Home Ministry: Bukit Aman to blame for fund shortage

PETALING JAYA: The Home Ministry (KDN) has shifted the blame to Bukit Aman for the shortage of funds in police departments.

An officer told FMT that the ministry was not responsible for lack of funds in police departments, which had forced officers to foot fuel and repair bills out of their own pockets due to inadequate patrol cars.

“It is impossible. All the allocated funds from KDN have been channeled to Bukit Aman,” a public relations officer, who only gave his name as Marwan, told FMT.

“Maybe it’s taking a long time to process their claims. But there is no reason why they cannot claim from their respective IPDs (district police stations) and IPKs (state police contingents),” he added.

Yesterday, it was reported that many officers in the Klang Valley are dealing with challenging situations such as patrolling in damaged police cars and ill-equipped stations for lack of funds.

This is despite the announcement made by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak that RM442 million would be allocated in Budget 2013 for the overall development of the police force.

Responding to the grouses of police officers who had to fork out their own money to repair patrol cars and motorcycles, Marwan said the ministry was not aware of such happenings.

“Police vehicles fell under the jurisdiction of fleet management company, Spanco Sdn Bhd. All our vehicles are sent to Spanco. They are in charge of maintenance and repairs,” he said.

“We had signed a five-year agreement with them. They are responsible for all the vehicles,” he added.

When reminded that policemen were still unable to make claims, Marwan said: “This means their claims were rejected. They were rejected on the IPD or IPK level. That’s why they (officers) cannot make claims.”