KUALA LUMPUR: The structure of Tunku Abdul Rahman University College’s (TAR UC) management would not have made it possible for MCA to take funds from the educational institution to line their pockets, says MCA publicity deputy chairman Mike Chong Yew Chuan (pic).
He said TAR UC is solely owned by the TARC Education Foundation (TEF), which is under the strict purview of the government.
Chong explained that in 2013, TAR College was approved to be upgraded to become a university college and to meet the requirements of the law.
MCA has cried foul over insinuations by DAP that MCA was siphoning money from TAR UC to benefit the party.
TEF was set up to manage TAR UC.
TEF is a company limited by guarantee (CLBG), which is thus under the supervision of the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry via the Companies Commission of Malaysia.
The foundation, Chong further stressed, would have also been under the purview of the Education Ministry and Finance Ministry.
Chong added that TEF’s constitution stipulated strict financial guidelines, with audited accounts submitted to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).
The constitution, he added, even stated that at least half of the foundation’s trustees must be independent, third party trustees with no links to the foundation or its founders.
He questioned why the government did not take any action against the foundation if the constitution truly has not been adhered to.
“If MCA really did pilfer funds from TAR UC, why has the government not taken any action on this?
“By its constitution, TAR UC could not have just channelled money to MCA. The party has not spent a single cent from the fund,” he said at a press conference in Wisma MCA here on Tuesday (Nov 26).
Chong added that should TEF be dissolved, the owned property will be channelled to the government or donated to foundations approved by the IRB, and not to MCA.
On Friday (Nov 22), Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said that about RM30mil was approved to a trust fund for TAR UC and its students annually, provided that MCA relinquishes control of the institution.
Lim said the trust fund would be managed by Tunku Abdul Rahman Alumni Association (TAA).
Chong, however, questioned why the funds could not be channelled to TAR UC’s 14-member board of governors, one of whom is TAA president Datuk Yap Kuak Fong.
“Would TAA’s five-member committee be more transparent than TAR UC’s 14-member board of governors?
“Why is there a double standard by giving the funds to be managed by TAA alone? Why not give an allocation of RM1,000 each to the 28,000 TAR UC students?” he said. -The Star