Time for Ronnie Liu to go....

I think Ronnie Liu should be sacked or removed from State Exco if he is found to contradict his own statement. Bravo to the Selangor State Government! The way you handle this situation is a good sign that we are heading towards more transparency. There is little credibility left in this State Exco. If he cannot even solve issues relating to Local Government, he is of no use. I am sure even the thinnest wall would collapse on his foot.

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'Support letters' audit report: Liu's signature real

Regina Lee
Sep 8, 10
6:40pm

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The Selangor government audit team tasked with probing the'support letter' fiasco has found no evidence that exco Ronnie Liu's signature had been falsified or forged on several such letters.

"However, the letters which were printed on Liu's official letterheads were signed off 'on behalf of'," it said.

A press statement issued by Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim on the outline of the audit report said that Liu (right) - who is the exco in charge of local government - had given out 16 support letters from 2008 up until this month.

From that, seven contracts worth RM700,000 were given out to the companies mentioned in the support letters.

Liu had before this lodged a police report on Aug 2 claiming that his letterheads had been misused and his signature forged on support letters supposedly issued by him.

"That somebody should face the consequences. In this case, I am the victim," he was reported to have said.

Son obtained RM20k contract

The audit report also said that former Klang Municipal councillor Tee Boon Hock had issued 10 support letters to 20 companies from 2008 for various projects with the Klang council.

From the 10 letters, 16 contracts worth RM900,000 were given to the companies which had Tee's support.

One contract worth close to RM20,000 was given to a company in which one of the directors was Tee's son himself.

"However, when issuing this support letter, Tee (left) did not declare that the company was owned by his son and that there was a conflict of interest," it said.

The audit report committee also refuted claims that Tee sits on the powerful procurements board of the Klang Municipal Council.

The audit team appointed by the state government also concluded that 14 companies

which were 'supported' by Ronnie and Tee obtained projects from the local council from 2008 to 2010. Interestingly, three of companies supported by Tee have the same registered address.

Support letters not a prerequisite

Khalid, in his statement, denied that support letters were a prerequisite to obtaining local council contracts.

"The audit committee discovered that the contractors were chosen based on the correct tender procedures after checks with the various government agencies.

"And although the contractors had come with support letters, we found out that their selection was based purely on their criteria and eligibility," he said.

Khalid (right) said he will be exercising his prerogative as menteri besar to declassify the audit report for public scrutiny.

The fiasco on the support letters broke out in July when it was reported that Tee, a DAP stalwart, had been misusing Liu's letterheads to secure contracts for his cronies while working as Liu's special officer at the latter's Pandamaran service centre which Liu runs as assemblyperson for the area.

Tee was later sacked from the party as well as from his post as councillor for the Klang Municipal Council. DAP also issued a 'stern warning' to Liu.