturing centre for years under Barisan rule, while BN helped itself to the state's resources.
    Why do you think Penangites of all races revolted against BN ? They didn't suddenly lose their sanity.

    No matter what we do, the country is going to be in for some very tough times, no thanks to the empty headed BN government.
    The RM 7 Billion smoke-and-mirrors "stimulus plan" has zero details and zero implementation plans. We'll be lucky if RM 3 or 4Billion of it doesn't end up in the pocket of UMNO and MCA cronies.

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  6. Sri Hartamas, thanks for the info.

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  7. good, just put khalid behind bars - he's a lame MB anyway.... selangor would be better without him.

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  8. If what Khalid did lands him in jail, then arguably the entire Federal Cabinet should be put in irons.

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  9. Everyone who has been accused of or charged with corruption should be investigated, (& if there are grounds) prosecuted, and then, if found guilty, sentenced by the courts - whether by fines or with a jail term or both. There were two such 'rising' stars, one in UMNO and another in MCA, who spent time in the lockup.

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  10. The MCA fella was tried and jailed in Singapore. I can't see the prosecution would have proceeded if the case had been in Malaysia.

    The last time a real UMNO star got jailed for abuse of power was Datuk Harun during Hussein Onn's time. That, as they say, was a long time ago, in a galaxy, far, far away.

    Oh I forgot the DSAI case, but that he was already kicked out of UMNO by then.

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  11. what does it matter where or when they were tried and sentenced to prison. Corruption (based on evidence, and not just unsubstantiated allegations) must be punished. We cannot work on the parochial argument that because Peter was not punished for murder, Paul needn't be too.

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