Beberapa bulan lepas semasa Ketua Pengarah Lembaga Penggalakan Pelancongan Malaysia Datuk Mirza Mohammad ditahan BPR atas tuduhan menerima rasuah berkaitan rawatan pergigian bernilai lebih RM13000, saya ada terbaca satu artikel di internet (maaf saya tidak ingat samada ianya artikel yang saya terima melalui email ataupun tulisan di blog seseorang - saya sedang berusaha mencari semula artikel tersebut untuk paparan), tetapi apa yang pentingnya, penulis itu menulis tentang kisah Datuk Mirza diperangkap oleh kuncu-kuncu Azalina kerana beliau tidak mahu menerima dan meluluskan 20 orang kakitangan yang di bawa masuk oleh Azalina daripada Kementerian Belia dan Sukan ke Kementerian Pelancongan. Seorang Menteri cuma dibenarkan membawa sekitar 4 orang staf (kalau tak silap saya) apabila berpindah ke Kementerian yang baru dan bukannya 20 orang staf.
Penulis juga bercerita panjang tentang taktik-taktik yang telah dilakukan oleh Azalina melalui pewujudan syarikat-syarikat baru untuk menempatkan 20 orang ini tetapi gajinya harus dibayar oleh Kementerian. Disebabkan oleh ke'lurusan' dan intergriti yang ada dalam diri Datuk Mirza beliau telah kononnya diperangkap dan ditahan oleh BPR. Dan Doktor gigi tersebut pula diaktakan adalah bekas teman sebilik Azalina semasa di universiti dan orang yang membayarkan rawatan pergigian Datuk Mirza pula adalah bekas suami doktor tersebut yang juga pernah menjadi teman rapat kepada Datuk Mirza.
Bekas suami doktor tersebut mempunyai syarikat yang mempunyai kontrak pengiklanan (jika saya tak silap) dengan Kementerian Pelancongan dan beliau yang merekomenkan Datuk Mirza ke klinik isterinya (ketika itu mereka belum bercerai) dan bayaran dilakukan secara ansuran kerana rawatan tersebut melibatkan beberapa siri rawatan. Setelah bercerai, si isteri telah menuntut baki bayaran tersebut melalui bekas suaminya yang telah merekomenkan untuk Datuk Mirza menerima rawatan disitu. Tetapi tanpa pengetahuan Datuk Mirza, si bekas suami tersebut telah melangsaikan bayaran tersebut.
Dan beberapa bulan lepas, ia telah dijadikan kes dan Datuk Mirza telah ditahan BPR atas dakwaan menerima rasuah berbentuk rawatan pergigian. Si penulis juga mendakwa Datuk Mirza adalah seorang ketua yang amat disenangi oleh kakitangan Kementerian Pelancongan dan juga amat disenangi oleh pihak-pihak agensi pelancongan yang sering berurusan dengan kementerian. Difahamkan ramai yang telah hadir ke mahkamah memberi sokongan kepada Datuk Mirza dan mereka percaya beliau tidak bersalah.
Ketika pertama kali membaca artikel tersebut, saya tidak memforwardkan kepada sesiapa kerana saya berpendirian artikel yang berstatus 'was-was' sebegini belum dibuktikan kesahihannya dan adalah inmoral untuk diforwardkan kerana ia mungkin sekadar cerita rekaan. Tetapi saya sempat bercerita dengan teman-teman rapat tentang apa yang saya baca, dan saya meletakkan status 'wallahualam' kepada artikel tersebut.
Hari ini akhbar The Sun telah menyiarkan artikel berkaitan isu yang sama, dengan bukti-bukti yang terperinci termasuk tarikh dan orang yang bertanggungjawab surat arahan kepada Datuk Mirza untuk menerima 20 orang kakitangan yang dibawa masuk oleh Azalina. Kakitangan yang dibawa ini pula ada yang kini menjadi board of director di beberapa syarikat berkaitan pelancongan dan menerima gaji/elaun lebih Rm10000 sebulan. Yang lebih menyedihkan mereka ini bukannya orang Melayu.
Anda bacalah sendiri artikel yang saya 'copy & paste' dari laman web akhbar The Sun dibawah ini. Untuk makluman pembaca yang berada diluar Lembah Kelang, saya rasa akhbar The Sun hanya diedarkan secara percuma di Lembah Kelang dan ianya pasti habis menjelang pukul 9 pagi. Anda boleh membaca The Sun di www.sun2surf.com
Poser over excessive staffing at Ministry
By: by R. Nadeswaran and Terence Fernandez (Mon, 13 Oct 2008)
newsdesk@thesundaily.com PETALING JAYA (Oct 12, 2008): The tourism minister’s office has excess baggage. It’s over-staffed and the appointment of some 20 staff contravenes the Public Services Department (PSD)’s regulations limiting the appointments to only eight. It is also in defiance of a Treasury circular on cost-cutting and austerity.
