SHAH ALAM: The Selangor government has begun legal proceedings to recover the RM2.6 million in severance payments made to the staff of former menteri besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, Mohamed Azmin Ali told the state legislative assembly yesterday.

The Selangor menteri besar said the state began legal proceedings against former Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) chief executive officer Faekah Husin and seven others after they refused to return RM2.6 million by Jan 19.

“MBI has started legal proceedings as according to its records, the payments did not follow the proper financial procedure,” he told the assembly while replying to Permatang assemblyman Datuk Sulaiman Razak.

Apart from Faekah, the seven others who received payments were former MBI chief operating officer Rohani Talib as well as Abdul Khalid’s former press secretary Arfa’eza Abdul Aziz, political secretary Mustafa Talib, coordinating officer Rahimah Kamaruddin, special communications officer Dr Sulaiman Masri, economic research officer Abdul Halim Mohd Yusuf and press officer Tuan Nazuri Ismail.

They were said to have received severance payments of between RM114,870 and RM699,000, which were approved by MBI on Abdul Khalid’s last day in office in September last year.

PKR sacked Abdul Khalid in August after he failed to attend a disciplinary committee hearing over allegations concerning Selangor’s water restructuring exercise, his debt settlement with Bank Islam and the proposed Kinrara-Damansara Expressway. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 9, 2015.