Pakatan Harapan was only responsible for 5.3 percent of the directly awarded contracts worth RM6.6 billion mentioned by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz yesterday.
At a press conference at the Parliament lobby today, former finance minister Lim Guan Eng said most of the RM6.61 billion went to legacy projects (67.7 percent) and contracts for supplies or services (26.5 percent) taken on during the BN administration.
He stressed that Harapan was only responsible for a fraction (0.07 percent) of the directly awarded contracts during its 22 months in power, which were mostly due to reasons that could not be avoided.
The Bagan MP listed five legacy projects, with the largest being the Phase 2 of a Klang Valley double-tracking project which paid Dhaya Maju LTAT Sdn Bhd RM4.475 billion.
This deal was signed a day before Parliament was dissolved in March 2018 to a tune of RM5.265 billion and the contract was pared down after the Harapan administration took over.
Lim explained that the contract had to be renegotiated without a tender being called to avoid delays in the project, which began in 2016.
"Zafrul should be praising the Harapan administration because we saved RM790 million in taxpayers' money," he added.
Lim pointed out that four contracts under the International Trade and Industries Ministry that Zafrul listed were for ministerial events that took place in April 2018, prior to the change in government.
Those contracts for just two companies were valued at RM8.18 million, where Usaha Jana Sdn Bhd alone bagged projects worth RM7.543 million.
As for the 31 supply or services contracts which had to be continued, valued at RM1.753 billion, Lim said these services usually involved specialised suppliers or a monopoly.
For instance, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry had to rent a multiplexer and acquire the infrastructure or network facilities for digital TV at a cost of RM254 million because it didn't have a choice.
"The contract which appointed Mytv Broadcasting Sdn Bhd was made in 2014 by the BN administration," Lim added.
Other contracts, he said, included paying Telekom Malaysia Bhd RM94 million for the Malaysian Emergency Response Reservices or "999" emergency number.
As for the 5.3 percent which involved "new" directly awarded contracts undertaken by the Harapan government, amounting to RM352 million, Lim said half the amount was for a new solid waste transfer station in Jinjang Utara.
He pointed out that this project came under the Housing and Local Government Ministry headed by Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin (above).
"Perhaps it's better for the minister, who has refuted claims of being involved in direct awards, to explain what happened," Lim added.
According to Lim, two other examples of spending where a direct award could not be avoided involved the RM70 million paid to Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (a government agency) and RM2.98 million paid to Global Vetineries Sdn Bhd (a private company) for a rabies prevention project in Sarawak.
The controversy over the directly awarded contracts erupted after Zafrul told Parliament on Monday that the Harapan administration gave out 101 contracts without an open tender process.
Following this, MPs from both sides of the floor demanded that he release the full list of projects, which he complied to doing yesterday.
Harapan's critics have accused the coalition of reneging on its promise to only perform government procurements through open tender.
However, Harapan leaders have repeatedly pointed out that item 23 of its election manifesto pledged to conduct open tenders as widely as possible and never promised to do away with the practice, as it was needed in some specific circumstances.
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