'MIC Youth head owes me RM500,000'

by Malaysiakini,

A businesswoman has accused MIC Youth chief SA Vigneswaran of breaching a sales agreement with her and withholding more than RM500,000 of her money.

D Ramaswree, 43, also claimed that he had fraudulently signed a document using her signature to enter into another agreement.

She now wants MIC president S Samy Vellu to drop him from the party’s list of candidates for the general election on March 8.

Vigneswaran is the incumbent in the Kota Raja parliamentary seat in Selangor. In 2004, he polled 24,376 votes to beat Dr Mariah Mahmud of PAS by 8,239 votes, in a three-way tussle fight that also involved Independent T Krisnasami.

"He should not be allowed to contest (in the next polls on March 8). How can he contest for the post of member of Parliament when he is dishonest?" she asked.

Ramaswree, who runs a human resources agency, said she had asked the MP on numerous occasions to repay the money but that he has continued to ignore her.

As a last resort, she filed a suit against Vigneswaran on Feb 1, seeking the return of her money.

She has also written to Samy Vellu and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, explaining her predicament.

"I have spoken to Samy Vellu before this and told him everything. So far no action has been taken against him," she told Malaysiakini.

"And it looks like he will be allowed by the party to (defend) his seat for this election. He should not be allowed to contest."

House deal gone wrong

Explaining the source of the problem, Ramaswree said she had agreed to purchase Vigneswaran’s house in Klang for RM1.3 million in 2005.

"I gave to him RM665,713 as part-payment but he suddenly cancelled the agreement to sell the property," she said.

He then returned RM150,000, leaving a balance of RM515,713 to be paid.

"Despite several requests and written reminders, he has ignored me or refused to pay me back," she said.

She also claimed that he had forged her signature to state that she had agreed to re-sell the house to him for RM1 million.

"This is totally untrue. I have even lodged a police report over this false document," she said.

Vigneswaran was not available for comment but his aide said the politician would not want to comment the matter as it is pending in court.

"And we think she is backed by someone as a last-minute attempt to derail our MP’s chance of being nominated for the seat," he added.