MIC president S Samy Vellu today lashed out at the party's education arm - Maju Institute for Education Development (MIED) - chief executive officer P Chitrakala Vasu.

samy vellu exclusive on tamil schools 080708 06 In a brief statement, the veteran politician dismissed her statements as those made by a "desperate woman who is being investigated by the police for criminal misappropriation of funds belonging to the Indian community."

"There has never been a greater case of breach of trust by an employee (of MIED). She is nothing more than a thief devoid of any morals and standards of decency," he said.

"Let me say in no uncertain terms that she and others who are responsible for the (alleged) misappropriation of funds of the MIED, will be brought to book.

"No amount of threats and personal attacks on me will deter me from that cause," he added.

Yesterday, Chitrakala lodged two police reports disputing all claims of misdeeds involving some missing contract documents.

Breaking her silence for the first time since the allegations erupted in December, Chithirakala said she can no longer stay mum over claims of wrongdoings in awarding contracts as Samy Vellu had gone out all out to damage her image.

Chithirakala, who has served at the MIED for the past 14 years, was told to go on leave pending an internal investigation into the alleged irregularities in giving out maintenance contracts for the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (Aimst) University.

RM2 million donations

However, she lodged two reports yesterday morning at the Shah Alam police station.

chitrakala_mied One was on RM2 million worth of donations which were collected to help the tsunami victims in 2004 under the Ministry of Works, when Samy was its minister. The money was subsequently transferred to the account of MIC's social welfare arm Yayasan Pemulihan Sosial (YPS).

The second report was on missing files and documents from her office at the MIC headquarters.

According to her, Samy had said that the cash was extras from the funds that were collected and intended for future use for the people of Sri Lanka (where an ongoing civil war has caused the loss of hundreds of lives).

"Sometime in late February 2008 (just before the March 8 election), Samy called me on my mobile phone and informed me that the Ministry of Works treasury would be transferring a sum of RM2 million into YPS and asked me to place the sum in fixed deposit," she stated.

In a move to clear her name, Chithirakala noted that she was now making the report "to avoid the possibility of Samy using the RM2 million for any other unauthorised purpose and putting the blame on me."