Claws come out, fangs bared at Selcat hearing

Kapar MP S Manikavasagam and Selangor Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) chairperson Teng Chang Khim crossed swords this morning when the parliamentarian testified at the public hearing into the sand theft case involving Kuala Semesta Sdn Bhd (KSSB).

Manikavasagam ( right ), commonly known as Mike, had initially flip-flopped on testifying and at one stage even alleged that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission had barred him from doing so.

MACC denied this claim by the MP in a statement it issued yesterday.

Tempers flared and voices were raised today when Manikavasagam insisted on calling his "witnesses" to testify before Selcat, while Teng maintained that they would first have to submit their written statements.

"We have written to you to provide written statements from the witnesses so that they can be called. And you never even did it.

"This is a select committee of the state legislative assembly. You cannot just parachute in witnesses at any point of the hearing. You have to follow the Standing Orders.

"Or else this committee will be a laughing stock of the entire country," Teng said, adding that procedures had to be followed.

"There should be no cover-up. You have to call the witnesses," Manikavasagam shot back, shouting and pointing his finger at Teng who was seated directly in front of him, about three metres away.

At this point, some of Manikavasagam's supporters in the public gallery applauded, further raising Teng's ire.

"This is not a ceramah. This is like a court proceeding. If you want to clap, go outside. Don’t cari kacau (cause a disturbance) here," said a visibly agitated Teng.

"There is no cover up. This is a live proceeding, webcasted for the whole world to see. We have already opened (the hearing) to the public. We want to do things the correct way. Don’t look for publicity here," he added.

Mike’s ‘testimony’ falls flat

Manikavasagam’s testimony had been long-awaited, since he was the first to allege a ‘sand scandal’ involving KSSB early last month.

But when the golden moment came for the first-term PKR lawmaker, his "testimony" failed to impress Teng.

All that Manikavasagam could produce as purported evidence was a statutory declaration from one of his witnesses - a contractor with KSSB - alleging price discrepancies.

Apart from that, he produced statements of cheque transactions as well as an anonymous letter which he claimed was written by a KSSB staff.

"So you believed these complaints just because of this letter written to you from an inside staff," Teng said.

"Yes," Manikavasagam replied. "Because he was already frustrated. My witnesses have already gone to several MPs and raised the issue with them.

"I had to raise this issue because if I don’t, they will bring it to the Umno MPs," he fired back, adding that he had more documents.

Off to a rocky start

Earlier, the tension in the air was already high-wire taut when Manikavasagam unexpectedly turned up at the hearing this morning, after much indecision to attend on his part.

Things got off a dramatic start when Teng, who is a lawyer by profession, started tearing apart Manikavasagam’s initial excuses for not attending the hearing that began on Wednesday.

The MP had initially wanted to send his lawyer to address the Selcat inquiry on his behalf but this was rejected by the committee.

Teng ( left ) rubbished claims that Manikavasagam, as an MP, needed the approval of the speaker of Parliament Pandikar Amin Mulia to testify before Selcat.

"The state assembly and Parliament are two separate sovereign legislative bodies. So the issue of getting consent from the parliamentary speaker does not arise at all," he said.

Met at the lobby of the Selangor state secretariat building in Shah Alam later, Manikavasagam was still unhappy.

"It is all still covered up. They don’t even want to talk to my witnesses," he thundered.