KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 — The DAP continued to apply pressure on Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman over the Pempena Group scandal today, insisting she explain the losses incurred by the ministry's subsidiary.
In a press statement, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang challenged Azalina to be accountable for the RM54.4 million investment portfolio by the ministry's subsidiary after audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers reported that the company should divest its holdings in five companies, resulting in an immediate loss of RM20 million.
"Today I am giving her adequate notice to prepare for a full and adequate accounting in Parliament to show that she is fully aware of her responsibilities to live up to the principles of accountability... although there are ‘Little Napoleons’ in the Pempena Group of Companies who behave as if public funds are their private property which they need not account to anyone," he said.
Lim asked Azalina to respond in Dewan Rakyat if she received a request on Oct 15 from Pempena executive chairman Chew Mei Fun, who is also Wanita MCA chief, and Pempena chief executive officer Datuk Idrus Mohd, for an RM5 million annual injection for two years to keep the outfit afloat, an allegation which Chew has denied.
The Ipoh Timur MP also noted that Azalina has pledged that "there would be no cover-up of the goings-on in Pempena" and that those who had "cheated the government in any way" would be "severely dealt with" and expressed shock and sadness that "so much money had been invested in Pempena but the companies that promised profits did not deliver."
Azalina was referring to the RM11 million invested in the taxi company Pempena Executive Taxi (PETS), which has failed to pay the hire purchase loan for the taxi instalments, and the financial woes of the various projects under the Malaysian Kitchen programme.
"However the review into these selected Pempena companies conducted by PwC specifically excluded 'any investigative audit or forensics work' but merely 'a high-level business review’," Lim said.
As such, Lim questioned if there is a cover-up in not allowing an investigative audit or forensics work to uncover fraud, irregularities and improprieties in Pempena. - The Malaysian Insider
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