Umno supreme council member Razlan Rafii has called on the government to cancel all 101 limited tenders worth RM6.1 billion that were allegedly awarded by the previous Pakatan Harapan administration through direct negotiations.
"The PN government must cancel all the limited tenders awarded to these companies.
"The government must be brave to take this action if it wishes to avoid a public perception of PN colluding with Harapan to unevenly distribute the country's wealth," said Razlan (above) in a statement.
He was responding to Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz who yesterday claimed that the previous Harapan government had approved 101 projects worth RM6.1 billion without calling for open tenders.
"How is it possible that in only 22 months, the Harapan government could have evaluated 101 projects in a transparent manner.
"The Harapan government had awarded limited tenders to companies with related interest, (and) this will cause a loss to the rakyat and is clearly stealing the people's money for Harapan's interest," Razlan further claimed.
Meanwhile, Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man echoed calls for the government to expose the full list of companies that were awarded the projects in question as well as their individual costs.
"The rakyat must be shocked by the expose as, all this while, Harapan shouted their slogan 'no direct negotiations', and even their manifesto states that all projects must be done through open tender.
"Harapan's hypocrisy is unmatched, although they often accused others," claimed Tuan Ibrahim.
The PAS deputy president said it was even more shocking that Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng, as then finance minister, had claimed that all the projects in question had received cabinet approvals.
Responding to heckling from government MPs in Parliament, Lim had said the projects had received cabinet approval. This was later denied by International Trade and Industries Minister Azmin Ali, who previously served as the economic affairs minister in the Harapan government.
"If what Azmin said is true, this means Lim had lied in the Dewan, and the matter will be referred to the Rights and Privileges Committee by YB Shahidan Kassim," Tuan Ibrahim (photo) added.
Tengku Zafrul sparked an uproar in Parliament when he responded to Pontian MP Ahmad Maslan who had asked whether there were any direct negotiations under the Harapan administration, how many were there, and what was the total value.
"To answer your question, under the former administration, 101 projects worth a total of RM6.61 billion were approved through direct negotiations by the finance ministry," said Tengku Zafrul.
However, he clarified that direct negotiations are allowed under certain conditions with approval from the finance ministry.
Among the conditions is if there is only one source for the required supply or that the project cannot be delayed without causing damage to the country, he explained.
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