Selcat to hold hearing in March on various PKNS issues

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor legislative assembly's Select Committee of Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) will hear why PKR deputy president Azmin Ali was removed from the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) board in a hearing next month.

Selcat chairman Hannah Yeoh said the hearing would be held on March 25 and 26, and both Azmin and Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim have been summoned to testify.

Besides Azmin's removal, Yeoh said, the hearing would also revolve around the recent dismissal of 22 contractual employees from PKNS.

Certain quarters have alleged that the 22 employees, who were all highly paid, had found their way into PKNS through Azmin's recommendations.

Ironically, the hearing comes two days after the conclusion of the Kajang by-election contested by PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Meanwhile, in a hearing pertaining to the flooding problem in certain parts of Selangor, the state's Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) was brought in to explain why the problem could not be countered.

The Department's director Abdul Qahar Osman was questioned as to why investigations revealed that the DID only carried out its projects in the last four months of every year.

Abdul Qahar explained that it took at least 10 months to plan a project due to a shortage of professional staff such as engineers.