State Government Cancels Purchase Of Cars For Executive Councillors

PENANG, March 26 (Bernama) -- The Penang state executive council at its meeting today unanimously agreed to cancel the purchase order for five Proton Perdana V6 cars by the previous state government.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who disclosed this, said the cancellation of the purchase amounting to RM623,000 was part of prudent spending by the current state government as agreed upon at last week's meeting.

It is understood that the purchase order for the cars was made by the previous Barisan Nasional state government for its executive councillors.

"Although the order had been made but the cars have not arrived yet. So we cancel the order as there is no point buying the cars if we can't afford to pay for them," Lim told reporters after chairing the meeting here Wednesday.

He said all the new state executive councillors also agreed to use the cars currently available in order to save on public funds.

"The cars which are now between five and over 10 years old can still be used.

"The decision (on the order cancellation) has been conveyed to the State Secretary and he agreed with it," he added.

Asked about the purpose of the purchase, Lim said: "We have already cancelled the order, so we do not want to know why the previous government wanted to purchase the cars.

On the issue of misappropriation of land, Lim said he would meet the Anti- Corruption Agency this Friday where he would be briefed on the status of its investigations into the case.

He also said that he had sent an official letter to the Prime Minister's office for a meeting with Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The meeting would discuss development in Penang and projects to be carried out to improve the people's living standard, he added.

BERNAMA