‘Contracts worth billions for tycoon friend’

In his latest revelation, blogger Raja Petra claims that the Selangor MB is enriching his tycoon friend further by giving a host of state contracts.

KUALA LUMPUR: Raja Petra Kamarudin has accused Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim of dishing out contracts worth “billions” to his tycoon friend, which the blogger claims triggered friction in Pakatan Rakyat.

The Malaysia Today editor alleged today that the contracts were given to I-Bhd founder Lim Kim Hong who helped Khalid finance his purchase of Guthrie shares in 1994 as a way to repay his debt.

Khalid initially bought 5% of Guthrie for RM125 million, according to The Asian Wall Street Journal on June 17, 1994.

Raja Petra said, to partly fund this purchase, Khalid borrowed about RM66 million from Bank Islam, which later sued Khalid for recovery of the unpaid loan.

The rest was financed by Lim, said the blogger, who claimed that PKR deputy president Azmin Ali had disclosed the information.

The blogger alleged that ties between Khalid and Azmin had become further strained as the latter was “pissed big time” and a “showdown” was imminent.

“According to Azmin, Lim funded Khalid and now, as pay back, Lim is being given lucrative jobs in Selangor… these jobs run into the billions and Azmin is pissed big time,” he said.

The relationship between Azmin and Khalid had also been on rocky ground in the past, forcing PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim to step in.

PAS wants Khalid removed?

It was understood that Azmin had eyed the menteri besar post and was unhappy that Khalid was picked by Anwar instead.

The contention was that the post was a political one and Azmin felt that Khalid was not a good politician and had failed to keep the various factions in the party’s Selangor chapter united.

The removal of Khalid and the promotion of Azmin as the party’s Selangor chief strengthened this perception, observers said.

Meanwhile, Raja Petra said Anwar himself had criticised Khalid when the opposition leader met the blogger in London in 2010.

“I can believe this because this was exactly what Anwar told me… In fact, Anwar was even more blunt in his criticism of the menteri besar. He said that Khalid was stubborn and had a huge ego and would not listen to advice,” he added.

The blogger also claimed that the PAS leadership was now lobbying PKR to remove Khalid from his post should Pakatan retain Selangor in the upcoming national polls.

“PAS leaders in Selangor know about this but they don’t dare raise the matter for the sake of Pakatan solidarity… but they are quietly lobbying in the background for PKR to drop Khalid in the next election lest this matter becomes an election issue,” he said.