Published: Thursday March 12, 2009 MYT 3:04:00 PM

Khir Toyo travel costs exceeded RM300,000

SHAH ALAM: The overseas air travel costs for former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo from September 2001 till January 2008 amounted to RM349,134 and involved 21 trips.

Among destinations visited by Khir were London, Bangkok, Beijing, Los Angeles, Dubai, Osaka, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Paris, Perth, Milan, Venice and Amsterdam.

Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the statistics were from air travel warrants obtained from the Office of the Selangor Mentri Besar.

Costs like hotel, food and drinks and other costs were still being tallied by the Office of the Selangor Mentri Besar, he said in reply to a question by Mohamad Azmin Ali (PKRBukit Antarabangsa) in the State Assembly on Thursday.

Azmin had asked for the costs of the mentri besar's overseas travels from 2000 till now and the name of the travel agent that arranged the trips.

Abdul Khalid said the travel agent was Green Adventure Holidays Sdn Bhd and that the involvement of other agents was still being looked into by the Office of the Selangor Mentri Besar.

In reply to a supplementary question by Mohamd Azmin if there were any family ties between Khir and Green Adventure, Abdul Khalid said his office had no proof of any ties.

He said the state government had now appointed Tourism Selangor Sdn. Bhd to manage travel for the state government. However, to avoid the practice of a monoply the state government welcomed the participation of other travel agents.

Added Abdul Khalid: "Till now, we find that most of the state executive councillors were inclined to buy tickets online especially from AirAsia as this was cheaper than going through travel agents." - Bernama