“I willingly asked for the funds to be kept and distributed through the ministry so that the ministry could monitor us.”

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming had accused Saravanan of conflict of interest in the disbursement of RM19 million for a chilli planting programme to Yayasan NAAM (New Affirmative Action Movement), a registered company chaired by Saravanan.

Ong had also criticised the government for funding the NGO.

He also said one would imagine the furore that would have been caused if the Penang government had channelled state funding to an NGO that was controlled by DAP that had a free hand to use the funds to conduct its political activities.

Ong had said that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) would have been asked to investigate the NGO immediately if that was the case.

Saravanan had responded by saying the funds were disbursed through the Prime Minister’s Department and not by the Youth and Sports Ministry.

Saravanan said the money was used in 2014 for training those who had participated in a chilli fertigation (injection of chemicals into an irrigation system) programme and to provide them materials.
They had trained 120 youths in chilli farming and provided them with the necessary assistance to start their own farms. These youths would later train others for free.

After the success of the pilot project, Saravanan said NAAM Foundation was now monitoring the participants’ progress.

“We willingly signed a pact of integrity with the MACC. So what’s Ong’s beef?”

NAAM’s accounts, he explained, were audited by the ministry as well as by its internal and external auditors.