Khalid: Allegations of graft unfounded - The Star

SHAH ALAM: Jun 12, 2008

Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said yesterday that an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Agency has cleared one of his senior aides of involvement in graft.

“The allegations of graft were unfounded,” Khalid told reporters after chairing the weekly exco meeting.

However, the officer in question will be asked to attend a seminar or course on integrity and responsibility so that he would be more careful when carrying out his duties in future, he added.

Khalid, who also met ACA officers for an hour after the exco meeting, thanked the agency for quickly initiating investigations after the allegations were made.

The top aide was questioned by the ACA for about four hours on Tuesday for allegedly being involved in approving contracts for cleaning and garbage collection in Petaling Jaya.

The investigations were initiated after several people claiming to be PKR members lodged a report against the officer last week alleging that there were irregularities in the approval of the contracts.

Khalid said he had met the ACA state director and suggested that an officer from the agency be assigned at the mentri besar’s office to carry out further investigations and study how administrative procedures are executed ethically and responsibly.

On another matter regarding a posting in a blog “Another brick in the wall” stating that Khalid’s “secret relationship” with I-Bhd chairman Datuk Lim Kim Hong was now in the open, Khalid said: “I didn’t know that I had a secret relationship with him and to say that I do not know Datuk Lim Kim Hong is not true because I do know him.”

He added that as a former businessman, he had met and befriended many other businessmen.

“I can give you a list and quite a lot of them come to my dinner parties,” said Khalid, adding that there was nothing wrong in having business friends provided that there was “proper conduct” in the relationship.

In Shah Alam, the Selangor ACA director Jaafar Mahad said the agency had completed its investigations into the case.

It is learnt that the ACA interviewed no fewer than seven people, including officers from the Petaling Jaya City Council as well as those from Alam Flora.