RM90m for defective primary school e-books?
By B Nantha Kumar, Free Malaysia Today
KUALA TERENGGANU: How did a pre-approved budget of RM30 million for e-books for 25,000 primary school pupils balloon to RM90 million in two years? That is the question bugging Batu Burok assemblyman Syed Azman Syed Ahmad.
While the disclosure is firing up the blogs and news portals in the country, another piece of gossip involving a “mystery woman” who collected a cool RM7.9 million for school uniforms, from Menteri Besar Ahmad Said through “direct negotiation”, is also making its rounds.
According to Syed Azman, the RM90 million billing was discovered when the Terengganu branch of the National Audit Bureau audited Top IT Industries Sdn Bhd,a government-linked company which was contracted to provide the e-books.
“There were a few major issues about the e-book project. For a start, there was no agreement drawn up between the state government and the company which was the supplier of hardware and software.
“Secondly, there was no insurance and there were also problems over delivery delays, quality of the e-books and incompatible software due to negligence.
“The audit review for 2009 found that of the 1,857 units of e-book delivered (to the schools) between January and March 2010, some 1,532 pieces were damaged and had to be returned to the factory for repair.
“About 609 students were asked to pay between RM69 and RM200 for damage which incidentally was not included in the e-book’s one-year warranty,” Syed Ahmad said.
He added that it was also shocking to discover the poor quality of the e-books considering that RM90 million was paid out.
“Some 14% of the 24,431 e-books delivered were defective. This is too high a rate considering the amount paid out,” he said, adding that a group of PAS supporters had lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission last Saturday on this matter.
Wasted uniforms
Meanwhile, a source in Terengganu PKR revealed that the “mystery woman” linked to the RM7.9 million school uniform deal was one Mek Hawa Abdul Rahman.
