Azmin says was ‘diplomatic’ in asking Khalid’s ex-aides to return RM2.6m pay-out

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali said today that his administration was being diplomatic when it sent legal letters to his predecessor Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s former staff directing them to return the RM2.6 million they received in severance payments.

In a press conference, Azmin also insisted that the audit on the severance payments was independent and had revealed abuse of power after Khalid’s ex-political secretary Faekah Husin claimed yesterday that the audit was unprofessional.

“This is a completely diplomatic way of doing things,” Azmin told reporters.

“We want to resolve this well in asking them to give back the money. If they have rights, we’ll pay them, but there must be guidelines,” he added.

Malay Mail Online has obtained a transcript of Azmin’s press conference.

Azmin also said Khalid’s eight ex-aides who had received the severance payments had two weeks to respond to the state government’s letters of demand that were sent Monday.

The state-owned Mentri Besar Incorporated (MBI)’s audit last year, which were subsequently tabled in the Selangor state assembly, found that the severance payments were not stated in the contracts held by the eight former staff members.

Faekah, who was also former MBI chief executive, denied yesterday that the severance payments were unauthorised as claimed in the legal letters.

“The letter of demand also failed to state clearly what laws we had violated and the purported financial misconduct when the payments were made,” she said in a statement.

“The audit report that was supposedly the basis for the letter of demand is a terrible report. It was done unprofessionally and in bad faith without following proper audit procedures,” Faekah added.

Selangor’s Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) said today that it was unnecessary to hold a public hearing on the severance payments as a full audit has already been conducted.

According to the audit report, MBI’s board of directors were never consulted or given an opportunity to decide on the said severance payments, and that they had only agreed to the voluntary separation scheme (VSS) which was not by any means a blank approval.

The report also found that Faekah was paid a compensation of 30 per cent out of her monthly pay (RM38,000) for each of the 51 months she had worked in MBI (RM581,400) when she only worked as the CEO for 12 months and 23 days.

Similarly, former MBI political secretary Mustapha Mohd Talib was compensated 30 per cent out of his monthly pay (RM10,050) for each of the 78 months he had worked in MBI when findings showed he was only an MBI staff for 53 months and 72 days.