The Registered Trustees Nattukottai Chettiar Temples, who run the chariot and several Hindu temples here, declared a collection of RM152,744.80 from the recently concluded Thaipusam Day celebrations.
The amount includes jewellery donated.
The trust said an external audit firm was hired to witness the counting of monies received, while a valuer was appointed to value the jewellery donated.
“As statutorily required, the trust shall submit as in the past, its accounts to the relevant authorities,” it said in a statement today.
The trust also said it would continue to absorb the costs of running the chariot procession and other Thaipusam-related festivities.
It also revealed that it had donated RM25,000 to four organisations this year.
The recipients of the donations are the Parent-Teacher Association of SJK (T) Sungai Bakap (RM10,000); Pertubuhan Vallalar Helping Hand (RM5,000); Penang Shan Children’s Home Association (RM5,000); and Dhyana Ashram, RM5,000.
“These donations were given in the presence of Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam on Thaipusam Day.”
The issue of donations cropped up after Penang Hindu Endowments Board chairman P Ramasamy claimed the Chettiars had repatriated donations from Thaipusam back to India.
He also claimed that the trust was run by foreigners.
The Chettiars have however denied the claims, saying that as trustees, it had submitted its accounts every year to the federal authorities.
It also said it was legal to have foreigners in a trust or they would have been “caught” a long time ago.
The trustees have run the Thaipusam chariot for a total of 159 years – 122 years in a silver chariot and 37 years in a wooden chariot. The wooden chariot has been donated to the Chettiar Temple in Medan, Indonesia.