THE National Unity Ministry will conduct an internal probe on the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) after the official investigation by the anti-graft authority is completed, said its minister, Halimah Mohamed Sadique.

“We will investigate to see who approved the grants and whether processes were followed,” she told the Dewan Rakyat when winding up debates on the ministry’s allocation under the Supply Bill 2022 at the committee stage today.

“But we can only do this after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has completed its investigations,” added the Kota Tinggi MP.

Halimah did not explain why the internal probe can only be conducted after the MACC probe is completed.

“Don’t worry. I will investigate this,” she assured MPs. “We were the ones that asked MACC to investigate Mitra and as such, we have nothing to hide.” 

In October, MACC arrested 16 company directors over alleged misappropriation of funds from Mitra, a unit set up to spearhead social development of the marginalised among the Indian community.

Those arrested were aged 24 to 68 and were detained around the Klang Valley for allegedly embezzling tens of millions of ringgit from the fund.

It was also revealed by sources that one of the directors applied for an allocation which he later shared with other individuals.

The Mitra fund, which was created by then prime minister Najib Razak, was initially placed under the Prime Minister’s Department before it was moved to the National Unity Ministry.

Among the alleged embezzlement were cases of funds given since 2018 to conduct training courses in floristry, tuition classes for primary school pupils and marriage courses, none of which took off. – November 23, 2021.