Maju Institute of Educational Development's (MIED) former chief executive officer (CEO) P Chithirakala Vasu claimed trial to three charges of cheating today.

NONE Chithirakala ( right ) was MIED's top officer for 14 years until she was told to go on leave pending an internal investigation allegedly for irregularities in awarding maintenance contracts for the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) University. MIED in the educational arm of the MIC.

The 39-year-old has been accused of cheating former MIC treasurer-general M Mahalingam, 74, who was a director and signatory of MIED, by deceiving him into acknowledging three cheques totalling RM4 million dated Jan 9, Jan 30, and May 3, 2009 respectively.

The cheques in dispute were addressed to Silver line Services Sdn Bhd and Wira Jernih Sdn Bhd and were supposedly to settle money owed one Abdul Rashid Manaf, 64.

Sessions Court judge Azizah Mahamud set RM30,000 bail with one surety. Deputy Public Prosecutor Kevin Morais representing the MACC had asked for the bail sum to be at RM40,000 for the three charges.

Morais said he was requesting for the high amount taking into consideration the hefty sum of money claimed to be misappropriated and the seriousness of the offence.

NONE Defence counsel Saseedharan Menon argued that Chithirakala was cooperating with the police. However, Morais intervened and said that he had received a report which said that Chitirakala was uncooperative and had not shown up for questioning.

The judge then fixed June 14 for mention of the case. If found guilty, Chithirakala faces a maximum of 10 years jail and whipping plus a fine for each charge.

‘It came as a shock’

Chithirakala joined MIC's educational arm in 1995 as an accountant and rose through the ranks before resigning as a chief controlling officer in 2002.

Chithirakala was reappointed in 2004 by MIC president S Samy Vellu and was appointed MIED CEO before she resigned in July.

mied aimst medical college centre faculity 050109 06 She told Malaysiakini after settling her bail payment that the charge ‘came as a shock’ but felt relieved ‘as all those involved will be brought to task’.

The mother of two was accompanied by lawyers Atma Singhveriah, B Muralidharan as well as V Premshangar.

"Justice will prevail [...] whoever is involved is answerable to the court regardless of whether they are influential or powerful.

The MIED ( pix, above right ) debacle which started late 2008 became a public spat between Chithirakala and Samy Vellu with both accusing each other of mismanaging MIED funds.

Chithirakala has also filed three defamation suits against Samy, his wife Indrani and Tamil language daily Tamil Nesan .