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Police should carry out investigations into the MPPJ billboards scandal
Press Statement by John Chung (Petaling Jaya, Saturday): I have today lodged a police report against the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ) over the scandal involving the licensing rights to its outdoor billboards. The Sun had exposed that MPPJ had transferred its billboard licensing rights to its Sports and Culture Club and that applicants for a billboard license had to make a contribution of RM10,000 to the Club.
This is based on leaked minutes of the meeting between MPPJ and outdoor advertisement companies on 4 Feb chaired by former MPPJ President Datuk Emran Kadir which decided that the management of the billboards should be handed over to the sports club, except those which belong to two private advertising companies, Karisma Vista and Nilam Simfoni.
The minutes also revealed that applicants for an MPPJ billboard license are required to make a contribution of RM10,000 to the Club, although applicants who are unable to pay the amount can negotiate to pay a lower fee. According to Malaysiakini report, a senior staff of an outdoor advertising company had revealed that most advertising companies still had to pay the existing licensing fee of about RM3,000 (RM2,400 for each license and RM480 in service fee) on top of the RM10,000.
It was further revealed that MPPJ had reassigned the billboard rights of several companies to Kurnia Outdoor Sdn Bhd which had agreed to contribute RM3 million to the MPPJ sports club over three years.
This tripartite agreement between MPPJ, advertising companies and the MPPJ Sports and Culture Club raises many pertinent questions:
1. Why did MPPJ decide to transfer its billboard licensing rights to its sports club? Shouldn’t it be the proper procedure for advertisement companies apply for a billboard license from the MPPJ licensing department instead of going through the sports club?
2. Shouldn’t revenue from the issuance of billboard licenses go to MPPJ instead of being channelled to the sports club? The MPPJ and the MPPJ Sports and Culture Club are two separate entities and the municipal council is required to look after the interests of its ratepayers whereas the sports club is restricted to MPPJ employees.
3. Why do outdoor advertisement companies now have to contribute an additional exorbitant amount of RM10,000 on top of the licensing fee?
As the transfer of the MPPJ billboard licensing rights to its sports club has very serious implications and jeopardises the interest of ratepayers (since they do not benefit from the revenue which should go to MPPJ but is given instead to the sports club) and is tantamount to abuse of power by the council, the police should carry out immediate investigations into the scandal to see if there is any corruption or foul play involved.
In this regard, it is disappointing to note that the Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr. Mohd Khir Toyo had yet to announce the findings of the investigation that he had promised to carry out over the allegations levelled against MPPJ and MPPJ’s failure to provide any satisfactory explanation on the matter following the denial of MPPJ President Datuk Abdul Karim Munisar of the allegations which was subsequently found to have contradicted the content of the minutes of the 4 Feb MPPJ meeting.
In the public interest, MPPJ must make public the full minutes of the 4 Feb meeting which had endorsed the transfer of the billboard licensing rights including all other relevant documents in accordance with Section 27 of the Local Government Act. All MPPJ councillors who had supported the decision must also explain to the public the rationale behind it. (9/8/2003) * John Chung, Selangor DAP Organising Secretary |