KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan MPs want Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz to reveal the complete list of government projects awarded via direct negotiation.
Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng asked Tengku Zafrul to reveal all the projects awared via direct negotiation during the Barisan Nasional, Pakatan and Perikatan Nasional administrations.
“Don’t make baseless allegations without backing them up with proof.
“Don’t try to create a perception to distract the people from the discrepancies within Perikatan,” said Lim in a press conference at the Parliament media room on Tuesday (Aug 25).
Also present were former Pakatan ministers including Mohamad Sabu, Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Yeo Bee Yin, Khalid Samad, M. Kulasegaran, Xavier Jayakumar and other deputy ministers and MPs.
Lim said Tengku Zafrul had failed to reveal the 101 projects worth RM6.61bil allegedly approved during Pakatan’s administration, as well as the companies said to be involved.
Lim, who is also Bagan MP, said that Pakatan had honoured its promise made in its election manifesto by implementing an open tender system for awarding projects.
“However, there were some exemptions to the open tender allowed by the Finance Ministry (then) based on government guidelines.
“Among the conditions were procurement during times of crisis, natural disaster, national interest, national security, one-of-a-kind expertise, among others,” he said.
He explained that during the Sg Kim Kim disaster or the Covid-19 pandemic, the government had to provide immediate allocations to handle the situation.
Lim said the appointment of contractors or services are usually done by respective ministries, with financial approval by the Finance Ministry.
Lim also listed some 12 projects awarded through direct negotiations during Barisan’s administration from 2013 to 2018.
“One case is so sensational, there is a corruption case on it now in court.
“The 12 projects during Barisan (administration) reached an estimated value of RM139.3bil, compared to the 101 projects by Pakatan worth RM6.6bil.
“What about the projects approved during Perikatan? We don’t know yet,” he said.
The former finance minister also alleged that a few current Perikatan ministers who jumped ship from Pakatan had also asked for approval for several projects.
“I challenge Zafrul to reveal everything for the rakyat to see and compare which companies, cronies or ministers got the direct awards,” he said.
On Monday (Aug 24), the Dewan Rakyat erupted in chaos after Tengku Zafrul claimed Pakatan had allegedly awarded contracts through direct negotiations.