The minister’s office has three special officers, five political officers, one research officer, six Information technology (IT) officers and five support staff
The PSD allows a minister to have only one special officer, one senior private secretary or administrative and diplomatic officer, one private secretary or assistant administrative officer, one press secretary or information officer, three administrative assistants one general office assistant
These details are contained in documents sighted by theSun which also highlight other discrepancies, such as:
> the appointments were backdated to circumvent circulars from the PSD and the Treasury;
> applicants being paid much more than they asked for;
> multiple payment of salaries from different companies; and
> absence of proper selection process as the posts were not advertised.
The correspondence between the ministry’s officers and minister’s private secretaries to heads of subsidiary companies of the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board expose a series of breaches of government rules and regulations.
In a letter dated April 23,the ministry’s deputy secretary-general Datuk Ab Ghaffar A. Tambi wrote to the then director-general of Tourism Malaysia Datuk Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, directing him to make arrangements to pay the salaries of 20 staff who on paper are attached to the minister’s office – ranging from special officers to administrative assistants. But subsequent letters are telling indeed with the appointments being back-dated.
As only the PSD can approve new appointments, the guidelines were circumvented by getting Tourism Malaysia subsidiary Pempena Sdn Bhd and its affiliates Malaysian Travel Business Sdn Bhd and SD Corp Communications Sdn Bhd to pay their salaries.
PSD Director-General Tan Sri Ismail Adam had on April 30 issued a circular emphasising the restriction of appointments in the offices of ministers and deputy ministers. Each designation is spelt out with a proper salary structure. Ministers can have eight and their deputies, four. The circular was effective March 19 -- a week after the new members of Cabinet took office.
Subsequently, on May 2, the Treasury issued a circular freezing new appointments as part of the government’s cost-cutting measures. But documents show that some appointments in the minister’s office were made after that date and backdated to April 1.
* On June 11, the minister's senior private secretary Mohd Daud Mohd Arif requested the chairman of Malaysian Travel Business Datuk Abdullah Ahmad to employ three persons as "administrative assistants" with salaries ranging from RM2,100 to RM3,000. Abdullah was asked to back-date their appointments to April 1.
* On May 12, the minister’s private secretary, Suziyana Natasya Abdullah, wrote to Pempena human resource officer Mariam Amy, attaching a list of 16 names and 17 Pempena employment application forms for "immediate action".
The appointments of several of these officers do not reflect details in their application forms. For example David Chiam Joy Woon "applied" for a job as "pegawai khas" (special officer) and put his expected salary as RM6,000. However, in documents related to payment of his salary, he is being paid RM10,000 -- RM5,000 as executive director of SD Corp and another RM5,000 as a board member Malaysia My Destination (MYD) Sdn Bhd. He is also a board member of other affiliates and subsidaries, including Malaysian Travel Business and Awana London, Awana Beijing.
Similarly, former Malay Mail sports reporter, Tony Mariadass applied for a job as a "research officer" with an expected salary of RM8,000. He is listed so in the list of officers in the minister’s office, but has since been "appointed" general manager of Shopping Malaysia Secretariat (SSM) at a salary of RM10,700. Co-incidentally, both he and Chiam had previously worked for the same minister in the Youth and Sports Ministry.
Mohd Radzi Ramli applied for the post of pegawai politik (political secretary) with an expected salary of RM4,405 but also holds the post of senior executive (government liaison) at SSM, with a pay of RM3,000.
For the record, it now costs at least RM23,000 a month in salaries to four people, to run the SSM, not taking into account EPF payments; medical bills and other perks that come with the jobs.
Other appointments on the list of 16 whose names do not appear in the forms include Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun, who is executive director of Pempena. She is paid RM10,000 and is provided with a car and driver.
Manakala pesaing terdekatnya, ahli Parlimen Rembau, Khairy Jamaluddin mendapat 19 pencalonan dan hanya mendahului di satu negeri sahaja, iaitu Kelantan.
Manakala timbalan ketua badan perhubungan Umno Perlis yang juga ketua Umno Padang Besar Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abdidin mendapat satu pencalonan dari bahagiannya.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak, sewaktu menjadi menteri pertahanan, didakwa mengendalikan usaha mendapatkan helikopter Eurocopter Cougar EC 275 (foto kiri) dalam keadaan meragukan.
"Lazimnya, seseorang yang ingin membeli kereta berharga satu juta ringgit pun akan bertanya berbagai soalan kepada jurujual dan membuat pemanduan uji dua atau tiga jenama kereta sebelum memilih kereta yang paling sesuai," kata pengerusi syarikat itu Kapt (B) Datuk Zahar Hashim.