MCA's 'no snoop squad' claim rubbished

The ‘Save MCA Campaign’ committee has rubbished claims made by the party that there was no ‘snoop squad’ employed by party leaders to purge their rivals.

Instead, the summary of the MCA report into the matter released on Tuesday indicates that the purpose of the panel set up to investigate the allegation was only to ensure that the image of party leaders were protected, committee spokesperson Theng Book ( left) said.

Theng challenged the party leadership to reveal the full report on the probe in order for the party members to make their own conclusions based on the evidence adduced during the panel’s hearings.

He said that the committee’s main contention was that the inquiry panel had not done any detailed probe on alleged role of former Gerakan Belia Bersatu Malaysia (GBBM) founder Tee Ann Chuan’s in the ‘snoop squad’.

During the panel’s hearings, it was alleged that MCA President Ong Ka Ting had paid Tee RM10,000 a month to operate the squad.

The three-member MCA investigative panel comprised former Penang liaison chief Sak Cheng Lum, lawyer Roger Tan and veteran leader Michael Chen Wing Sum.

The panel submitted its report, believed to be more than 50 pages, to the MCA presidential council for deliberation on Monday.

‘Looks like us, sounds like us’

Ong, MCA Youth head Liow Tiong Lai and central committee member Wee Jeck Seng were said to be behind the alleged ‘snoop squad’s’ activities but the panel said it found no evidence to prove that they were involved in the purported three-member squad.

"The summary never explained Tee’s role in the party nor his relationship with party leaders. The report was merely drawn-up to prove the innocence of certain leaders," said Theng at a press conference.

The panel’s report noted that evidence showed that Tee had traveled to some parts of the country to gather political information from MCA grassroots though his motives were unknown.

The investigative panel was formed following Petaling Jaya Utara advisor Wong Leong’s allegation in April that Tee was leading a ‘snoop squad’ comprising Liow and Wee.

Wong claimed that the snoop squad was established to gather political information and to undermine rivals to the party president.

During the month-long probe from April, more than a dozen witnesses including Ong, Liow, Wee and Wong gave statements to the panel.

Theng said that the committee was ‘not surprised’ by the panel’s findings adding the conclusions drawn from the hearings were flawed.

"They are saying ‘it looks like us, sounds like us, but it is not us’. That is the situation," he said without elaborating.

New ‘supporting document’

He added the panel never had a terms of reference and this brought into question the framework used to make the conclusions found the in the summary of the report.

Wong, who was also at the press conference, maintained his claim of the ‘snoop squad’s’ existence and furnished a three-page document which he said supported his claim.

The document titled ‘Putrajaya 16 ^th Floor’ documents several alleged meetings between Tee and Liow, written in first person, spanning back to the 1980s when the latter was a deputy minister.

Alleged meetings between Tee and several MCA grassroots including Wong ( right ) were also featured in the document.

"The details and the dates in the document tallies with the information that I gave the panel. However, this information is in greater detail to what I have said before," said Wong.

He claimed he received an anonymous call at 11pm last night and was told to retrieve the document from his house post-box.

"I was worried that it might have been a small bomb. After thinking about it for a while, I opened my mailbox with a pole. My heart was racing. Then I realised it was a document," he said.