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©The Star (Used by permission)
by Fazleena Aziz

KUALA LUMPUR: Two nominees to a Selangor municipal council have been accused of having been involved in criminal activities.

The accusation comes just a few days before they are to be sworn in as Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) councillors next Tuesday.

In a letter addressed to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and also faxed to the media, the two are said to have been investigated by the police following complaints from the public.

However, the nature of the allegations has yet to be ascertained.

One of the nominees is said to be from a political party.

The letter, which was faxed to The Star, was in Bahasa Malaysia and signed by “Frustrated Ampang Resident”.

The writer, who claimed to be a former policeman, expressed disappointment with Ampang MP Zuraida Kamarudin for endorsing the appointments without conducting background checks on the two nominees.

The writer urged Khalid to take immediate action.

Yesterday, Khalid told reporters that the swearing-in ceremony and issuing of appointment letters would go on as planned and if the allegations against the two were found to be true, they would be removed.

“Over the next six months, we will check the backgrounds of all the 288 councillors selected by the state government,” he added.

MPAJ president Mohammad Yacob said he was shocked by the allegation.

He said the council did not have any details of the nominees because the state government provided the list.

Zuraida said a committee had vetted the list based on certain criteria and quotas.

“We had submitted names of people who have worked hard and shown consistent performance.

“The two nominees in question were genuine in helping us. They did not take a single sen from me,” she said.

Zuraida added that the nominees would be removed if there was evidence of criminal activities.

The state government came under much criticism for the delay in naming the 288 councillors for the 12 local governments following the March 8 general election.

Khalid had said that the three-month delay was due to the time taken to vet the list, which was sent to the respective councils last week.

The Pakatan Rakyat coalition state government was allotted 75% of the councillor posts with the remaining chosen from professionals, officials of NGOs and representatives from the disabled community.

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