A businessman has accused the state government of “favouritism and corruption” over irregularities and a lack of transparency in the issue of a tender to operate a canteen in Komtar.

Zainal Abidin Mydin, 45, said he had lodged a report on this at the Penang branch of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on Wednesday.

"I am raising the issue because I do not want favouritism and corruption to breed in the offices of the state government," he told reporters today.

NONE Zainal Abidin ( right ) said he had submitted his application for the tender twice, and has learnt that the former operator was yet to vacate the premises on the 6th floor of Komtar.

He claims the operator was still conducting his business, although his contract ended on Dec 31 last year.

The contract is renewable every two years and the previous operator has been running the canteen for about 10 years.

“I was told that the operator has been telling others that he owns the canteen and that he has ‘bought’ the officers upstairs... I was disappointed to hear that statement,” said Zainal Abidin, who runs an eatery on Tamil Street.

“This should not happen... there is an element of favouritism here; they have run the canteen for 10 years, what’s wrong if others are given the chance?” he asked.

‘Strange’ irregularities

Zainal Abidin also raised when he claimed were several “strange” irregularities about the open tender called by the Penang Welfare and Sports Council for Government Staff ( Majlis Kebajikan dan Sukan Anggota-Anggota Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang or Maksak), which reports directly to the state finance department.

He said when the first briefing for the tender was called on Dec 23, only five interested parties turned up, but the applications for the jiob were offered to seven people.

He said the tender was supposed to close on Dec 28, and has since learnt that Maksak was still accepting applications from certain parties.

Later, he said, he found out that the seven who attended the briefing, including himself, were rejected without any reason given.

“When I asked the Maksak officers why we were rejected, they said it was because our quotations were unreasonable, although they did not inform us about what kind of quotation that would be acceptable to them,” he said.

This morning, Zainal Abidin attended another briefing with Maksak officers, where participants were told that of a new closing date for the tender - Jan 27.

“It’s not cheap to make this application, we would have to fill up a new form each time and pay RM10,” he said.

“And only today we were informed that the minimum quotation acceptable would be RM4,000... when we asked earlier, they said it was a secret,” he added.

NONE The Maksak officer in-charge of the tender, Naimah Abdullah, declined to comment, even though reporters waited outside her office for 45 minutes.

The canteen premises, when inspected by reporters, appeared to be messy and filthy.

Rubbish, furniture, hawker stalls, crockery and gas stoves were left unorganised in the open-air premises.

Two security guards later locked up the doors to the canteen, preventing reporters from inspecting the place further.