The personal details of three MCA Japanese Encephalitis Humanitarian Fund beneficiaries, which a state assembly representative had said were unobtainable earlier, can be found in the list of recipients released by the party last week.

Negeri Sembilan state exco member Dr Yeow Chai Thiam had said yesterday at a press conference that since three individuals could not come forward to give their IC numbers, he had asked his political aide, P Konnashegran to use those of his mother, wife and sister-in-law to collect the money first.

"We were forced to do this since the MCA headquarters wanted the details of the JE patients immediately and we did not have the particulars at that time," he was quoted as saying by The Sun today.

However, the IC numbers of the three beneficiaries - M Paramasivam, T Sellathurai and V Sekaran - are on the list of those who had received an earlier allocation of the fund.

On the list, which was released by MCA on Oct 23, Paramasivam received RM2,500, Sellathurai, RM3,000 and Sekaran, RM2,500. Their respective IC numbers are provided, too.

Village head's involvement

Malaysiakini reported yesterday that Konnashegran's mother, wife and sister in-law had altogether received RM82,000, despite them being neither pig farmers nor Nipah patients[#1](MCA aides found to be beneficiaries of JE fund, [/#]Nov 2).

Yeow, who is also MCA state deputy chairman, said that he had instructed Konnashegran, who assists him in Indian affairs in Bukit Pelandok - the epicentre of the deadly Nipah outbreak - to wait until the Teluk Kemang by-election was over before giving out the cheques to the three beneficiaries.

Yeow had called a press conference last night in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, to respond to allegations by pig farmers that the recipients of the RM16 million JE fund included his staff and supporters.

He said the three who eventually received RM25,000 each from his political assistant were lorry drivers M Paramasivam and T Sellathurai who transported pigs, and pig farm worker V Sekaran. Sekaran was struck by the Nipah virus last year.

Konnashegran was reported to have given the cheques to the three recipients on June 17.

However, Yeow did not respond to allegations that family members and relatives of Bukit Pelandok village headman Teow Hong Chew, who was an MCA branch leader, were given a total of RM69,000 from the fund.

Malaysiakini had reported that the headman's son, Teow Kim Hoo, received RM5,000, while two daughters-in-law, Yau Chuan Lian and Lee Lian Chan, both received RM7,000 each, and his grandchildren received another RM50,000 [#2](Teens receive RM50K from JE fund[/#], Nov 2).