An Umno assemblyperson claims that the public has complained that those who did not qualify for the RM700 financial aid for victims of the massive Nov 4 and 5 floods in Penang have received the aid.

"I told them the aid is for those who were victims of the floods.

"These people from Balik Pulau asked me how come those who were not affected by the floods received the aid," Muhamad Farid Saad, the Pulau Betong assemblyperson told Malaysiakini.

"They told me there were houses where more than one person received the money. I was surprised. I told them this is under the Penang government and that I was not involved," he added.

As the public is questioning him about it, Farid asked the Penang government to clarify how much donations they had received from the public and what is the allocation set aside for the aid programme.

"How many aid recipients are there? What are the criteria to qualify for the aid? Can more than one person in a household receive the money?" he asked.

Farid was referring to the flood aid which was extended to victims in December last year via the "Penang Bangkit (Rise)" programme.

Qualified victims were supposed to receive RM700 each with the money coming from public donations and from state government allocations.

On Jan 4, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the aid has been dished out to most of the 49,533 victims of the disastrous floods which killed seven and inundated about 80 percent of the state displacing thousands.

However, he noted that a small minority of those registered to receive the aid, or 2,754 victims, had yet to claim the payment.

In November last year, Lim announced that the state had received about RM10 million in cash donations for the flood victims. in Nov last year,

Lim also said that the state would allocate RM10 million for hill slope protection efforts and conduct a study on climate change to better tackle flood woes.

Farid (above) said it was unfortunate if those who were entrusted and responsible for the aid had "abused their power" by approving the aid for themselves.

"It is not right for more than one person from a household to receive the aid as the condition is as far as I know that only one person per household is qualified for such aid," Farid said.

"Using the flood aid to help cronies and to garner political support is something that goes against the CAT (competency, accountability and transparency) principles. It is not being trustworthy on the job," he added.

"In line with CAT, we hope to get a clarification about this especially for the recipients who hail from Balik Pulau," Farid stressed.

Malaysiakini has contacted state secretary Farizan Darus, whose department oversees the flood aid distribution, and is awaiting his reply.