Selangor exco Yaakob Sapari today accused the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) of not doing its homework in the recent arrest of his aide Hussein Ahmad in relation to the sex and sand case.

 

"I don’t think the MACC did its research in their arrest of Hussein," said the Kota Anggerik assembly person during a press conference at the Selangor Menteri Besar’s office.

"MACC is alleging that he was involved in the approval of the sale of sand. That’s not true. My office has nothing to do with that.

"The sale of sand is under the purview of the Semesta Group. NONE Secondly, about our visit to China. That was an official visit, funded by the state government."

MACC had claimed that the expenses for that trip was borne by a private contractor.

Yaakob also lambasted the anti-graft body for objecting to the Kajang Magistrate Court’s decision to release his aide unconditionally. "I totally condemn MACC’s decision to insist that Hussein pay a bail of RM2000," he said.

Selangor Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, who was also at the press conference, said Hussein was only trying to do the right thing by working to get rid of corruption.

MACC’s action he said, also went against a state circular stating that state employees could only be questioned during office hours and that too at the state secretariat building.

Khalid also commented on the ongoing tussle between the state and the state Poverty Eradication Foundation (YBK).

‘A loss to the rakyat’

 

The Selangor MB announced that the state government would be publishing a release on all state assets and funds which have been contributed to the foundation.

"We will declassify information regarding this and release it to the rakyat," said the MB, although he would not say when this would actually take place.

Khalid denied YBK’s claims that the state government and the foundation were separate entities. "They are not totally khalid ibrahim 301009 independent. In fact, in the foundation’s Memorandum and Articles of Association, it is specifically stated that the board of trustees of YBK must report to the state on all its activities," he added.

Khalid ( right ) rubbished comments saying that the decision by YBK to move the UiTM YBK campus to Malacca would cause a financial loss to the state.

"The state won’t lose from this. We can always find other uses for the land. It is the rakyat that will lose out," he said.

The MB contended that the problems surrounding the issue of the campus would not have surfaced had the matter been directly negotiated with the state government.

The problem, he said, was because a third party was circling the negotiations which may have caused the price to go up.

Khalid said the Malacca’s government’s decision to offer the state as an alternative location for the campus was ‘ungentlemanly’ and went against ‘proper business ethics’.

"In business, when you know that somebody is doing business with somebody, you don’t interfere, " he said.