Selcat hearing: DOs told to report harassing assemblymen

Maria J. Dass
www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=37825

SHAH ALAM (Sept 8, 2009): Selangor district officers (DOs) have been advised to report assemblymen who harass or press them to approve dubious payment to the state secretary or the Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat).

Selcat chairman Teng Chang Khim said it was in the interest of the state to help its officers carry out their duties without any interference in a bid to instill good governance.

The problems faced by DOs was articulated by Gombak DO Huzaini Samsi at the second Selcat hearing to which he was summoned as a witness.

Talking about the dilemma he faces with regards to being the financial controller in charge of approving funds allocated to assemblymen, he said: "It is very difficult for us to refuse a request for release of payment because we do not want any confrontation with the assemblymen and to be placed in an uncomfortable situation."

He also said there was a thin line between what he perceived as a request from an assemblyman and an instruction from an assemblyman.

Huzaini, who has been Gombak DO since July 2007, was the second witness to appear before the Selcat panel made up of Teng, his deputy Haniza Talha, Mohamed Azmin Ali (Bukit Antarabangsa), Saari Sungib (Hulu Klang) and Edward Lee (Bukit Gasing).

The hearing was targeted at examining the expenditure of assemblymen in the state from January 2008 to June 2009 and to determine how more than RM2.7 million assemblymen allocation was spent within the first three months of 2008 by the former (BN) assemblymen, most of whom lost their seats in the March 2008 general election.

Huzaini said in his opinion the money allocated to assemblymen belonged to them and his job was to implement the approval of the allocations requested and sign the cheques.

However, he agreed that from a professional point of view it was not proper for one year's allocation to be spent by an assemblyman in three months.

Asked by Saari what happens if he refused to approve the allocation, Huzaini said: "It's difficult if we don’t approve the allocation, and it’s difficult when we do ... our job is difficult."

Huzaini, who was candid, had the panel in stitches when he exclaimed "Fantastic! I did not know my staff can be so efficient" when asked how the allocations could be approved so quickly when it usually takes two weeks.

Later, when asked how the allocations were approved after the state assembly was dissolved, and even after a new state administration was sworn in, he exclaimed "Adoi!" as he flipped through the document seemingly seeing it for the first time. No payments should have been made after the state legislative assembly is dissolved.

"In my opinion, it is morally wrong for assemblymen's (development allocation) to be used for election campaigns."

To questions from the panel, Huzaini said he was not the only one who had the power to sign the cheques to be released to the assemblymen as these could also be signed by the chief assistant DO and an officer from the financial section of the administrative section.

Among other matters raised in the hearing were the disbursement of allocations to wings and branches of political parties.

Earlier, Petaling DO Datuk Zulkepli Ahmad and assistant DO Yahya Hassan were quizzed on the allocation disbursed to 14 former assemblymen whose constituencies fell under the Petaling district office.

These include discrepancies like the issuance of payment vouchers before the applications for the amount were submitted, the approval of money for programmes to assemblymen who had lost their seats even after a new state administration had been sworn in, an entire allocation being paid out directly to assemblymen and the absence of cheque records and payment dates.

The two DOs were unable to answer many of the questions and asked for time to look for the relevant documents and information. They were granted time and will appear before the committee again in the next few days.