Haniza Talha - Landscaping New Politics

Posted: 21 Nov 2010 01:10 AM PST

November 2010 – Selangor menyambut Hari Wanita Sedunia buat pertama kali. Sambutan tersebut sekali gus mengiktiraf sumbangan bermakna wanita desa kepada pembangunan negeri Selangor.
Yang Amat Berbahagia Puan Sri Salbiah Tunut, isteri YAB Dato’ Menteri Besar telah menyampaikan Ucapan Perasmian yang antara lain menekankan wanita desa perlu diberi pendidikan keluarga, ilmu keusahawanan, kerjaya dan kesihatan.

Selangor to ask PKNS unit to return allowance for signing cheques

Posted: 15 Nov 2010 05:11 PM PST

By Boo Su-Lyn
November 15, 2010

SHAH ALAM, Nov 15 – Selangor is cracking the whip on excessive expenditure by its investment companies, starting with telling officials from a Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) unit to return allowances given to sign cheques.

The state assembly approved Hulu Kelang assemblyman Saari Sungib's request today for the chairman and directors of construction company PKNS Infra Berhad (PIB) to return the allowances they had received for signing cheques since March 2008.

"We want the allowance recipients who are still holding positions in the company to return their allowances to the company," Saari told the state assembly.

In a press conference later, Saari said that the state government would instruct the PIB chairman and directors to return the allowances they had received since March 2008 when Pakatan Rakyat (PR) took control of the country's wealthiest state.

"We want them to return the allowances since March 2008," said Saari.

He added that about RM187,000 in allowances was given to the PIB chairman and directors in 2008 for signing cheques, according to the Auditor-General's Report in 2008.

Saari noted that another PKNS subsidiary, Selangor Industrial Corporation (SIC), had also engaged in the same practice in 2009, based on the year's Auditor-General's Report.

According to him, the PIB chairman and four others were given regular stipends to sign the cheques.

"The chairman would get RM500 a month while four to five directors would get RM400 a month," he said.

During the state assembly sitting today, Saari sought for the payments to be discontinued at once.

"This assembly requests the state government to issue a directive for this practice of giving allowances to the chairman and company directors for signing cheques to be stopped immediately," he said.

Auditors at the Mentri Besar Incorporated (MBI) are currently probing allegations of cronyism against PKNS, said Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim recently.

Saari recently claimed that the PKNS management had appointed personal contacts to lead PKNS subsidiaries, and that the corporation had funded a RM520,000 wedding dinner for Malaysian astronaut Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has also reportedly started investigations into the complaints.

SOURCE: THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER