MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli was in a jubilant mood on Wednesday. His latest expose seems to have hit bulls-eye again. Shahidan Kassim, the minister in the Prime Minister's Office, "indirectly" confirmed his accusation made a day ago that the supplier of the controversial 'indelible' ink used in Malaysia's recent general election had links to top officials in the Election Commission and may have improperly obtained the contracts through direct tenders.
"He (Shahidan) confirmed it indirectly. The minister mentioned the names of several companies which received contracts, he did not name the company that obtained the contract for the indelible ink but the firm that received the hat and T-shirt contracts," Rafizi, who is also the PKR strategy director, told a press conference at the Parliament lobby.
"The information is the same as the information I have. The firm that got the hat or the T-shirt is Nash Ventures Sdn Bhd and this firm although not officially linked to Mohamed Salleh Mohamed Ali has the same registered office address and his wife is the director in this company. So this is what I mean there are 3 companies that have direct negotiations with the Election Commission - one on indelible ink, one on T-shirt and one on hats.
"I did not name these earlier because we know the minister will not confirm the actual company (which supplied the indelible ink) but he will give the names of the other companies. So the fact that Nash Ventures has been confirmed as one of the companies confirms what our sources revealed to us that there were 3 companies controlled by Mohamad Salleh. Going by the minister's answer, I don't see them revealing any information anytime soon on (the indelible ink supplier) on the grounds that it is for security.
"So it is up to the EC to recapture whatever credibility it has, just give the full breakdown and tell us the full details. I had revealed the name of the company that we believe supplied the indelible ink which is Integrated Challenger Sdn Bhd because we know they won't reveal the identity of the ink supplier but will just give the names of the companies for the T-shirt and hat."
Direct tenders, refusal to give details
Malaysia's controversial Election Commission has been accused, with all 7 members of its top panel slapped with a lawsuit by the Opposition, of defrauding voters by using 'indelible' ink that could be washed off within hours. By failing to use indelible ink containing sufficiently high amount of silver nitrate, the EC had exposed the May 5 ballot to multiple voting and electoral fraud, Rafizi and the Pakatan Rakyat coalition had claimed.
On Tuesday, Rafizi had exposed the identity of the ink supplier, alleging the firm - controlled by Mohamed Salleh - had links to the top government and EC officials. The supplier, Integrated Challenger Malaysia Sdn Bhd, was allegedly awarded the RM6.9 million contract to supply the indelible ink through direct negotiati
"According to internal information from the EC itself, the contracts to supply t-shirts, caps and ink were given through direct negotiation from the companies that are controlled by one person. There are three companies, controlled by the same person, one of it is Integrated Challenger and there are two more, that came in using the names of his staff," Rafizi had said.
Rafizi had also revealed there were also other companies controlled by the same person that were involved in other government contracts including the Defence Ministry.
"He (Mohamed Salleh) is an expert in direct negotiation; he gets the ink, defence and also other government contracts as well, because he is close to government leaders, including the EC chairman and deputy chairman," said Rafizi.
Scapegoat and was the ink "doomed" to fail
When told by a reporter that the Election Commission had reportedly disclaimed responsibility, saying that the ink contract was negotiated by the EC secretary, Rafizi's response was: "We will wait for the EC secretariat (to make a response) then. Someone will be the scapegoat."
His colleague, Nurul Izzah the MP for Lembah Pantai, had told Malaysia Chronicle that Rafizi's latest expose' only "proved" Pakatan's lawsuit against the EC panel.
"Today we also heard that the person Mohamed Salleh is indeed the supplier (of the indelible ink used in the May 5 general election) and just by virtue of the refusal of the Speaker Shahidan Kassim to deny or say otherwise brings home exactly why we must pursue the case, why we must pursue convictions because we cannot allow them to get away with what they have done.
"If we have a supplier given (the deal to supply indelible ink) by direct tender, we must ascertain what was paid using taxpayers' money, was it based according to specifications, was it doomed to fail due to the conspiracy that exist between the EC, the supplier and the people colluding with them. I think the recent expose's bit by bit have really proven our case and I do hope the courts will be empowered to do the right thing.
If found liable, the EC panel would be discharged in disgrace and a new general election called. All 7 EC members would also have to bear damages if awarded by the court, plus legal costs as well the costs of holding a new general election.
The 7 members are chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, Mohamad Ramji Ali, P Manogran, Christopher Wan Soo Kee, Md Yusop Mansor and Abdul Aziz Khalidin.
Shahidan had in a previous written reply told the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) that RM6.9 million had been spent on the ink, with an additional RM200,000 spent on transportation, packaging and storage, bringing the total expenditure to RM7.1 million.
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