PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysia Totalisator Board has approved three trips for the police top brass prior the recent controversial work trip to Istanbul, Turkey, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng revealed today.
He said the board had given the green light on March 27, 2012 for a work trip held between June 12 and 17, 2012 involving a cost worth RM69,763; on March 20, 2013 for trip held between June 10 and 14, 2013 (RM95,040) and on Feb 11, 2013 for trip held from May 1 to 6, 2013 (RM128,400).
“It is not the first time that the board approved such trips for police officers.
“These have clearly shown that all such trips were approved during the Barisan Nasional administration and Datuk Seri Najib Razak was the then prime minister,” said the minister in a statement today.
Lim on Thursday said the Totalisator Board had approved the controversial work trip programme to Istanbul, Turkey for police top brass in 2017.
The minister reiterated that he was unaware of the Istanbul work trip, which the Totalisator Board had sponsored after it received the go-ahead by its board of directors.
The board, formed under the Racing (Totalisator Board) Act 1961, is responsible for controlling and coordinating betting on horse races.
Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Tuesday was reported as saying that he had approved the police top brass’ recent working trip to Istanbul.
He had said the main objective of the trip was for the police to gather knowledge on new illegal online gambling schemes and tactics.
Lim said today’s statement was in response to criticism levelled against him by Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki via Facebook, stating that the PH government, especially him as the Finance Minister was insensitive to the principles of Islam and the people’s sentiment over the use of funds from number forecast operator, Da Ma Cai for the work trip.
“His (Asyraf’s) allegation is untrue and baseless. TheTotalisator Board has approved the sponsorship for the (Istanbul) trip on Nov 23, 2017, involving a cost of RM184,648.
“The approval was made before I was appointed Finance Minister and during the time Datuk Dr Asyraf was still the deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.” Lim added.