SAMY VELLU NEXT?

By Patrick Lee

SHAH ALAM: When former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik was hauled to court recently, it sent a chill down many a powerful spine. Suddenly, the notion that some were above the law had been shattered.

Certain quarters saw it as an election gimmick, crafted to exhibit the government's seriouness in dealing with corruption without fear or favour.

Inspired by this, several former MIC leaders now want the party's long-term president S Samy Vellu to face the music for his alleged misdeeds as well.

Failing which, they warned: "If Samy Vellu is not brought to justice, then the federal government will have to pay the price... Pakatan Rakyat will win the next election."

With this in mind, the Gerakan Anti-Samy Vellu (GAS) movement leaders knocked on the door of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) state headquarters here this morning.

V Mugilan, KP Samy and G Kumar Amman, with some 50 supporters in tow, came armed with evidence of Samy Vellu's alleged abuses with regard to MIC's education arm, the Maju Institute of Education Development (MIED) funds.

Among them, the purchase of a Rolex watch worth RM22,700 and a gold chain as well as bracelet worth RM50,000.

Mugilan, the former MIC Youth deputy chief, was axed by Samy Vellu when he had called on the 74-year-old president of three decades to quit with immediate effect. KP Samy and Kumar, both former central working committee members, were given the boot for backing the call.

'Is Samy Vellu so powerful?'

Speaking to reporters after filing the report, KP Samy said: "Ling was charged because he caused losses to the government. Likewise, Samy Vellu brought losses to the Indian community."

"This is the first time we have come to MACC as the commission represents a new hope for us," he added.

Meanwhile, Mugilan expressed disappointment with the lack of action by enforcement agencies against the MIC boss in the past despite a litany of reports having been filed over the years.

"Is Samy Vellu so strong that the government cannot take any action (against him)?" he asked. "If Ling can be charged, why not Samy Vellu? Big guns can be charged... Samy Vellu is nothing."

The GAS leaders also promised to submit more evidence regarding Samy Vellu in the coming weeks.

Among the accusations made in today's report were that the MIC president had made rampant withdrawals from MIED accounts, and awarded contracts at inflated costs to many of his associates.

Mugilan also alleged that Samy Vellu had embezzled “huge amounts” of money from MIED, in his capacity as chairman, for his own interests.

According to the report, these allegations were made by former MIED CEO P Chithirakala Vasu in the Kuala Lumpur High Court last year.

'RM31 million for landscape contract'

As for the contracts, the report claimed that Samy Vellu had awarded the landscape contract for MIC's Aimst University to a company called Nova Blooms for a whopping RM27 million.

“The principal owner of Nova Blooms G Komathy is the classmate of one Rosaline from Ipoh who is a close associate of Samy Vellu. The initial contract was for RM27 million but on the insistence of Samy Vellu, a total of RM31 million was paid to Nova Blossoms till November 2008,” it said.

However, the report claimed that MIED had to fork out an additional RM2.2 million to complete the unfinished job by Nova Blooms using a third party contractor.

Apart from this, the report also alleged that the landscape maintenance work for Aimst University was awarded to Classic Sparkle Sdn Bhd.

“Roseline of Ipoh had signed as the managing director of Classic Sparkle in all coresspondence to MIED. To the best of our knowledge, Classic Sparkle is owned by Roseline. Her bodyguard by the name of R Kanappah is holding the shares in Classic Sparkle in trust for Roseline,” it said.

The report stated that the maintenance contract was first awarded to IT Sisma International Sdn Bhd for a sum of RM18,800 per month or RM225,600 per year.

“On the instructions of Samy Vellu, the contract with IT Sisma was prematurely terminated and the same contract was awarded to Classic Sparkle at RM50,000 per month. Subsequently, this was increased to RM56,300 per month,” it added.

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