Why Azmin Ali should resign
Azmin Ali NOT fit to be minister or dep prez of PKR
KTemoc Konsiders
A stream of recent events, topped by a suit where a travel company is asking him for some RM329,000 in travel expenses, indicate quite clearly that Minister of Economic Affairs Mohamed Azmin Ali should resign.
His reply to the suit engenders little confidence in him, the reply being that if he ascertains that the figure is right, he will pay the bill, allegedly incurred last year and this year.
This is in addition to other well-known woes facing Azmin, also deputy president to Anwar Ibrahim at PKR, including a tape released by an associate of his who claimed that Azmin had a sexual relationship with him in a hotel in Sandakan during a by-election there.
A worsening relationship between Azmin and Anwar, partly caused by suspicion that Azmin was positioned as an alternative to Anwar in the agreed succession plan for Anwar to take over from Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, reached almost breaking point when Anwar said, in response to a question, that Azmin should resign if the tape was proven to be genuine.
The police investigated the Sandakan episode, but have maintained that they could not positively identify Azmin as the person in the tape, a conclusion which was met with derision by some quarters who claimed that the technology was available to make a positive identification.
Instead, the person who made the allegations, as well as an aide to Anwar, were detained by the police for investigations. The case remains unsolved.
The relationship between Anwar and Azmin went from bad to worse and is practically non-existent, while that between Azmin and Mahathir seems to have improved by leaps and bounds to such an extent that Azmin has openly called for Mahathir to remain prime minister until the next elections.
Back to those travel bills, which indicate business/first-class travel for Azmin and some of his family members. According to reports, Azmin listed his assets under disclosure requirements with assets of RM1.7 million and salary of RM60,000 a month.
The question that naturally arises, of course, is how he can afford to spend RM329,000 on travel for just a period of six months under that kind of salary and assets. The suit for the recovery of the money was filed by YHA Travel and Tours (M) Sdn Bhd on Nov 2, through Messrs Fong Yap & Gan.
YHA’s statement of claim, according to The Edge Markets, says Azmin had been a customer of the travel agency for 20 years. The company claimed the PKR deputy president would normally settle his bills within three to four months, but in this instance, the payments have been outstanding for far longer.
The trips were made between Sept 10, 2018, and Aug 5 this year. They include family trips to Marrakech, London, Jakarta, Gold Coast, Dubai, Geneva, Singapore, Bangkok, Barcelona, and Santorini, YHA said.
