‘Selangor govt guilty of giving direct contracts’

Blogger Raja Petra claims that the Selangor government was giving out contracts worth millions through direct tenders.

KUALA LUMPUR: Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin said the Pakatan Rakyat led Selangor is as guilty as the Barisan Nasional when it comes to giving out contracts.

In his Malaysia Today blog posting today, he claimed the Selangor government was also giving out contracts worth millions through direct tenders .

He pointed to the announcement made by Selangor Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim in August 2008 just months after they took over the state government would follow Penang’s move to end the system of negotiated contracts.

Penang, taken over by the DAP, one of Pakatan’s component parties, was among the five states that fell into the bloc’s control in general election 2008. It has since been praised for its clean image.

“But that same year RM79 million worth of contracts was awarded (by Selangor) on a negotiated basis. In 2009 it was RM27 million and in 2010 RM143 million.

“I do not have the figures for last year but looking at the trend we can safely assume it was in the region of RM100 million,” he said.

The latest posting is a continued attack on Selangor mentri besar Khalid Ibrahim and PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim whom he claims is corrupt.

Anwar is also the state’s economic advisor and Raja Petra claims that Anwar is turning a blind eye on the abuse of power by the state government.

Sand mining scandal

Among the many accusations of graft is the sand-mining issue in the state. Two PKR state assemblymen had been implicated in the scandal said to be worth hundreds of millions.

The two have denied the allegation while PKR claimed that Raja Petra, a former staunch Anwar supporter, is now a “BN stooge”. The blogger rubbished the allegation, calling the accusation a “typical PKR narrative against its critics”.

Raja Petra claims that legal work for the state government are also given through direct negotiations with lawyers or firms close to the state administration.

“The same goes for the legal work in Selangor. Those who support Pakatan Rakyat or are leaders of Pakatan Rakyat get all the legal work.

“The legal work does not go to those who offer the cheapest price. Hence the state has to pay a much higher price for its legal work,” he said, adding that lawyers are now “grumbling”.

The blogger said he anticipates a denial from the state government and said Pakatan officials will likely say there was no conflict of interest as the contracts were awarded by “others” with allegedly no connection with the firms or lawyers.

He said the same could be said of former BN ministers who did not directly award contracts to cronies but was done through other channels.