Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim today reaffirmed that he did not sign the letter allegedly dismissing Azmin Ali as a board member of the Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS).               

"The person who has the right to make the decision is the menteri besar, so if the state executive council (exco) agrees, an appointment letter or a letter requesting resignation must be signed by the menteri besar.   

"The general manager (PKNS) cannot write a letter (of appointment or termination). Other than the menteri besar, the other person who can sign the letter is the State Secretary Muhammad Khusrin Munawi ( left ) as the deputy chairman of PKNS," he told reporters after visiting the factory of rubber glove manufacturer, Top Glove, in Klang today.              

He said his office had decided to suspend PKNS general manager Othman Omar and its executive secretary Norita Mohd Sidek and to transfer them to the state secretariat office, effective from yesterday until the completion of the investigations.         

He said the chief financial officer of Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad, Azlan Md Alifiah, would be acting in Othman's place.

              

"Meanwhile, the two of them (Othman and Norita) will not be holding any post and will be under the state secretary. Only their positions are suspended but their salaries remain the same," he said.      

 

Their suspension would be until the investigations were completed after the Chinese New Year before a decision would be made on their positions, he said.        

Minutes to be revealed

Abdul Khalid said for the sake of transparency, he had agreed to reveal the minutes of the meeting to the public.          

"This morning, I asked my executive secretary to list out the documents. As menteri besar, I have authorised the minutes to be released, maybe today or tomorrow via a press release or email," he said.      

He added that the case would be referred to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Transparency International to study the documents issued by the state government and the PKNS general manager and executive secretary for the purpose of investigation.             

              

"The case of the PKNS general manager involves the issue of integrity  because letters were taken out and disputed, and he did not get any instruction from the state government (on the matter)," he said.  

             

Azmin's dismissal as PKNS board member on Jan 8 became a controversial issue after Abdul Khalid denied any involvement in the decision.

Instead, he claimed the move to drop the PKR vice-president from the board was made by Othman and the state exco merely went along with it.          

  

The Menteri Besar's statement was refuted by Norita who said that under the PKNS Enactment Clause 4(1), the authority to appoint PKNS board members was with the state exco, of which Abdul Khalid was the chairman and not Othman.   

 

- Bernama