KUALA LUMPUR – National Unity Minister Datuk Halimah Mohamed Sadique found herself in a shouting match with opposition politicians after she sidestepped their calls to disclose information on the alleged misappropriation of funds in the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra).
The verbal stand-off erupted after she stated that she cannot provide answers on the questions fielded by the representatives from Bagan, Kulim Bandar Baru, Batu Kawan, Jelutong, Padang Serai Sungai Siput, Batu Gajah, and Sg Buloh.
“At this time, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has begun investigations on the management of the Mitra grants that involved programmes approved in 2019 until 2020 while Mitra was under the Prime Minister’s Department,” she said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
She said Mitra’s approved programmes from April 2020 until 2021 were carried out while the funds were placed under her ministry.
"I was advised by MACC (against talking about it) as any information that I may reveal in my answers will disrupt investigations being carried out by MACC," she said.
Dissatisfied with Halimah’s answers, R.S.N. Rayer (Jelutong-PH) said ministers can be forthcoming and provide the information requested because the Dewan Rakyat was answerable to the people.
He said MACC did not have the power to instruct ministers to refrain from providing such information.
Rayer said although arrests have been made by MACC on the matter, the opposition wished to know whether there were any MIC politicians involved in the case directly.
Irked by Rayer’s insistence, Halimah insisted on proceeding with her winding-up speech for Budget 2022 as she was given only 40 minutes to attend to other queries.
This led to Rayer pointing out parliamentary Standing Orders did not stipulate any rules that prohibited Halimah from shedding more light into the case.
For the next 10 minutes, Rayer was joined by M. Kula Segaran (Ipoh Barat-PH), and Kasthuriraani Patto (Batu Kawan-PH) who lambasted the minister for refusing to provide direct answers on the Mitra case.
However, Halimah was spared from addressing the opposition’s demands after Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon’s repeated warnings to them to stand down and his instruction to Halimah to proceed with answering other queries.
Last week, the opposition repeated its calls for Halimah to furnish them with information on Mitra.
In late October, the MACC arrested 16 company directors on suspicion of being involved in the case.
Sources familiar with the matter estimated the misappropriation of funds to be in the tens of millions of ringgit. The Mitra grants were set up for socio-economic programmes for the Indian community. – The Vibes, November 17, 2021
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