Joint Media Statement by Ean Yong Hian Wah and Ronnie Liu in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, 25^th July 2009:

Rebuttal of the outrageous and malicious allegations of misuse of state allocations

The outrageous claims made in a blog article alleging misuse of state allocations by two of us is a malicious attempt to defame members of the Selangor state Exco members and to mislead the public and to discredit the state leadership.

It is a fact that all such allocations are approved and paid by the Land Office. These payments are usually approved and signed for by the Assistant District Officer on behalf of the District Officer. Payment is then made to the approved recipients. In the process, all payments must be properly supported by documents. Thus in these cases, all payments are fully supported by vouchers, receipts, invoices and photographic evidence of the programme or the project concerned.

This system has been in place for many years and was handed down from previous Barisan Nasional administrations.

Since early this year, full details of all such payments had been posted on Ronnie Liu's blog with full details such as the programme dates, the amounts and cheque numbers, and the relevant receipts.

The allegations contained in the blog article contain many flaws and mistakes that indicate the article was posted with malicious intent and with no regard for the truth.

Chief of these is the allegation that a recipient of the funds, Wong Chuan How is a contractor and reportedly was a major beneficiary of projects and contracts award by Ronnie Liu.

Wong is in fact a special assistant to Liu and also a Sepang councilor.

Some cheques were made out to him as he handled miscellaneous payments in connection with some projects and programmes. These payments are also documented and supported with receipts and vouchers which may be inspected if necessary.

Some of the programmes listed relate to the periods before March 2008, so how can two of us have had access to state allocation funds then when they had not been elected as assemblymen yet?

Some of the programmes and projects listed in the article are fictitious and non-existent. For example, the allegation that funds were disbursed to buy hampers for village chiefs in Seberang Perai is far fetched as the Land Office in Selangor would never approve funds for programmes outside the constituency let alone outside the state.

The allegations that DAP takes a commission from all the payments is also ludicrous as the amounts are paid in full to the recipients and there has been no complaint on this to date. Besides, where is the proof of this?

In making payment, the Land Office verifies the expenditures and would only authorise payments when there is proper supporting documentation.

The writer of the article has to date not produced any proof of his allegations.

Why are the DAP Exco members singled out for this allegations? Is there a political ploy afoot to discredit the state government?

We demand that the offending blog article be withdrawn immediately and an apology be tendered to both of us, failing which further action deemed fit should be taken.

Perhaps we should remind the public that the reports and complaints that state allocations to Barisan Nasional assemblymen in 2008 were exhausted within the first two months of the year, including a case where an assemblyman spent RM220,000 in a day!

* Ean Yong Hian Wah & Ronnie Liu, DAP Selangor Excos