MACC, lay off the opposition, investigate this instead!

MACC wants to clean up it's extremely tarnished image. MACC wants to make a police report against anyone who accuses it of wrongdoing or abuse of power. MACC wants to investigate all the opposition leaders -- basically a 'fishing expedition' to try, with some luck, to catch opposition leaders who may have committed wrongdoings. But MACC refuses to take action on clear-cut crimes with documents to support the allegation of these crimes.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Samy Vellu's bank account the subject of police report
Susan Loone, Malaysiakini, 7:03pm Mon Jan 12th, 2004 

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) today lodged a police report on documents purportedly linking MIC president S Samy Vellu to the controversial misplacement of nine million Telekom shares intended for Maika Holdings.

In the report lodged at federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman this morning, Keadilan deputy Youth chief Faisal Sanusi claimed that the party had received documents containing allegations against Samy Vellu involving the Telekom shares.

Faisal told reporters that details of the allegations came from a letter dated Sept 15, 1994 written by the former chairperson of MIC public relations committee, V Subramaniam. He added although the information was available in 1994, no action seemed to have been taken by the police and Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA).

"The documents show him of having assets far beyond what a minister would hold on his normal salary," Faisal told reporters outside the police headquarters.

Malaysiakini has obtained photocopies of Samy Vellu's bank statements issued by the Bank of Commerce, which showed the transfers of millions of ringgit between March and May 1992 - at the height of the Maika's Telekom shares scandal. However, the veracity of the bank statements could not be determined. Subramaniam, who is not available for comment today, had since withdrawn the 1994 letter, which subsequently put a stop to the issue then.

"GK Rama Iyer, a much respected former Treasury official ... and chairman of Maika at the relevant period of 1990 has recently in a letter published in the Malay Mail on Dec 10, 2003, called for a reopening of the investigation by the ACA into the issue of how these 9 million shares never reached Maika," said Faisal. "We agree with and endorse his call."

Chief Inspector Mariapan Manikam from the public relations department received the 19-page report and documents attached from the complainants.

Mariapan said he would forward the documents to the relevant authorities immediately. In his 10-year-old letter, Subramaniam, who is also former PJ Barat MIC chief, alleged that investigations in 1992 on the matter was "frustrated due to fabricated documents and accounts and a false trail". The letter accused Samy Vellu of allegedly hijacking the Telekom shares which were intended to benefit Maika and the Indian community.

Samy Vellu, who is the works minister, has vehemently denied this. He is currently in New Delhi on official business and is unavailable for comment. Meanwhile, PKR vice-president R Sivarasa called on the police to immediately re-open an investigation into the allegations and forward the matter to the ACA, for re-investigation.

Sivarasa, who was also present during the press conference, urged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to explain to the Indian community how Maika lost the nine million shares, originally meant for its betterment.

"The Indian community, of which the shares should have benefitted, needs an immediate answer to this long-standing issue," he said.

In 1992, Maika Holdings was reported to have failed to account for much of the RM10 million worth of Telekom shares offered by the Finance Ministry for the benefit of the Indian Malaysian community. Only RM1 million worth of shares were retained by the investment arm while the remaining RM9 million shares were diverted to three private companies, two of which are RM2 companies and said to be proxies of the works minister. The controversy subsided after police and ACA investigations cleared Samy Vellu.

But the scandal erupted again a month ago following a row between the MIC president and his political rival and MIC splinter party - Indian Progressive Front - president MG Pandithan. Discontented Maika Holdings shareholders recently held a gathering to air their grouses. The company responded that the allegations were part of a plan to tarnish its image by those who were seeking to buy shares at a depreciated price.