Alamak! Posted in wrong folder.
Wednesday September 22, 2010
CBT and theft charge shock for clerk
KUALA LUMPUR: A 28-year-old accounts clerk returned to her work place about three weeks after resigning to collect her salary, but a shock awaited her. Policemen were waiting in the room of her manager, who accused her of swindling the company of RM400,000 and stealing two Rolex watches from him. Ong Siew Peng said she was later taken to the Kepong police station and subsequently transferred to the Bukit Jalil police station where she was put in a lock-up.
Allergic: Ong showing her skin condition which developed after her incarceration during the press conference at Chong’s office yesterday. — M. AZHAR ARIF / The Star.
She alleged that she developed rashes all over her body on the second day of her detention, but police denied her request for medical treatment or to see a doctor. “I spent the nights on a plywood board with no blanket and when it was cold, two Chinese nationals who were in the cell handed me their lock-up uniforms to keep me warm,” she said.
Ong, who started working with the company in June, said she and her boss had not got along during her time there. “He always found fault in my daily tasks,” she told a press conference at the office of MCA public complaints department head Datuk Michael Chong here yesterday. She resigned on Aug 25 and returned the next day to her hometown in Sitiawan, Perak. Ong returned to her office on Sept 13 to claim her salary.
“It would not make sense for me to show my face at the office to collect a mere RM1,400 salary if I had committed breach of trust or misplaced nearly half-a-million ringgit of the company’s money or stolen watches worth thousands of ringgit,” she said. Ong was released on police bail while her employer withheld her salary. Chong said he was concerned about the police treatment of Ong, who is pregnant.
“I will bring up the matter to the authorities and, if necessary, initiate legal action,” he said. He said Ong went for a medical check-up after her release and it was verified that her rashes were due to unhygienic and allergy factors. “There was no good reason to risk her condition (pregnancy) in the lock-up. “In fact, the police should have used discretion by providing her with medical attention due to her condition,” he added.
