Balkis' accounts not finalised before funds transferred out

By DHARMENDER SINGH

KLANG: The external auditors for the Wives of Selangor Assemblymen and MPs Welfare and Charity Organisation (Balkis) said yesterday they were not consulted before the body transferred its RM9.9mil funds.

Yee Choon Kong & Co principal Yee Choon Kong said the firm was never consulted by Balkis president Datin Seri Zahrah Kechik, its executive committee members or former Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo prior to the transfer.

He said the organisation’s financial statements remained unaudited till now and the firm had not issued a signed Audit Report on Balkis’ conduct and financial affairs for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2007.

“My firm had on a number of occasions called the organisation’s treasurer Datin Suraimi Sapuan to send the financial records including bank statements, official receipt books, payment vouchers, supporting documents, fixed deposit receipts, minutes of meetings and the details of membership and subscription for 2007,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He said Balkis ignored the requests, adding that contrary to press reports, the accounts had not been finalised before the funds were transferred out.

Yee was commenting on a recent statement by Dr Khir that Balkis had consulted its auditors and legal advisors before transferring the funds to the Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Bakti) and there was no “hanky panky” involved.

Balkis has come under fire from the Selangor Government over its controversial dissolution and the transfer of RM9.9mil from its coffers several days after Pakatan Rakyat came into power.

Yee said the firm was appointed as Balkis’ external auditor at the body’s last AGM held on June 30, 2007, in accordance with its constitution which required an external auditor licensed by the Finance Ministry to be appointed as its statutory auditor.

He added that he had no knowledge if a new auditor was hired by the body but pointed out that the law stipulated that any new firm hired was obliged to seek the reasons for the change from the previously hired firm.

Yee said the company had not received any such enquiry.

Selangor senior executive councillor Teresa Kok also questioned the validity of the Balkis emergency meeting on March 11.

She said Clause 12(c) of the Balkis constitution stipulated that the secretary must issue letters to members at least 14 days before holding the meeting.

“As the meeting was held on March 11, then the letters must have been sent out towards the end of February, which seems quite impossible as it was election campaigning time,” said Kok.

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Penang goes Balkis’ way

by R. Nadeswaran and Terence Fernandez

PETALING JAYA: Penang has joined the ranks of Selangor – transferring money from the wives’ association for “safekeeping” with Bakti, the federal Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

Although the amount is small compared to the RM9.9 million which was transferred by the Association of Wives of State Assemblymen and Members of Parliament in Selangor (Balkis), its Penang equivalent – Bunga Tanjung – could only spare RM350,000. But it’s the principle involved.

In an immediate response, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said he was shocked by the turn of events and asked for the relevant documents, adding that the state government was seeking legal advice.

“This is a charitable organisation and not a Barisan Nasional organisation or a sendirian berhad. I want Bakti to return the money as soon as possible plus interests. After all, it is in an interest-earning fixed deposit account,” he told theSun.

The minutes of a Bakti council meeting, a copy of which was obtained by theSun, among others, say: With the formation of Opposition State Governments in Penang and Selangor, action has been taken to dissolve the associations to prevent them from being taken over as the constitution would allow for the wife of the chief minister to become the Yang Di Pertua of the association. They are now in the midst of registering a new association although keeping the same name but limiting membership to wives of BN leaders.

The minutes go on to say that Bakti had been approached by Bunga Tanjung and Balkis to assist them to receive and manage their funds for their welfare activities in the interim period.

According to the minutes, Bakti, will hold these monies which can be utilised for welfare activities in Penang and Selangor accordingly. After the formation of the new associations, Bakti will transfer these funds to the respective bodies.

However, another portion of the minutes says: Pending the formation of the new associations, the monies transferred to Bakti will be disbursed to the respective associations but in accordance with Bakti’s constitution for welfare programmes in Penang and Selangor.

The minutes also state that “these matters have been discussed and cleared with Dato’ Helilah Yusof, Bakti’s legal adviser”. A three-page enclosure dated April 7 ended with the initials “HY”.

The enclosure, among others, states: Pending the formation of a new society that will be a successor to the now dissolved Balkis, the following is agreed to:
» A letter of undertaking will be executed to provide a framework of assistance between Bakti on one part and the remaining three office-bearers of Balkis (being the Trustees).
» While the establishment of a new society is still pending there arises an urgent project which relates to the upkeep and maintenance of a hostel for youths who are at the age of 17 and below. These are youths who face various forms of social problems. The hostel is still being actively operated and hence there arises an exigency of a situation where some expenditure requires to be disbursed and in particular certain amounts are already due to be paid or overdue.
» It is considered that the aforementioned hostel falls into the category of scheme that is suitable for adoption by Bakti and its project pendidikan as a project khas. Upon adoption of such a project, all related expenses towards the project could be financed from the fund itself by Bakti.

The enclosure concludes: “It is also the understanding that is to be incorporated in the above-mentioned letter of understanding that the fund will be duly returned to the new society that is to succeed Balkis once it is formally constituted."

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Penang to probe financial records of wives club, too

Source: The Star

PENANG: The state government has ordered its state financial officer to look into the status of Persatuan Bunga Tanjung, the association for former Barisan National state assemblymen wives, and its financial records.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said he had asked Datuk Supiah Md Yusof to report back to him his findings.

Former chief minister Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon’s wife, Puan Sri Chui Kah Peng, headed Bunga Tanjung.

It is understood the former officer bearers of the association have yet to vacate their seats even though the new state government took over the administration of the state last month. The wives of the DAP state assemblymen have yet to take over the membership of the organisation.

