KUALA TERENGGANU, Aug 5 — "I did not sign any documents related to the Bertam oilfield as it does not belong to the state and the matter was handled by Petronas,” said Terengganu Mentri Besar Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman when clarifying the issue.

Ahmad Razif who is accused of signing off the Bertam Oilfield said until today he was still making official appeals to the Federal government to obtain revenue from the oilfield for the benefit of the state.

He said the Bertam oilfield was not within three nautical miles for the state to claim full ownership but the state was trying to get a part of the revenue for the benefit of the people in the state.

As such he denied claims by former Mentri Besar Ahmad Said who had accused him of signing away the Bertam oilfield at block PM307 off Terengganu, to Pahang and 1MDB.

"Actually there is no issue over the oilfield as the rightful owner is not the state but the Federal government.

"The Bertam oilfield is owned by Petronas, we have no claim over it. I have explained this before in the state assembly meeting,” he told reporters after opening the National Cooperative Day 2016 here yesterday.

Also present was Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin.

"It would be a different matter if the oilfield belonged to the state. The five per cent royalty we have been getting is also not the state’s rights because it is not ours ...if not we should be getting 100 per cent,” he said. 

Elaborating further Ahmad Razif said the five per cent oil royalty was considered a ‘gift’ following an agreement between the then Mentri Besar and Tun Abdul Razak to help the state that is closest to where the oil was discovered. — Bernama