Did Najib and Rosmah use aircraft for private reasons?

KUALA LUMPUR: MP for Rasah Loke Siew Fook has accused Minister Shahidan Kassim for lacking transparency by giving vague explanations to a question he asked in Parliament over the use of a government aircraft.

Loke explained the question was in relation to an alleged official visit made by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor to Indonesia and Singapore on August 27.

Having asked for details of the trip, Loke said Shahidan only gave a vague explanation confirming that the plane was an official government plane and that is was used in an official capacity with costs appropriate to the craft’s purpose.

Expressing his disappointment over Shahidan’s reply, Loke said, “Either the Minister did not understand my question on the detailed cost items or he is purposely trying to conceal the details to avoid a negative perception towards the government.”

Refusing to let the issue go, Loke questioned the validity of the PM’s wife using a government plane, saying that the issue had been raised in Parliament many times before, “but the issue still persists”.

Loke also mentioned a previous trip made by Rosmah to Qatar that cost RM426,489.46 to taxpayers.

Questioning if Putrajaya was trying to conceal potentially embarrassing information, Loke also brought up the issue of the censored names of five members of government who had bid on the ‘BMW’ license plate numbers, as well as the refusal of the Deputy Minister of Finance to answer a question by Anwar Ibrahim regarding taxes paid by 20 tycoons.

-fmt