KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — Selangor’s transparency committee said today it is unnecessary to hold a public hearing on the severance payments made to former mentri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s aides as the state government had already conducted a full audit on the payouts last year.
Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) chair Hannah Yeoh pointed out in a statement here that the audit was also tabled and debated in the Selangor state legislative assembly.
“An audit investigation was held and the report was debated in Selangor state assembly November-December last year,” the Selangor Speaker said.
The audit by state-owned Mentri Besar Incorporated (MBI) last year had revealed that former MB Khalid acted unilaterally without the consent of MBI’s board of directors in giving out approximately RM2.6 million to his former staff.
The findings of the MBI audit report, which was subsequently tabled in the Selangor state assembly, found that Khalid, who was MBI chairman, had failed to abide by standard procedures in disbursing the payment to eight ex-staff members of MBI.
The audit report found that the severance payments were not stated in the contracts held by the eight former staff members.
“The board of directors of MBI not including the MBI chairman, at any time after August 25, 2014 had never given any final agreement for the implementation of payments to be made to the eight officers and staff members as decided by the MBI chairman on September 22, 2014,” said the audit report.
It also stated the 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 former MBI chief executive Faekah Husin was paid a compensation for 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.
Khalid, who was sacked from PKR during the tussle over the Selangor MB post, has since claimed ignorance over allegations that his former aides were issued the severance payments after he stepped down from his position.
He was succeeded by PKR deputy president and arch rival Azmin Ali, who said last month that MBI’s new management and Selcat will decide on the next course of action that will be taken based on the findings of the unauthorised payments.
Azmin has also denied that Selangor’s probe into the RM2.6 million unauthorised payout to Khalid’s former aides was meant to target his former political rival.
