KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — The Kelantan deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah has confirmed that purchase of Mercedez Benz was not only for official use of the Mentri Besar, but also used by the other state leaders, Malaysiakini reported today.

Mohd Amar revealed that a total of 14 the Mercedes Benz models were bought for state executive council members and state secretary.

He added the purchases started from 2018 up until last year with the last car bought for himself and the Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob.

"Yes, all the excos, the Mentri Besar and myself are now using Mercedes Benz cars as official vehicles, but their engine capacity are different.

"I have been using it since the end of December, while the Mentri Besar started on January 1 (this year).

"We are buying new cars as most cars have been used for over 10 years and with some excos vacating their offices after general election, and did not buy new official vehicles they used,” he told reporters when met at the Panchor assemblyman’s office in Kota Bharu today.

Yesterday, Malaysiakini reported that a luxury Mercedes Benz S 450 L AMG line was said to be Kelantan Mentri Besar Ahmad Yakob’s new official vehicle. This sparked a heated discussion on social media.

The vehicle with the DV 1 license plate was confirmed to be purchased by the Kelantan state government to replace the Mentri Besar’s official vehicle valued at over RM600,000.

According to a statement from the Kelantan Mentri Besar’s office yesterday, the state government has decided to gradually replace the official vehicles for the use of the Mentri Besar and state excos after conducting inspection on old vehicles used for the past 10 to 12 years.

Meanwhile, Mohd Amar explained that the purchase of the Mercedes Benz was made based on the importance of safety and based on experience of the maintenance of the Mercedes Benz was more economical than the Proton Perdana which is an old car.

However, he was unaware of the price of a Mercedes Benz since purchases were done by the finance department.

"The prices don’t matter because the state government gets a 50 per cent discount because they are not taxed.

"I don’t know the exact price but there are discounts.

"So, there is no issue with our use of the Mercedes Benz since it was used during the time of the late Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat,” he said.

It was reported by the news portal that the Kelantan Mentri Besar’s Office had decried the suggestion it had used the federal government’s special allocation to purchase luxury cars as a "malicious slander”.

This came after Kelantan Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Husam Musa questioned the source of funds for the purchase of the Mercedes S540 L AMG for the use of the Kelantan Mentri Besar allegedly priced above RM600,000.