We did not ignore complaints, say Liu and Gobind

By Stephanie Sta Maria - Free Malaysia Today,

PETALING JAYA: Selangor state executive councillor Ronnie Liu has refuted claims that he knew about the sand-mining scandal as early as February this year.
Last week, Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong claimed that Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo had received complaints of corruption within Selangor-owned Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd (KSSB) and brought the matter up with Ronnie. According to him, both of them then chose to ignore the complaint.
However, Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad earlier told FMT that he understood that both Liu and Gobind had already conducted investigations into the report and declared it “baseless”.
Liu confirmed Dzulkefly's statement but clarified that the report he investigated had nothing to do with the current corruption allegations raised by Kapar MP S Manikavasagam.
“I know nothing about these allegations,” he said. “I don't even know what information Manikavsagam has. For all you know, he and I could have received completely different complaints.”
“I'm very surprised that he didn't cross-check the information with me beforehand and I'm very interested to know what he knows.”
Liu explained that the report he received earlier this year was made by “someone who failed to get a contract from KSSB”. He said that the details of the report were scanty and investigations didn't turn up any concrete evidence to support it.
“We can't take action if there is no evidence that collaborates with the complaint,” he said. “I suspect that this current allegation has been made by someone who has failed to receive a favour from KSSB. Having said that, I don't know if the complainant is the same group who approached me previously.”
Inconclusive evidence
Meanwhile, Gobind confirmed that the complainants approached him in late February and early March but said that they possessed inconclusive evidence.
However, he said he still took up the matter with Liu because there were areas worth looking into like tightening KSSB's operational management.
“I believe that inquiries were already being carried out even before the complaint reached Manikavasagam,” he told FMT in a phone interview today. “We received the complaint in March.”
“The Hulu Selangor and Sibu by-elections took place between then and now. Only two months have passed since and it's not fair to say that nothing has been done.”
Gobind also echoed Liu's uncertainty as to whether the complainants were the same people in Manikavasagam's report as the latter had not raised the issue with him either.
“This sort of investigation requires gathering of documentation which can be time-consuming,” he said. “No corruption case can be resolved within 72 hours.”
“I appreciate Manikavasagam's concern but it would have helped if he had spoken to Liu or myself beforehand.”
When asked about details of the earlier complaint, both Liu and Gobind declined to elaborate. The latter explained that it would not be fair to divulge information when investigations are still ongoing into the current report.
Gobind also chided Manikavasagam for his public handling of the issue, saying that discretion is necessary in investigations of this nature.
“Going public with such information could work to your disadvantage as you are tipping those involved and providing them an opportunity to destroy material evidence. If you want to bell the cat, you don't give it a heads-up first!”