A source said Bunga Tanjung has about RM250,000 in its bank account.

Attempts to get the several wives of the former Barisan state assemblymen failed while DAP assemblymen refused to comment on the status of the association or the membership of their wives.

In Alor Star, the Wives of Kedah Assemblymen and Parliamentarians Welfare Body (Bidara) just has a token sum in its coffers, according to Bidara president Datin Seri Noraini Abdullah. She said funds were usually disbursed immediately after a fund-raising campaign.

“We do not accumulate funds. We hold fundraisers as and when the need arises. Usually in a year, we choose 10 charitable organisations and orphanages.

“We also give aid to needy handicapped people and hardcore poor folks. But we do not give aid to the same people year after year. We give aid to different groups of people each year,” she said yesterday.

She said that Bidara would continue to operate as usual, although Kedah was now under the Pakatan Rakyat Government.

Bidara is a non-governmental organisation that would continue to be under the control of the wives of present and past Barisan National elected representatives, she said.

Noraini also said Bidara was not giving up its RM300,000 premises at Jalan Sultanah.

“That premises is Bidara property. We do not see why we cannot continue operating from there.”

State executive councillor Amiruddin Hamzah said that wives of Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives might set up a similar body if it was legally not possible to take over Bidara.

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Neither law nor ethics in mind

by R. Nadeswaran

If in March 2007 I had "temporarily transferred" the LawCare Fund out, to ensure that the money would be spent for the welfare purposes intended, and because I was unsure whether (Datuk) Ambiga (Sreenivasan) might remove some of the names from the list of recipients, I would be (and should be) struck off by now. My face will also not suffer from dry skin, because people will spit at me wherever I go. Carry on insulting the intelligence of the people, if you must.

- Yeo Yang Poh (former President of the Bar Council)

THE above response to theSun’s front page report on the transfer of funds from Balkis to Bakti appeared in the Bar Council’s website last week. It puts the whole issue into context. In a nutshell, the movement of money from one account to another is illegal and the council has been quoted in The Star as saying that this could tantamount to criminal breach of trust.

But the spin doctors and certain sections of the media who are beholden to individuals and not the truth have joined the bandwagon in an attempt to exonerate Datin Seri Zaharah Kechik, the beleaguered wife of former Mentri Besar, Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo from any wrongdoing.

However one looks at it, the whole exercise appears to have been carried out hastily without cognisance of law and procedure; ethics and morals and above all, common sense.

Donations to Balkis are exempt from tax, a privilege that is enjoyed by a select few and the all-important criteria is: the exemption is given ONLY for non-political bodies. Therefore, Balkis, in the eyes of the law, is apolitical although its membership is made of elected women wakil rakyat and in the case of men, their wives. There is a category for associate members, restricted to women who had been politicians or whose husbands had been elected wakil rakyat. They have no voting rights. Therefore, the issue of it being an exclusive "Barisan Nasional" club does not arise and ad-hoc decisions cannot be made by Zaharah, whose position as president is by virtue of being the Mentri Besar’s wife.

The issue that comes into question is the dissolution of Balkis. Zaharah, in her capacity as the former president (emphasis is the writer’s), has no power of dissolution. According the Balkis’ constitution, it can only be dissolved by two-thirds of the members at a special meeting convened at the request of at least one-fifth of "ordinary members".

The constitution is clear on such special meetings and it states it must be held within 30 days of receiving notice of such a requisition. It goes on to say that the notice and agenda of the meeting must be sent out by the secretary to members giving them 14 days’ notice.

Let’s work backwards. If the meeting was held on March 11, the notice must have been given on Feb 25 – at the latest. But her husband, then the Mentri Besar, was going around campaigning on the lines of "Zero Opposition in Selangor"! Did Zaharah get a written requisition from one-fifth of the members on Feb 11 – when Parliament was not even dissolved? Unless of course, some wives knew that their husbands won’t be occupying the seats of power!

Therefore, in short, this whole exercise of dissolution is void because procedures were not followed. This has been confirmed by the Registrar of Societies, who in his letter dated April 14 to the (new) Selangor Mentri Besar, says: "After going through the application to dissolve Balkis, we discovered that the information provided is incomplete. I have sent a letter asking Balkis to provide additional information within 30 days."

So, legally, Balkis is not dissolved. Therefore, no individual or factions can take it upon herself or themselves to transfer any monies to any other person or organisation.

Even if they had the power, they have defied their own constitution which states that upon dissolution, all monies should be donated to the government or a similar fund approved by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB). So, the inevitable question is: When was an application made to the IRB and if given the go ahead, when did it come?

Again, on March 11, Zaharah was no longer the president. There’s no such thing as "caretaker president" in its constitution. The only consolation she can take is that she can apply for associate member which does not come with voting rights, which she has not done to date.

But Bakti, the national body, cannot be absolved of blame for this shameful episode. How could it have accepted the money and held it in a separate account without checking if Balkis’s dissolution had been carried out in accordance with the law?

According to documents sighted by theSun, a sitting judge credited as "Bakti’s legal advisor" opined that it is all right. But Datuk Param Cumaraswamy, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyer said that the judge’s conduct was "likely to cause a reasonable suspicion that the judge allowed his private interests to come into conflict with his judicial duties, which could amount to a breach of the Judge’s Code of Ethics 1994".

Do remember, two wrongs don’t make a right.

And by the way, Mr Yeo, a lot of people are not yet walking around with wet skin!