KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 10): The National Unity Ministry (KPN) is ready to give full cooperation to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the issue that has gone viral related to the financial grant of the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (MITRA), an agency under the ministry.

National Unity Minister Datuk Halimah Mohamed Sadique in a statement said neither her representative nor the director-general had a role in approving MITRA grants because the power to approve grants was placed entirely under the MITRA Grant Evaluation Committee chaired by the KPN secretary-general.

"After MITRA was completely placed under the KPN, the ministry had taken two immediate steps, namely to prepare the MITRA Financial Grant Management guidelines, which had been approved by the Finance Ministry.

"Another action was to set up two committees responsible for evaluating the applications received and monitoring the implementation of the programmes that have been approved," she said.

According to Halimah, the MITRA Financial Grant Management guidelines and the two committees are to ensure that the management of the MITRA financial grants is done properly and has an impact on the Indian community, especially the B40 group.

She added that when MITRA was fully placed under the KPN from April 2020, its director-general was M Magalingam, an officer appointed under the leadership of Senator Waytha Moorthy. Magalingam, she said, served as the director-general until the end of his contract on June 30.