Azalina: Pempena sedang disiasat

Sumber: Malaysiakini.com
Jul 9, 2008. 8:06pm

Menteri Pelancongan, Datuk Azalina Othman memberitahu Dewan Rakyat hari ini bahawa juruaudit luar telah dilantik untuk menyiasat dakwaan penyelewengan dalam Pempena Sdn Bhd - sebuah anak syarikat Tourism Malaysia.

Menjawab soalan Wee Choo Keong (PKR-Wangsa Maju), beliau berkata, ia telah diarahkan supaya menyiasat secara terperinci pelbagai dakwaan dalam laporan Malaysiakini pada 2 Julai lalu.

Dakwaan tersebut, yang terkandung dalam satu memorandum, turut mendakwa berlaku rasuah, penyelewengan dan pecah amanah oleh pegawai-pegawai kanan syarikat tersebut.

Dalam memorandum tersebut - salinannya turut dihantar kepada Azalina - beberapa kakitangan mendakwa beberapa keputusan yang dibuat oleh pegawai-pegawai kanan tersebut, yang membabitkan jutaan ringgit dana pembangunan pelancongan, telah masuk ke kantung pihak-pihak lain.

Hari ini, Azalina menjawab perkara tersebut walaupun Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia menasihatkan beliau tidak perlu menjawabnya kerana menurutnya, laporan tersebut belum disahkan.

Azalina berkata, laporan tersebut membangkitkan beberapa dakwaan penyelewengan dan beliau telah mengarahkan juruaudit luar supaya menyiasatnya.

Katanya, tindakan sewajarnya akan diambilnya jika didapati berlaku sebarang penyelewengan.

Menurutnya, ia juga akan mengadakan semakan perniagaan untuk mengkaji keputusan-keputusan terdahulu yang dibuat oleh lembaga pengarah syarikat berkenaan.


Berita Asal tertulis seperti di bawah:




Azalina: Probe into Pempena deals
Jul 9, 2008 7:42pm

Tourism Minister Azalina Othman told Parliament today that internal auditors have been appointed to probe allegations of corrupt practice in Pempena Sdn Bhd, a tourism development company.

Responding to Wee Choo Keong (PKR-Wangsa Maju), she said the firm has been told to thoroughly investigate various allegations reported in Malaysiakini on July 2.

The allegations were made in a memorandum and included claims of graft, irregularities and criminal breach of trust by senior officials in the company, a subsidiary of Tourism Malaysia.

In the document, a copy of which was sent to Azalina, several employees had related a series of decisions by the duo that allegedly diverted millions of ringgit in tourism-development funds into private pockets.

Today, Azalina addressed the matter although speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia advised that she need not respond to the question since the news report “has yet to be validated”.

“The news report highlighted some irregularities. I have instructed internal auditors to investigate. If there are irregularities, we will address them,” responded Azalina.

She added that the firm will also conduct a review to study previous decisions of the company’s board of directors.

Answer 'not satisfactory'

Asked to comment, Wee said he was not satisfied with the minister’s answer.

“The memo was sent on March 24 and the ministry has had time to investigate the matter. She should have informed the board of directors sooner and they should have lodged a report with the Anti-Corruption Agency and police earlier,” he said.

He also said the matter should have been resolved by now as Pempena is an important arm of Tourism Malaysia.

“I will keep bringing up the matter until we squeeze the answer out of them. I won't give up,” he added.

Pempena employees claimed that the two senior officials had:

= pocketed commissions when refinancing luxury vehicles for a high-end tourist taxi service;

= approved several contracts to RM2 companies supplying services for tourism-based projects;

= over-stated the cost of creating an e-tourism portal by about RM5 million; and

= bypassed Pempena board of directors in ‘investing’ in a restaurant project in Melbourne.
One of the persons implicated, financial controller Lim Khing Tai has denied the allegations, claiming that he is a victim of racism “in a Malay-dominated government-linked company”.