Govt denies RM3m allocations for Umno division chief

KUALA LUMPUR (April 2, 2007): The government has denied it allocated RM3 million for each Umno division head to implement small-scale projects in their areas.
Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin said the RM3 million is part of the additional RM600 million allocated for development projects in parliamentary constituencies.
"The projects have already been implemented," he said in reply to a supplementary question from Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Barat) in Parliament (Dewan Rakyat) today.
Lim had asked why there was a RM3 million allocation for every Umno division (parliamentary constituency) which was meant to enrich the respective Umno heads.
He also asked why the RM600 million was allocated without parliamentary approval.
The RM600 allocation was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on the eve of last November’s Umno annual general meeting and the RM600 million was disbursed by the Finance Ministry on Dec 22.
Awang Adek said the allocations were channeled to the Implementation Coordination Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department and disbursed to the federal development departments and state development offices.
To an original question from Datuk Nasaruddin Hashim (BN-Parit) on payments to contractors, Awang Adek said the new payment system, introduced last October, has reduced government arrears from RM2.7 billion last September to RM796 million within two months.
"Steps have also been taken to improve payment to contractors and through a Finance Ministry Circular dated Oct 31, 2006. Any payment or claims must be processed and disbursed in 14 days.
"We are also monitoring the payment schedule of bills submitted. Every ministry is required to submit a monthly report on the matter directly to the Treasury," he added.
To a supplementary question from Datuk Abdul Ghapur Salleh (BN-Kalabakan), Awang Adek said the Treasury currently had 148 claims to settle of which 141 would be paid within seven working days and the remaining within 14 days.
"However, there are still agencies which have failed to adhere to the 14-day period," he said.

tunku : so the money already disbursed by the MOF in december, can the government show us what are the projects implemented with this RM600million if they are saying it's for each constituency.we the public wants to know about it.as at umno's GA, the president said that it was for each bahagian umno and wants the division head to identify what project they wanted to implement.i guess the money is given to each bahagian to shut their mouth.