Legal proceedings on eight former contract staff of the Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) have been initiated following their refusal to return the compensation money totalling RM2.6 million.

Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali said the 14-day notice issued by the MBI earlier informing them to return the money had been ignored and they had in fact sent a counter-notice demanding for a higher compensation.

Commenting further, Azmin said the submission of the counter-notice did not meet the condition stated in the notice issued by the MBI, prompting him to proceed with the legal action.

"We have initiated legal proceedings against them and if they insist on refusing to return the compensation, we have no choice but to continue with the legal action and in fact, in the counter-notice they have demanded a higher compensation," he told reporters yesterday.

He disclosed this when approached after officiating a Quran Memorising Programme at the Selangor state level at the Silver Jubilee Hall, here.

The 14-day notice issued on Jan 5 had asked the eight former contract staff to give their feedback on the letter of demand for the return of the compensation money.

Former MBI chief executive officer (CEO) Faekah Husin was recently reported as saying that the lawyer appointed by the eight former contract staff had sent a counter-notice to the MBI management on Jan 19 by giving a 14-day period to reply to the notice.

This was a follow-up to the decision of the MBI to take legal action on all the former staff for not returning the compensation money which allegedly had breached the state government's financial procedures including the contract terms which had been agreed upon.

The eight former MBI contract staff who had served during the administration of former Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim had earlier received a compensation of between RM114,870 to RM699,000 each.