KUALA TERENGGANU: No oil royalty was used to purchase 14 Mercedes E200 Kompressors as official cars for Terengganu executive councillors and senior state government officials.

In defending the state government's decision to purchase the cars for RM3.43 million to replace the Proton Perdana V6 Executive cars, Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said the maintenance cost of the Proton cars was too high.

"We are not saying that the national car is not good, but the reality is that in less than two years of use, the cars would have to be repaired due to faulty components like the gear box."

Ahmad said the purchase of the Mercedes E200 was financed by a sum allocated earlier by the state government and not by oil royalty.

"How could we use the oil royalty when we have not even received it from the Federal Government?" -- Bernama