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JOHOR BARU: Police have crippled an
illegal gambling syndicate which took
about RM172.8 million worth of bets
over the past six months.
Johor police chief Datuk Mohd
Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said six Singa-
poreans and six locals, aged between
18 and 48, were arrested in three raids
Peanut plant
knowingly
shipped
tainted products
WASHINGTON: A peanut plant in
Georgia, identified as the source of an
outbreak of salmonella, shipped out
products that managers knew might
have been tainted, US Food and Drug
Administration officials said on Tues-
day.
An FDA inspection of the Peanut
Corp. of America plant in Blakely,
Georgia, also found at least two strains
of salmonella bacteria at the plant,
although they were strains that have
not been associated with the current
outbreak, the officials said.
More than 500 people in 43 states
and Canada have been sickened in the
outbreak, which also may be linked
with eight deaths, according to the US
Centres for Disease Control and Preven-
tion. More than half of those made ill
are children.
“The team identified approximately
12 instances in 2007 and 2008 where
the firm identified some type of salmo-
nella ... and released the products,” the
FDA’s Michael Rogers told reporters in
a telephone briefing.
Records at the plant showed that
after the company tested the peanut
products and found salmonella, it sent
at least some to an outside lab that
showed no contamination. The prod-
ucts were then illegally shipped for sale,
Rogers said.
“There (were) no steps taken (by) the
firm as far as cleaning or to minimize
cross-contamination,” Rogers said.
Peanut Corp. of America said it
would continue to cooperate with the
FDA’s investigation. “We have shared
with them every record that they have
asked for that is in our possession and
we will continue to do so,” the company
said in a statement.
The CDC’s Dr Robert Tauxe said
inspectors have visited at least 1,000
firms that used products from Peanut
Corp. of America.
More than 180 products, including
crackers and peanut butter have been
recalled and the FDA said more recalls
could be expected.
Some companies said they did not
use PCA products but recalled products
temporarily to be cautious.
The CDC and the FDA say the plant’s
products were not sold at retail, but in
industrial-sized cans of peanut butter
used by schools and other institutions,
and in peanut paste used industrially
to make snacks, pet treats and other
foods.
Salmonella causes diarrhoea, vomit-
ing and fever. While it usually clears up
without treatment, it can kill the old,
very young and patients with other
serious illnesses. – Reuters
Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations (Malaysia)
» ‘Don’t regard criminals as heroes’ pg3 » Thailand denies abusing migrants pg4
pg14
Illegal bookies took RM173mil in bets in 6 months
at separate locations in the city on Jan
17 and 18.
Police also seized fax machines,
laptops, betting slips and mobile
phones used in the activity, he told a
press conference here yesterday.
He said the syndicate took bets
three times a week and collected
Missing files
inK MIED saga
UALA LUMPUR: The saga
over contracts awarded by the
Maju Institute of Educational
Development (MIED) has
taken an unexpected twist with a
high-ranking MIC official lodging
30 SEN for delivery to your doorstep
TELLING IT AS IT IS
about RM2.4 million a day.
“The syndicate dealt with illegal
4-D as well as horse racing gambling
through the Internet and catered to
Malaysians and Singaporean punters,”
he said.
To avoid detection, the syndicate
moved their operations randomly and
two police reports over missing
files of the party’s education arm
which runs the Asian Institute of
Medicine, Science and Technology
(AIMST) in Kedah.
The reports, lodged at the Dang
Award winning newspaper
for public service reporting
and opinion writing.
No. 4687 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)
Thursday
January 29, 2009
www.sun2surf.com
destroyed all evidence should they
know the police were onto them. All
the suspects had been granted police
bail.
Mokhtar said police had mounted
705 raids on illegal betting syndicates
last year resulting in 702 arrests.
He said gambling was the reason
Wangi police station and the Sentul
district police headquarters, allege
that files pertaining to the AIMST
contracts were missing from the
party headquarters in Jalan Rah-
mat, off Jalan Ipoh, here.
REUTERSPIX
News without
borders
why many people borrow money from
loan sharks and it also led to many
other problems.
The police would go all out against
illegal gambling, he said and urged
those with information to contact the
police hotline at 07-2212999 or the
nearest police station. – Bernama
The reports, made three days
ago, were lodged by MIC vice-
president Datuk S. Sothinathan,
who was appointed to the MIED
board of directors barely a month
ago.
Sentul district police chief ACP
Zakaria Pagam yesterday confirmed
the reports had been made and said
the case had been referred to the
commercial crime division.
The party’s education arm has
been mired in controversy after it
was found that the cost of AIMST,
which opened its doors two years
ago, had ballooned from an early
estimate of RM230 million to over
RM500 million.
Last month, Tan Sri M. Ma-
halingam, a signatory of MIED
cheques, was removed as MIC
treasurer-general by party presi-
dent Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who
said the move was part of MIC’s
rebranding exercise and there was
a need to inject new blood into the
party.
MIED chief executive officer P.
Chitrakala Vasu has been on leave
since.
A week ago, the party top ech-
elon appointed a three-member
independent panel of lawyers
to investigate the financial woes
of the MIED, which runs AIMST
through MIED Capital Sdn Bhd,
and the reason for the increase in
costs.
The panel was also entrusted
with the task of reviewing all
MIED contracts given out for the
construction and maintenance of
AIMST.
There had been news reports
that some irregularities had taken
place with regard to the awarding
of the contracts, especially those
which involved landscaping and
providing of security.
Contacted yesterday, Mahalin-
gam said he was not in charge of
the MIED files during his tenure
but was merely a signatory of MIED
cheques by virtue of having been
the party treasurer-general.
“The files are handled by the
administrative personnel at the
headquarters,” he said.
“I am willing to cooperate with
the police if the need arises. On
my part, I don’t have anything to
hide.” – Bernama
Beijing fan-fare ...
L arge crowds walk under a row
of trees decorated with fans
and red lanterns at a temple fair
celebrating Chinese New Year in
Beijing yesterday. Hundreds of
millions of Chinese welcomed
the Year of the Ox which started
on Monday, and have packed
temple fairs and set off fireworks
and firecrackers for a week-long
traditional holiday.