Tuan Ibrahim denies approving any projects since dissolution of Parliament

 

Pas deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man says said he has no plans to approve any projects at the moment. - -NSTP/NIK ABDULLAH NIK OMAR

KOTA BARU: Caretaker Environment and Water minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said he had never approved any projects under the ministry since Parliament was dissolved.

The Pas deputy president also said he has no plans to approve any projects at the moment.

"I would like to stressed that since Parliament was dissolved, l did not approve of any projects under the ministry.

"In fact, I will ensure that all projects approved by the ministry followed all the financial procedures.

"I have never interfered in the matters involving the ministry's tender," he said in a brief WhatsApp reply to NST tonight.

Tuan Ibrahim challenged those who made the accusation to lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

"Don't try to create cheap publicity and hide behind words such as 'I understand' or 'I am informed'.

"The people now are clever and are aware of tactics to cast bad impression on the opponents by creating sensational stories and later apologising for it," he added.

Tuan Ibrahim was commenting on a report today quoting PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli, who claimed that one of the projects was a RM2 billion flood mitigation project involving Tuan Ibrahim.

Rafizi said he was informed by a government source that the ministry is in the process of awarding the project through direct negotiation to a company owned by an individual alleged to have links with Umno.

He also claimed that the effort to quickly approve projects during this interim stage of administration was the consequence of funds being used for the 15th General Election (GE15).

Rafizi called on Tuan Ibrahim to respond to the allegations and to give assurances that he would not approve any project during this stage of the government's administration as it was against Treasury circulars.

Rafizi claimed that Tuan Ibrahim's involvement with the company was not new, as the ministry had awarded the upgrading of the Krubong-Durian Tunggal flood retention pond project worth RM578.6 million to the company.

The project was announced last October.

He raised concerns that the project awarded to the company could become a sick project in the future because the company had a critical debt of RM144 million based on the records of the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM). - NST