“Starting from today, we from Amanah Youth Perak will try to highlight issues every week, as a form of checks and balances, to keep the public informed of any inappropriate events or activities happening in Perak and to prompt action from the responsible sides,” Mohd Fakhrulrazi Mohd Mokhtar, Amanah Youth Perak Chief stated in a press conference held at the Amanah Party Headquarters, Greentown Nova, Ipoh on Tuesday, February 23.
“Today’s issue is on the Yayasan Bina Upaya Darul Ridzuan (YBUDR)’s relief fund amounting to RM40,000 which was intended for flood victims in Perak. This amount went missing at YBUDR’s office in October last year. Two police reports were made by their officers,” said Mohd Fitri Asmuni, Amanah Youth Deputy Chief.
According to him, among the donors were Perak Water Board (RM500,000), Malayan Flour Mills Berhad (RM100,000), Ladang Moccis Sdn Bhd (RM30,000) and Kamdar Group (M) Berhad (RM75,000). There were approximately 6000 flood victims in the state.
“On Saturday, November 7, four suspects including a guard and three officers of YBUDR were remanded for three days to facilitate investigation by the Ipoh Magistrate Court. The questions that we wish to pose: Firstly, was only RM40,000 lost, as reported, or more but was not reported to the Police? Secondly, why were two police reports made? Thirdly, has the money been found or have those involved been charged? As far as I know, those remanded have been released and to date, no action has been taken against them. Fourthly, is it true that part of the lost funds were actually kept in the office of a senior YBUDR officer? Why was it not kept in a bank account instead?” Asmuni questioned.
“I hope the state government will take responsibility and provide some answers because YBUDR was established by Menteri Besar, Dato’ Seri DiRaja Dr Zambry Abd Kadir for the welfare of Perakeans. YBUDR is an independent body free from scrutiny from the National Audit Department. Plus, this relates to integrity, transparency and good governance,” he insisted.
“Just imagine, how many families could have benefited from the RM40,000 if RM500 is given to each family. Hence, it is a very large amount of money and this kind of negligence should not have happened,” he reasoned.
Present at the press conference was Safarizal Saleh, Amanah Youth Perak Secretary.
In an immediate response, the Chief Executive Officer of Yayasan Bina Upaya Darul Ridzuan, Dato’ Ismail Saffian, verified that the RM40,000 flood relief fund, kept in 80 envelopes of RM500 each, was indeed stolen. According to the media statement released on the same day, it was discovered stolen on Friday, September 18 and a police report was made on Monday, September 21 last year. To date, the case is still under police investigation.
During Amanah Youth Perak’s subsequent press conference on Thursday, February 25, Safarizal highlighted, “It’s been more than five months since the money was lost in September, how could there be no further action taken? Is it true that the lost money was actually kept in a safety box in the senior officer’s office in YBUDR? Isn’t there CCTV in his office? Plus, why isn’t the officer suspended until investigation is completed? If we didn’t raise this issue, nobody would know?”
Mei Kuan
