Tourism Minister Azalina Othman today admitted that the ministry’s controversy-ridden subsidiary Pempena Sdn Bhd was involved in certain questionable projects.

Azalina, when delivering her Budget 2009 ministerial winding-up speech, revealed that she had obtained a draft copy of the report produced by the independent auditor hired by the ministry to probe the matter.

azalina othman "I have a draft report from PricewaterhouseCoopers on Pempena and learnt that there were indeed some investments made by the company that are questionable," she told the Dewan Rakyat.

The minister said the full report will be released this Wednesday.

The issue was first highlighted when the allegations were reported by Malaysiakini on July 2.

The allegations were made in a memorandum drafted by dissatisfied Pempena staff who revealed several irregularities and accused two senior officials in the national tourism company of graft and criminal breach of trust.

In the document, a copy of which was sent to Azalina, the employees related a series of decisions by the duo that allegedly diverted millions of ringgit in tourism-development funds into private pockets.

Quizzed over staff

Azalina in the last Parliament session escaped opposition scrutiny when she assured them that an independent audit will be carried out.

The minister however came under fresh attack when English daily The Sun reported last month that Azalina had allegedly abused her power when she placed 30 of her supporters in various key posts in Pempena.

The report further quoted sources alleging that Azalina had tried to get around rules set by the Public Service Department (PSD) where a minister is only allowed to employ eight staff into her office by placing them in key posts in Pempena.

The allegations were again raised in Parliament today when DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang demanded that Azalina explain the matter.

Commenting on this, the minister denied that she had violated any laws and insisted that her decision to employ them was based on the rules set by the PSD.

"I have employed eight staff (for my office) just as stipulated by PSD and as for the staff in Pempena, it is a company (and does not fall within the jurisdiction of the PSD)," she said.

Azalina however did not clarify if the staff hired by Pempena included her ‘supporters’ but said that their employment was done in consideration of the "wide aspects of future investments Pempena is getting involved with."