KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng has accused Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz of a “big lie”, after his successor released the list of 101 direct negotiation deals under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.
Lim said he will expose “the truth” tomorrow morning in a press conference, asking the public to stay tuned.
“A big lie by the Perikatan Nasional minister of finance. PN’s evil tactics will be revealed in a press conference at the Parliament tomorrow 11am,” he said in a brief tweet.
Earlier today, the Ministry of Finance released the full list of 101 projects that were awarded through direct negotiations under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration, following calls to do so by the latter.
The Ministry of Transport leads with RM4.48 billion worth of deals, the bulk of which was the RM4.47 billion Klang Valley double-tracking project that was revived from Barisan Nasional administration, with significant savings.
This was followed by the Ministry of Defence, all of the RM900.86 million for aircraft maintenance contracts, and the Ministry of Home Affairs (RM517.68 million).
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission confirmed earlier this week that it will be looking into the direct negotiation contracts for possible corruption, embezzlement or abuse of power after several NGOs had filed complaints with it.
Uproar over the direct negotiation contracts began in the Dewan Rakyat when Tengku Zafrul affirmed during his wind-up of the Temporary Measures for Government Financing (Covid-19) 2020 that the PH administration had approved a certain number of government projects despite pushing for open tender contracts during its short-lived rule.
However, Tengku Zafrul also explained in Parliament that the approved projects had followed regulations that allowed for exemptions.
This caused PH MPs to demand Tengku Zafrul to release his list of the 101 projects to back his claim.
