Wednesday 17 October 2012

Pua wants minister’s pay docked for targeting SUARAM

By Clara Chooi

The DAP lawmaker noted the discrepancy in CCM’s fervour when
it came to allegations involving Umno-linked firms. — File pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 ― DAP MP Tony Pua today tabled a motion in the Dewan Rakyat to cut Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s pay by RM10, accusing the minister of abusing his powers to “selectively” persecute Suara Malaysia Rakyat (SUARAM) to serve Barisan Nasional’s (BN) political agenda.
The motion, filed with the Speaker’s office under Standing Order 66(9), will be discussed during committee stage debates on Budget 2013.
Speaking at a press conference here, Pua said the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism minister had “used” the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) to probe an “unsubstantiated” allegation against the financial accounts of SUARAM, the non-governmental organisation that has actively been pursuing claims of corruption involving the Scorpene submarine scandal through the French courts.
“On the other hand, he has failed to take any action against the list of five Umno-linked companies we have cited, which clearly failed to submit their financial accounts in a timely manner, some since 2004,” he said, referring to several firms that list Umno MPs such as Khairy Jamaluddin and Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan as directors.
“We are convinced that there are perhaps hundreds of other companies which have blatantly flouted the Companies Act 1965 with little or no action taken by CCM.”
On October 11, Ismail Sabri told The Malaysian Insider that CCM had resubmitted its investigation paper on Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd, the company linked to SUARAM, to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for further action.
He confirmed that the investigation paper was still for “misleading accounts”.
It was previously reported that the A-G’s Chambers had returned the investigation paper to CCM on September 19 as it could not draft charges based on the incomplete paper.
SUARAM has been at the forefront of exposing alleged corruption in the multibillion ringgit Scorpene submarine deal this past year but has in turn been the subject of investigation into its funding, along with several other NGOs and news portal Malaysiakini.

MORE TO COME

No comments:

Post a Comment