The Komtar Merchants Association (KMA) plans to file a police report against the Penang Development Corporation and expose letters the PDC sent, which KMA claims "are directly responsible" for the recent Ramadan stalls fiasco.

NONE KMA vice-chairperson Mohamed Ghani Abdul Jiman ( right ) said PDC, which is in charge of the stalls, was late in notifying the traders about the new deadline for rental fees, resulting in the group not making the payment to PDC on time.

Ghani said PDC, in sending the letters only on the evening of Aug 6 for payment to be made on Monday, Aug 9, had caused him to have quarrels with state government officials and with KMA members.

"I will reveal all the letters when I file the report at the Patani Road police station in a few days' time," he told reporters at Level 3 of Komtar today.

"I also have a letter that says PDC was supposed to send out its letters (to the traders) on July 10 but delayed it to Aug 6. What are they trying to do?" he added.

Ghani claimed that PDC was probably not satisfied with the state government, and tried to undermine the administration by using him to fight with the rakyat.

"The PDC must answer all these allegations... please ask them," he told a large group of reporters who went up to him outside after he emerged from a meeting with PDC general manager Rosli Jaafar.

"PDC should give us a chance to make the payment, and not simply refuse to let us run our stalls here," he added.

'Amicably resolved with DCM Mansor's help'

During the meeting with Rosli, which Ghani said was "amicably resolved" with the help of Deputy Chief Minister I Mansor Othman, Rosli had agreed to allow the stalls to operate at Komtar during the whole month of Ramadan.

The traders will be charged the agreed sum of RM50 a day for the space, while PDC will cover the expenses for the booths.

The KMA, in turn, has agreed that only 25 stalls, instead of 27, NONE will operate there to ease congestion in the area, which forms the main entrance to the state secretariat offices.

Ghani also said the commotion on Monday, when 27 traders noisily protested against the state government at Komtar, was the result of a "technical problem".

He blamed the media for twisting the situation to show that KMA had problems with the traders by not remitting the money collected from them to PDC as rental for their booths.

When reminded that it was the Pakatan Rakyat Youth Wing that had made such an allegation at a press conference in Komtar yesterday, Ghani apologised profusely to the reporters, saying he had "no time yet to read the papers".

KMA accused of overcharging

Yesterday, Pakatan Youth vice-chief Mohd Rizal Abdul Hamid claimed that KMA, which led a demonstration at Komtar in the morning, was trying to exploit the Malay traders.

Rizal said KMA had planned to pay the PDC, which manages the building, merely RM5,000 for rental of the stalls, although the stipulated fee was RM50 per stall per day, or a total of RM47,250.

NONE He also alleged that the KMA had collected RM60 a day from each trader, earning for itself RM56,700 (27 traders x RM60 x 35 days), or RM9,450 more than the actual charge, and planned to pay PDC only RM5,000 of the money collected.

"Please do not accuse me of being wrong. I admit, we have collected money from the traders. The cheques are not in my name, they are in the name of KMA," said Ghani.

State PKR Youth exco member Amizuddin Ahmad, who was at the scene today, said the matter had been resolved and there was no question of Malay traders being chased away by the state government.

He reiterated that the problem was merely "a technical matter" as the Youth wing members had been in the area for two nights and two days to understand the real problem, and "we have resolved it in a good way".