Jumaat, 14 Januari 2011

Charles Santiago

Charles Santiago


SELAMAT MENYAMBUT HARI PONGGAL

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:46 AM PST


Syabas to sue Klang MP for defamation

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:37 AM PST

Source: The Malaysian Insider

 

By Boo Su-Lyn
January 13, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 – Syabas will sue Klang MP Charles Santiago for defamation over remarks implying that the water company was "profiting wantonly from impoverished families".

Santiago told The Malaysian Insider that he received a defamation notice from Syabas today.

"I got the defamation notice at my service centre today," said Santiago, who provided The Malaysian Insider a copy of the notice.

In the notice, Syabas said Santiago's remarks, which were reported in online news portal Free Malaysia Today on October 26 last year, implied that the water company had disconnected water supply "willy nilly".

"Yang Berhormat said … that the rate at which water supply was disconnected was 'alarming'," said Syabas in its notice to Santiago.

"The offending words … are understood to mean that reconnecting supply is the main source of revenue for Syabas and that water supply is disconnected 'willy nilly' and without basis. Further, it casts an imputation that Syabas is profiting wantonly from impoverished families," it added.

Syabas denied Santiago's claims, saying it charged only RM50 to disconnect and reconnect water supply although the actual costs amounted to RM76.

The water concessionaire also took offence at Santiago's remarks on the same matter that were published in Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau on October 28 last year, as well as his blog post on October 29 titled "Everything is money and Syabas making 5 thousand billion" .

Syabas demanded that Santiago withdraw his remarks and make a public apology.


Santiago in hot water with Syabas

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:32 AM PST

Source:Free Malaysia Today

Patrick Lee | January 14, 2011

A water concessionaire has sued a DAP MP for defamation and given him 72 hours to reply.

PETALING JAYA: Water concessionaire Syabas (Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor) has sued Klang MP Charles Santiago for defamation.

In a letter issued yesterday through law firm Sreenevasan Young, Santiago was given 72 hours to respond over his remarks on Syabas' water disconnection and reconnection services.

It added that Santiago defamed the water company through statements made in FMT, Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau National and his personal blog.

"The manner in which it was published is… understood to mean that reconnecting water supply is the main source of revenue for Syabas and that water supply is disconnected 'willy-nilly' and without basis," the letter said.

"Further, it casts an imputation that Syabas is profiting wantonly from impoverished families."

Although not specifying an amount, the letter demanded that Santiago pay "a proper and suitable sum" as well as a reimbursement of costs incurred by Syabas regarding the matter.

It also demanded that Santiago withdraw his remarks, make an official apology in the media and warned against repeating his words in the future.

In October, FMT reported on Santiago's claims that Syabas collected about RM50 million from reconnecting water supplies in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor.

"What is more alarming is that to reconnect the water supply, these users are charged RM50 each time. If you calculate, from 2005 to 2009, Syabas has collected about RM44.5 million while for 2010, it has collected about RM5 million," the DAP MP said at the time.

He also claimed that Syabas had caused unnecessary hardship to many impoverished families in the regions serviced by the company.

Errant consumers

According to the letter, Syabas had disconnected its water supply to 890,934 consumers between 2005 and 2009. It said that the fee collected for disconnecting and reconnecting the supply during this period came up to RM25.7 million.

It added that as of September 2010, a further 104,058 users had their water supply disconnected. This supposedly incurred RM4.5 million for the disconnection and reconnection services.

The letter claimed that not all disconnected water supply was reconnected. It added that actual costs for disconnections and reconnections came up to RM76, although Syabas claimed it only charged consumers RM50.

The letter also said that according to Section 89 of the Water Services Industry Act 2006, Syabas could only disconnect and reconnect supplies for errant consumers.

Refusing to comment on the matter, Santiago said over social networking platform Twitter that he would see Syabas executive chairman Rozali Ismail in court.

 


Tiada ulasan:

Catat Ulasan