PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli has hit out at finance minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz and environment and water minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man over their “administrative response” to a RM2 billion flood mitigation project.
He said their justification for the project at Sungai Langat 2 in Selangor - that it was according to procurement procedure - was how the government justified previous projects that turned out to be big scandals.
They include 1MDB, the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), and Felda investments, he said.
“It is only when more information about the background of a particular case was revealed that the government’s political leadership started to speak with a different tone.
“The procurement procedures and processes set by the Treasury are meant to ensure the best bidder gets the tender at the best value for the government,” Rafizi said in a press conference at the PKR headquarters in Selangor today.
Even without examining the procurement processes in the Sungai Langat 2 flood mitigation project, Rafizi said there are many issues that can be called into question.
Among them, he said, is how can the Treasury consider appointing a company that is now facing two bankruptcy petitions in court after being accused of not paying their sub-contractors, as the main contractor of a major development project worth RM2 billion.
Another is how can a company, that has already received more than RM2 billion from other projects under the Environment and Water Ministry, be considered for another big project when the current projects under the company have been identified as being problematic.
And lastly, he asked, how can a flood mitigation project be approved for direct negotiation, when the main criteria to get an exception from open tender is for procurement that requires specific expertise and technology that is not available from other bidders.
“Is it only that company that can bid for flood mitigation projects seeing as this is a public infrastructure project that involves normal public engineering, and not advanced technology work that uses proprietary technology?” Rafizi questioned.
Rafizi earlier described the company as an “Umno crony”. Malaysiakini has contacted the company for a response but has not received any.
Tengku Zafrul (above) on Saturday said the procurement for the Sungai Langat 2 flood mitigation project was done in accordance with existing regulations.
Both ministries must be responsible
Meanwhile, Rafizi said Tuan Ibrahim also cannot shirk his responsibility over this issue by claiming he had no knowledge of it.
He explained that, generally, it is a ministry that decides what form of procurement should be used and if it is a form of limited tender or direct negotiation, the relevant ministry will have to apply for approval from the Finance Ministry to proceed with the non-open tender procurement.
“The discussion, processes, and procedures involving a tender as large as RM2 billion will not have started the day before Parliament was dissolved.
“It was surely initiated by the Environment and Water Ministry itself and requires the approval of the Treasury,” Rafizi said.
Previously, Rafizi revealed a letter purportedly from the Treasury secretary-general to inform the Environment and Water Ministry’s secretary-general of the approval to enter direct negotiation with said company.
The letter was dated Oct 7 (Friday), the same day as the tabling of Budget 2023 in the Dewan Rakyat as well as one working day before the dissolution of Parliament on Oct 10 (Monday).
As such, Rafizi said Tuan Ibrahim needs to answer three questions about the background of this flood mitigation project.
1. Is it the ministry itself that made the request to the Finance Ministry to enter direct negotiation with the company?
2. Did the ministry want to execute the project via open tender but was rejected by the Finance Ministry which instructed the ministry to do direct tender with the company?
3. If the ministry did suggest the project be executed via direct tender, what were the reasons used to shut out other companies from joining the project as well?
Is minister incompetent
“I know Tuan Ibrahim is angry and can only attack me by claiming this matter is an accusation against him as it involves his performance as a minister,” Rafizi said.
“If he is not involved with those behind the company, he has failed to govern (his ministry) properly until such huge projects can be approved for direct tender without his knowledge.
“Where is the control and leadership of a minister if he overlooked every important decision in the procurement of this project?” Rafizi asked.
If it turns out that his ministry was ordered to appoint the company, Rafizi questioned why did Tuan Ibrahim not have the courage to defend public money.
“As a senior minister candidate from PAS and Perikatan Nasional (PN), it is better for him (Tuan Ibrahim) to respond to these issues and not hope for PAS’ cyber troopers to make TikTok videos and visuals to accuse me of throwing allegations against him,” Rafizi said.
Rafizi has been making consistent exposés recently accusing the caretaker government of trying to bulldoze contracts worth billions of ringgit for cronies, in particular flood mitigation projects involving the Environment and Water Ministry and the company in question.
Previously, there was a Treasury circular on Oct 18 stating the caretaker government must avoid entering into contractual commitments or undertakings that would have financial implications for the next government.
The same circular, however, states that the government can continue with existing policies and development projects or enter contracts in matters where the financial allocations have been approved by Parliament and the government before it went into caretaker mode.
Tuan Ibrahim has since said he intends to sue Rafizi for defamation over this matter, a move which the latter welcomed. - Mkini
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