Money Drop

Money Drop, We now know who wanted to drop money from a helicopter over the City of Wichita. Spangles Operations Director Renee Steven confirmed it was her company that put in the offer. She says, “We thought it would be a fun, different event…right?…so we thought. It started out as a simple idea and a phone call to the Mayor to see if it could even be done. We asked the Mayor if we could remain anonymous as we were still working on the details of the event.”

Steven says the company thought it would be a fun way to say thank to the community for supporting Spangles, a local business.

“We were trying to think of something to do for our customers people that come into us all the time something for the average person walking across the street we thought wouldn’t it be fun to have money falling from the sky.”

Due to possible safety issues the drop could have presented, the city turned down the idea. It was worried about the possibility of accidents with people trying to grab falling dollar bills. A helicopter company that was asked to participate in the Christmas giveaway also voiced similar concerns.

Steven says, “Well it was fun thinking about it…I actually caught myself looking up to the sky wondering what it would be like to see money falling down; but probably not such a safe idea after all.”

Now that Spangles is not doing the money drop, the funds will be redirected to several charities.

Steven did not reveal how much money would’ve been dropped over the city nor did she say how much money Spangles plans to donate. However, she said members of the management team plans on making the donations before the start of the new year.

Money Drop Malaysia

Money Drop Malaysia, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders faulted the Barisan Nasional (BN) government today for bleeding the country’s coffers through corruption, saying its mismanagement of the economy had turned Malaysia into the “king of black money”.

Pointing to the Global Financial Integrity’s (GFI) findings that Malaysia had lost RM150 billion in 2009 through the siphoning of illicit money, the leaders warned of a bleak future for the country should the ruling pact be allowed to continue its reign.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said in a statement that it was time to get rid of “the robber barons in this country”. — file pic

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said it was time to get rid of “the robber barons in this country”, reminding Malaysians that the staggering loss of funds through illicit capital flight could never be recovered.

“The GFI report has shocked us all, with results showing that Malaysia is now ranked one of the top five countries in the world in terms of highest illicit capital flight.

“Malaysians must unite to save this country from BN, clean up corruption and try to get back this RM1.07 trillion of illicit money,” he urged.

The Penang chief minister blamed projects like the scandal-ridden Port Klang Free Trade Zone; the RM52 billion Bumiputera share scandal; the RM250 million National Feedlot Centre controversy; and the government’s multibillion ringgit submarine purchase as some of the causes behind the staggering loss of funds.

“It is precisely projects like … the multitude of government-linked projects that run into massive cost overruns with zero accountability, including the RM3.7 billion over-expenditure by government departments reported in the latest Auditor-General’s report, that contribute to Malaysia now becoming the king of black money,” he wrote in a statement here.

With such losses, added Lim, it was no wonder why Malaysia performed poorly in the latest 2011 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) which saw the country drop four spots to 60 out of 183 countries.

PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said she was “fearful” of Malaysia’s future and the government’s purported penchant for fashioning development initiatives to gloss over alarming realities.