In his judicial review application Jeyakumar, who wrested the seat from MIC president S Samy Vellu in 2008, claimed that he had not seen any of the funds allocated to Sungai Siput since he took over.
He also claims that by withholding the funds, the respondents are going against Article 8(1) of the federal constitution which provides that all persons are equal before the law and entitled to its equal protection.
In his application he notes that in this context, Article 8 (1) provides that “the Special Constituency Allocation be exercised equally and equitably amongst all members of parliament regardless of political affiliations”.
"I wrote to the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) of the Prime Minister's Department and was told that RM1.72 million was given (in 2010), including to two schools and a orphanage, but when I called (the alleged recipients) they said they have not received it," Jeyakumar (centre in pic) said.
Named as respondents in the suit are the director-general of the ICU, the director of the Perak State Development Office and the government of Malaysia.
Jeyakumar is applying for the respondents to explain their authority in disbursing the funds from the Special Constituency Allocation at their discretion and to specify the procedure for allocation of funding since 2008.
He is also applying for the disbursement of funds be done equitably among all parliamentarians, and for damages and costs, which are to be assessed.
It's about principles, not about winning
Speaking to reporters after filing his application at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today, Jeyakumar said that he was acting on principle and was not swayed by his chances of winning.
"People thought we couldn't win in Sungai Siput," he said.
To his knowledge, he said, other Opposition parliamentarians were also facing the same problem, while BN MPs have had their applications for funding approved without much hassle.
"What we want is for them to list out what they use the money for and how much was used, so everyone can see it and query, because otherwise someone can pocket the funds.
"There are 222 parliament constituencies, that's RM222 million of public funds, which should be dealt with transparently," said Jeyakumar, who was accompanied by about 20 supporters, some of them from Sungai Siput.
He has made several applications for funds for the constituency, with detailed breakdown of the allocations for schools, orphanages and societies for the disabled, since 2008.
However, in its 2008 reply, the Perak Development Office simply said: "For your information, the application cannot be considered".
In 2009 and 2010, the office either did not reply or said that it already disbursed these funds to several organisations, some of which told Jeyakumar that they received nothing.
The office claims that it had disbursed RM952,550 in the Sungai Siput constituency in 2008, while the 2009 figure is not known.
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