KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali confirmed that there were elements of wrongdoing in the RM2.5 million payouts to the aides of his predecessor Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim. He said a probe by the state audit department found that Abdul Khalid did not follow a few procedures in paying seven of his aides who resigned voluntarily.

“Results from the investigation showed there are a few matters that were not adhered to regarding the payouts and the large, extraordinary amount needs to be relooked into,” he told reporters after at an event in Kampung Tengah Gombak yesterday.

Last Friday, Sri Andalas assemblyman Dr Xavier Jayakumar tweeted about the matter, questioning whether the sum was paid to Abdul Khalid’s staff. A local daily quoted Abdul Khalid as saying that the payments were made under a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) offered to the staff when he left office.

Brushing aside concerns about the amount, Abdul Khalid had said the VSS payouts encompassed less than 2% of Menteri Besar Inc’s (MBI) RM112 million cash reserves. He  said the payments were approved by MBI’s board of directors, which comprises him, the state secretary and state financial officer, as well as the state executive councillors.

Mohamed Azmin said a report on the matter was presented at last week’s exco meeting following the completion of the audit.

He said the report would be further discussed by the MBI board members on Thursday.

“This is to see what kind of steps we can take if there was indeed a breach of rules,” he said, adding that the meeting would discuss if Abdul Khalid and his aides would be asked to return the money to the state government. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 17, 2014.