KUALA LUMPUR: The Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) has denied allegations of power abuse and corruption involving its officers as circulated in social media recently.
In a statement, MPAJ said a police report had been lodged on the matter, stressing that the accusations made by an individual were baseless and purely provocative.
According to the local authority, the issue began when its officers were briefing traders on licensing compliance during a community clean-up programme of its Built, Operate and Transfer (BOT) stalls in Taman Lembah Maju A, Ampang.
"At 4pm on Thursday, MPAJ conducted an inspection at the BOT stalls to check their conditions (eg. grease traps) and monitor their operations (opening and closing hours).
"During the inspection, MPAJ staff were verbally abused and obstructed from carrying out the inspection on site," the statement said today (Sunday).
MPAJ alleged that several individuals, believed to be the children of one of the traders who was fined for an offence, had provoked and obstructed them from performing their duties.
It added that several traders were also fined for committing various offences, including operating a business without a licence, and violating their licensing conditions by employing foreign workers.
"All allegations against the MPAJ staff are unfounded, and there was no abuse of power, as the monitoring was carried out on all traders (at the same location).
"MPAJ hopes that this explanation provides a clear picture of the incident at the trading site," it said.
Earlier, a three-minute and 37-second video clip had gone viral, showing a group of individuals arguing with MPAJ officers.
The individuals were believed to be traders who claimed that they were unfairly penalised in the inspection.
In the video, one individual could be seen asking the officers why he, as a local citizen, was fined whereas another trader, whom he claimed was a Thai, had escaped penalty.
One of the MPAJ officers was seen trying to explain the matter, but the situation escalated when the individual accused an MPAJ officer of asking him for "coffee money" (bribe).