A travel agency is taking Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali to court, accusing him of failing to pay over RM300,000 in travel bills which includes private family trips and his now-infamous trip to Sandakan during the by-election there, according to Sarawak Report.
The website quoted documents filed by YHA Travel & Tours, and said the amount includes Azmin’s flights within a six-month period.
“Despite repeated demand of payments by the plaintiff and/or its representative from the defendant and/or his representative, the aggregate amount has not been forthcoming even though the claimed sum was never disputed,” the travel agency said in the writ of summons as quoted by Sarawak Report.
It is understood that the case management for the suit has been fixed for Dec 3 at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.
When contacted, a spokesman for YHA Travel refused to confirm the report.
According to Sarawak Report, the company is demanding Azmin to pay RM328,901 besides interests and other damages to be assessed.
It said Azmin had been a client for about 20 years and used to settle his bills promptly through a representative.
“However, in this instance, the payments have been outstanding for far longer than the aforesaid time frame.”
Sarawak Report, meanwhile, questioned the RM300,000 bill, saying Azmin, who is also the PKR deputy president, had declared his salary as RM50,000 per month.
“Under the circumstances, it is therefore hard to understand how he ran up such enormous outstanding sums with a view to being able to meet the bill – many of the flights are for family members, who appear to have travelled business,” it said.
It claimed that the flights include RM92,280 for flights for his newlywed son Mohamed Ameer Shazrin and his wife Mazreen Shanim Shaheen during their travels to Marrakech, London and Geneva.
Sarawak Report also published pictures it claimed were posted by Azmin’s children on Facebook showing their travel moments, but which had since been taken down. – FMT