Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman said he 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".

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 menteri 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 legislative assembly meeting," he told reporters after opening the National Cooperative Day 2016 in Kuala Terengganu today.

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

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

Elaborating further, Ahmad Razif said the five percent oil royalty was considered a 'gift' following an agreement between the then menteri besar and Abdul Razak Hussein to help the state that is closest to where the oil was discovered.

- Bernama