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Saturday, 21 November 2009

Vell Paari refutes kickback claims

The Malay Mail
Questions why 'old story' is being resurrected by MP
Friday, November 20th, 2009
MAIKA Holdings CEO Vell Paari has rubbished claims by Parti Keadilan Rakyat Member of Parliament N. Gopalakrishnan that he had received kickbacks from a company awarded an Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) ICT contract.

“I will sue all those people making false accusations against me,” said Vell Paari, who is also a director of Maika subsidiary, Maika Intellectual Resources (MIR) that received a project worth allegedly RM40 million from Maju Institute of Education Development (MIED) to equip AIMST University with ICT facilities.

The project was subcontracted to Doxport Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd by Vell Paari for RM36 million.

“It was purely a business deal and there is nothing to hide. The difference did not go into my pocket, it went to the Maika subsidiary,” Vell Paari said, when refuting Gopalakrishnan’s claim of kickbacks.

“There is no truth in what he is saying. I was asked by Raja Petra, the editor of Malaysia Today several years ago and I gave a full explanation. You can read it on his website,” he said, questioning Gopalakrishnan’s motive for resurrecting a dead story.

Vell Paari was asked about a police report filed by Gopalakrishnan, who is the MP for Padang Serai, on Tuesday citing irregularities in the award of a RM40 million contract by MIED to MIR and stating in his report that Vell Paari had asked for kickbacks from Doxport.

Earlier, Gopalakrishan told the Press the kickbacks were contained in an affidavit filed by Doxport Technologies in 2004 against MIR after it terminated its contract. When queried, Vell Paari admitted that Doxport had sued MIR but the case had been settled four years ago.

“On the advice of MIED consultants we sued the company because they failed to meet deadlines. But that is history now. Why is this fellow bringing this up now and for what reason?” he said.

Malay Mail asked Gopalakrishnan to produce the affidavit which had been filed in the Alor Star High Court in 2004, and having gone through it and not finding any mention of kickbacks, the MP looked lost for words.

“I have it here somewhere which mentions the kickbacks,” he said, opening his bag and leafing through a thick stack of documents.

Finally, he extracted a photocopy of a company letterhead with the print hardly readable, invoicing Tamil Nesan for some job done for renovating and installing electrical equipment. When asked if he had more concrete evidence to back his kickback claim, the first term parliamentarian pointed to the disparity in the contract amount awarded to MIR and Doxport.

“This shows that Vell Pari made a profit of RM4 million just by transferring the contract to a third party,” he said, adding the project was worth only RM36 million but was inflated by RM4 million so Vell Paari could profit.

Vell Paari said it was “a blatant lie to suggest that his father (MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu) and he had siphoned out millions of ringgit from AIMST University”.

He clarified that the contract referred to by Gopalakrishnan was awarded to Maika Holdings subsidiary MIR and not to him personally.

“The contract was approved by MIC’s educational arm MIED headed by Samy Vellu.”

Vell Paari said MIR’s proposal was the most attractive so it received the ICT contract for AIMST University.

“MIR in turn invited various subcontractors to bid and accepted the bid by Doxport Technologies for RM36 million,” he said.

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