The DAP disciplinary committee has found party deputy treasurer Nga Kor Ming not guilty of abusing his powers as a state cabinet member to influence a Ipoh City Council (MBI) tender process in 2008.

In a statement today, the committee said it had interviewed Nga, former Perak Menteri Besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, six former exco members and three MBI councillors who were on the tender board at the material time, in coming to its conclusion.

Nizar and the exco members had denied recommending MBI to appoint Ethan & Elton Sdn Bhd - a company which Nga’s wife Wong Seow Ching had a stake in - for a lounge suit contract .

The three councillors - Frankie Wong and Simon Ng from DAP, Khairuddin Abd Malik from PAS - had told the committee that they were never influenced by any party including Nga in appointing Ethan & Elton as the contractor.

“The issue of abuse of power by Nga does not arise. Nga’s status as a state assemblyperson and then exco member did not preclude his wife from being a partner of a company. Moreover, Nga does not have any personal interest in the company.

“There would only be actual conflict of interest if Nga had made use of his position to influence the decision of the tender board,” said the committee.

Questionable meeting minutes

Speaking to reporters today, committee chairperson Tan Kok Wai said that the authenticity of a purported MBI meeting minutes, dubbed the ‘minit bebas’ by a blogger who first published allegations against Nga, to be questionable.

The supposed minutes stated that the Perak government “suggested that Ethan & Elton... supply the lounge suit for the council members,” despite being the highest bidder, and that another tailor had already been appointed through direct negotiations.

“I was surprised to see there is such a minute called ‘minit bebas’. I have been asking a lot of people what is a ‘minit bebas’ but nobody was able to enlighten me,” added the committee’s chairperson Tan Kok Wai.

Ethan & Elton had previously denied that Nga helped them secure the contract, and said that the higher bidding price was justified by the higher quality material that they used.

The issue arose after a blogger alleged that Nga had abused his power to obtain the contract. Nga had responded with a RM10 million defamation suit against the blogger.

Decision on Ramasamy deferred

Meanwhile, Tan announced that the committee had deferred its decision on the probe against deputy secretary-general P Ramasamy, who is accused of orchestrating a protest outside the hotel where Penang DAP was holding its annual state convention.

The 200-strong protest was held in support of Ramasamy, who was then having a spat with DAP chairperson Karpal Singh.

“The disciplinary committee will meet again to decide on the matter,” said Tan.

He said the date for the next hearing had yet to be decided but it would be held soon.

Ramasamy was also seen leaving the DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur where the hearings were held, but refused to speak to reporters.