Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng has alleged that four key Bersatu figures were involved in government contracts that were awarded without open tender when they were part of the Pakatan Harapan administration.
He said this was based on the list of purported 101 contracts, valued at RM6.61 billion, released by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz yesterday.
The four Bersatu figures the Bagan MP claimed to have been involved are:
- Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who was then the home minister, with a total value of contracts worth RM517.7 million.
- Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin with a total value of contracts worth RM170.8 million.
- International Trade and Industries Minister Azmin Ali, who was the economic affairs minister at the time, with contracts worth RM1.2 million in total.
- Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun, who was former rural development minister, with a total value of contracts worth RM7.36 billion.
At a press conference today, Lim said these four figures should have been completely aware of the nature of the direct award contracts because these issues were raised in cabinet.
This included big-ticket projects such as Phase 2 of the Klang Valley double-tracking project, which amounted to 67.7 percent of the RM6.61 billion cited by Zafrul.
"Whether those 'pengkhianat' (treacherous) ministers were lying, sleeping during cabinet meetings or too busy planning the 'Sheraton Move', only they will know," he added.
So far, Muhyiddin, Rina and Azmin have not commented about Zafrul's revelations.
Zuraida has claimed that she was unaware of the two contracts awarded by her ministry that made the list.
One contract valued at RM170.3 million was for a solid waste disposal station at Taman Beringin, Jinjang Utara, Kuala Lumpur. It was awarded to Bumi Segar Sdn Bhd.
The second project, which was for the maintenance of the ministry's financial and accounting system, worth RM501,206, was awarded to Century Software (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.
However, critics have pointed out that Zuraida visited the waste disposal station in 2019 and this was documented on her Facebook page.
Meanwhile, Lim urged Zafrul to state if there were any wrongdoings in the directly awarded contracts by both the Harapan administration and the BN government.
He said Zafrul had admitted that direct awards are allowed under specific situations such as matters involving a crisis, national security or when the supplier is one of a kind.
"Zafrul should be transparent about direct award contracts during the BN era and most importantly, be transparent on direct award contracts approved by him.
"He must prove that these contracts were done properly and for public interest. Let the public evaluate which administration is accountable and transparent," Lim added.
He urged the government not to apply double standards and to only instruct the MACC to investigate the Harapan administration deals while overlooking those made by BN.
On Monday, Zafrul told Parliament that Harapan had awarded 101 contracts amounting to RM6.61 billion without open tender, prompting both sides of the floor to demand a full list, which he revealed yesterday.
Earlier today, Lim clarified that only 5.3 percent of the amount cited by Zafrul were direct award contracts by the Harapan administration and the rest were the result of contracts signed during BN's time in government.
In view of this, Lim claimed that only 0.07 percent of the total procurements during the Harapan administration were made without the open tender process.
Harapan's critics have claimed that the coalition had reneged its election promise to do away with direct award contracts without open tenders.
However, Harapan leaders have pointed out that item 23 of its election manifesto promised to ensure widespread use of open tenders for government procurements, but never promised to stop direct awards as sometimes it cannot be avoided. - Mkini
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