The Ipoh City Council was not the only body told to do business with a tailoring company linked to DAP state secretary Nga Kor Ming, claims a former DAP assemblyperson.

All Perak DAP assemblypersons have been told to tailor their official assembly attire at Ethan & Elton, which is partly owned by Nga's wife, Malim Nawar representative Keshvinder Singh said.

NONE Speaking to Malay daily Berita Harian , Keshvinder ( right ) who left the party last year, said that although the instruction was "merely verbal", most assemblypersons complied as they were new on the job.

Other Pakatan Rakyat assemblypersons, he said, also received the "verbal instruction" but opted for other tailors that offered more competitive rates.

However, Keshvinder could not recall the price charged by Ethan & Elton as the state had paid for the attire.

"I share DAP vice-chairperson M Kulasegaran's view that Nga should explain this matter to the rakyat," he told the Malay daily at his home in Ipoh yesterday.

Blogger Ahmad Sofian ready to be sued

The newspaper also reported that the blogger who leaked the Ipoh City Council meeting minutes on the tailoring of the lounge suits would turn up at the DAP Perak office today.

"I will accept Nga's challenge to sue me and will be at the Perak DAP office in Medan Istana Ipoh (today) to accept the writ of summons," the blogger, Ahmad Sofian Yahya, said.

Ahmad Sofian had lodged a report with Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on the matter.

On Dec 16, Ahmad Sofian published extracts from minutes of a Ipoh City Council meeting, which states that the council was instructed by the state government to award the contract for lounge suits to Ethan & Elton, although it was the highest bidder.

Nga, who was then state exco in charge of local government, has denied wrongdoing and said he was not on the tender award board.

The Taiping MP added that his wife was only a sleeping partner in the company, which was set up in April, 2008.

Ethan & Elton has also denied using its connections to win the contract and said it offered better quality suits, which justified the price of RM600 per suit, as compared with RM450 offered by the lowest bidder.

It also claimed that the price for each suit ordered by Ipoh City Council from a tailoring company during the BN administration was RM800, and that the state had saved RM200 per suit under the Pakatan government.