Story by Victor Seow
Pix by Shum Jian-Wei
THE Penang Hindu Endowment Board (PHEB) welcomes the police to investigate it for any wrongdoing and criminal breach of trust (CBT) in particular. This was announced by PHEB chairman Prof Dr P. Ramasamy at a press conference on Dec 31, 2015. Responding to an article published on the same day in an English daily, Ramasamy said the board in fact welcomes theprobe because it would actually shed light on the details of the allegations and especially on the missing jewellery or items from the Batu Kawan Mariamman Temple.
According to the said article, Penang police chief Comm Datuk Seri Abdul Rahim Hanafi confirmed he had tasked the Commercial Crime Department to investigate the PHEB for CBT after receiving 36 reports from the temple management and devotees.
The PHEB took possession of all Hindu temples and burial grounds including the Batu Kawan Mariamman Temple from Penang Development Corporation (PDC) in July last year and when the Registrar of Societies (ROS) was informed about this, the former committee was then deregistered which resulted in the disgruntled committee members hurling various accusations against the PHEB.
“Even after the takeover of the Hindu properties, the PHEB never directly managed them and allowed the interim committee to do so. As soon as the PHEB assumed management control of the Hindu properties, the earlier committee, Pertubuhan Penganut Dewi Sri Muthu Mariamman Batu Kawan, refused to hand over to the PHEB accounts regarding the two temples and burial grounds,” Ramasamy, who’s also Deputy Chief Minister II, said.
“Our argument is that funds and jewellery belonging to the temples were never handed over to the committee appointed by the PHEB in July 2015. Both the PHEB and the interim committee have approached the old committee regarding this matter, but until today, we have received neither the money nor jewellery or even the accounts and we know nothing of what happened to them,” he added.
The dispute between the previous committee and the PHEB was brought to the High Court for resolution on Dec 17, 2015 and a full hearing would be held on Jan 14.
Also present was PHEB executive director M. Ramachandran.
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