Malaysian Insider
SHAH ALAM, May 1 — Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has dismissed claims that the state government spent RM176 million to win the people’s support in the run-up to the Hulu Selangor by-election.
Khalid, who described the allegations as “cynical” and “not worthy”, said the state had no allocation for the purpose.
“I am willing to reward those who had made the claim if they can come forward and prove to me where the source of the allocation came from. The amount (RM 176 million) as claimed by certain quarters was very much higher if compared to the amount spent by the state government to improve the people’s welfare which is about RM40 million a year.
“As such the allegation was not true. We have no money and allocation for that. If there is, I would have given,” he told reporters after officiating the Yayasan Selangor students’ excellence award ceremony, near here.
Khalid was asked to comment on the allegations being made in a blog that the Selangor government, led by the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), had spent the state’s allocation amounting to RM176 million in the run-up to the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election.
According to the report, the expenditure was spent to win support for PKR candidate Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.
Khalid, who is Selangor PKR liaison chief, said he was ready to make public the expenditure made throughout the by-election.
“We will be transparent. We will reveal the details (of the expenditure during election campaign). This is because in terms of financial management, we are different from the federal government.
“If you take into account the experience I have in financial management, I think I have more experience than the present finance minister,” he said.
In the by-election held on Sunday, the Barisan Nasional’s P. Kamalanathan defeated PKR’s Zaid by a majority of 1,725 votes. — Bernama