A group of sacked PKNS Holdings Sdn Bhd (PHSB) contract workers have denied that their positions in the state investment subsidiary was for political expediency.

A representative of the nineteen former PKNS staff, ex-senior marketing manager Alif Aiman ( below, in black ) claimed that some of the reasons given for their dismissal were "slander".

"Till today, the allegations that we were hired (into PKNS) as a result of political interference, that we incurred a personnel cost of RM7 million and excessive transport expenditure of RM10 million are clearly slanderous," he said in a statement today.

Earlier the group held a press conference at the Selangor department of industrial relations, Ministry of Human Resource where they planned to file an appeal over their sacking that they claimed was "unfair".

"The reasons for our termination have often changed since the first day of this fiasco, from claiming reorganisation, to political interference and then to the whistleblower's complaint," said Alif.

He added that the said whistleblower's credibility was questionable owing to the individual being involved in alleged "cases of discipline and corruption".

Last Wednesday, a source was reported by a news portal saying that the dismissals were a move to "stop the subsidiary company from being used as a political tool by certain parties".

When asked at a press conference, Selangor MB Abdul Khalid Ibrahim on Thursday said PKNS " should not be abused ", be it politically or otherwise but declined to elaborate further.

Khalid also said he would not assume that Selangor PKR chief Azmin Ali was responsible for hiring the said staff, pending the completion of a probe into the matter.

In their complaint to the Human Resources Ministry, Alif insisted they were simply professionals doing a job and couldn’t fathom how rumours had spread.

“Throughout our service with PKNS and PHSB, we have proven our professionalism and exceeded (key performing index) KPI targets as a productivity measure. This confirmed that our participation has improved the company,” Alif said.

List of their achievements

He ran off a list of their achievements which included setting up the corporate integrity system (2010-2013), recording the highest PKNS profits in 50 years at RM420 million (2011), turning PKNS debt into reserves of RM350 million (2012), raising PKNS’s credit rating (2012-2013) and raising PKNS’s prestige through winning awards at local and international levels (Dubai, London and Australia).

Days after the contract workers were let go on Feb 5 on short 24-hour notices, Azmin had also criticised MB Khalid for allegedly abusing state power. He urged Khalid to revoke the dismissal letters and apologise to the people of Selangor.

The issue reeked of politics as a few weeks before that, PKNS had also dropped Azmin from its board of directors even though his contract was until 2015. This led to speculation that a rift had opened up between Khalid and Azmin, who had previously also eyed the MB's post.

The heat was turned up when PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim suddenly swept in to announce that he would contest for the state assembly seat in Kajang on Jan 28, a move seen by many as a preamble in his bid to replace Khalid.

Both Khalid and Anwar have denied that the ‘Kajang Move’ was about the Selangor MB’s position.