RoS agrees to have audit firm Grant Thornton oversee, conduct DAP's CEC re-election

KEPALA BATAS: The Registrar of Societies (RoS) has agreed to the independent audit firm proposed by DAP to oversee and conduct its Central Executive Committee (CEC) re-election.

RoS director-general Datuk Mohammad Razin Abdullah said DAP had proposed the appointment of Grant Thornton to replace PKF Consulting.

He said the appointment of the United States-based audit firm was made after the party received strong opposition from its grassroots members over their choice of PKF Consulting as the independent body to monitor the running of the party's CEC re-election.

The grassroots members had claimed that PKF Consulting had links with DAP leaders.

"We have agreed to the appointment of Grant Thornton after taking into consideration various aspects with regards to the audit firm.

"We have made known our agreement to DAP and it is now up to the party to conduct its CEC re-election," he told newsmen.

He was met after presenting grants to the residents' association in the state. The event was attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

Prior to this, grassroots DAP members had claimed that the appointment of an audit firm, which has links with the party, would not achieve the goal of a fair and just re-election.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had said that the party was in the process of finalising documentations and an announcement on the matter would be made soon at the party's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

It is understood that the DAP CEC re-election has been slated for Nov 12.

In July, the RoS had ordered DAP to hold a second re-election for the party's CEC. The re-election was supposed to be based on the list of delegates entitled to attend and vote for the CEC election on December 15, 2012 which involved 2,576 representatives from 865 branches.

The RoS had, in 2013, ordered a re-election of DAP's CEC after it found irregularities and manipulation of votes by the party in its initial election in December 2012.

After the re-election, there were claims by some party members that they were denied the right to attend the party congress as delegates.

In another development, Razin said until September this year, some 2,357 associations in the state had their registrations cancelled for operating against the Societies Act 1966.

There are currently 4,870 registered associations in the state.

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