KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 — The son of late former deputy prime minister Tun Ghafar Baba rejected today Zuraida Kamaruddin’s attempt to link him to the controversy over projects awarded without tender at her Local Government and Housing Ministry (KPKT).

Datuk Tamrin Abdul Ghafar said he did not understand why she sought to implicate him in the matter yesterday, adding that he has referred the matter to his lawyers.

He went on to criticise her attempts to absolve herself over the projects awarded during her time at the ministry under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration, over which she previously claimed ignorance.

Zuraida was the local government and housing minister then and now.

"It is quite impossible that the minister absolutely did not know about the matter when the Finance Ministry only acts on the KPKT’s recommendations.

"As a minister, she should not have linked and blamed others for her own failure,” he said in a statement today.

Yesterday, Zuraida described Tamrin as the advisor of Bumi Segar Indah that was directly awarded a RM170 million solid waste project in Taman Beringin and claimed he lobbied Lim Guan Eng, the finance minister then, over the matter.

She expressly called Tamrin a supporter of PH.

Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz disclosed this week 101 directly negotiated projects worth RM6.6 billion from PH’s time in power.

PH’s rivals initially used the disclosure to claim the coalition reneged on an election promise, but PH leaders have seized on the fact that most were either executed during Barisan Nasional’s rule or initiated prior to the general election and paid out after.