The alleged whistleblower in the awarding of tender of the Ampang LRT extension project to George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd is not Finance Ministry senior officer Fauziah Yaacob.

This was revealed by Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin and PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli who condemned Umno bloggers for targeting Fauziah and alleging she is the whistleblower.

NONE "I can confirm today that Fauziah is not the alleged whistleblower in the George Kent affair. Perhaps she is an easy target because she is the only female in the committee,” Rafizi ( right ) said.

Zuraida, who is also PKR Wanita chief, also condemned the attacks on Fauziah and said that it was not right to display the latter’s image in the blog.

"It is an attempt to silence civil servants from giving information to the opposition, (when) there may be problems in (awarding the contract)," Zuraida said.

"It seems Umno also does not respect civil servants (who are) doing their job. I can verify that Fauziah is not the individual who handed the documents to PKR."

'Attempt to frighten civil servants'

Zuraida said the move by Umno bloggers to defame Fauziah is an attempt to frighten civil servants and prevent them from opposing government decisions which may seem beneficial to Umno.

"They hope that, by (exerting) pressure to shame and isolate Fauziah, it would send a clear message to civil servants to follow Umno’s and BN’s directions," she claimed, noting that the move demeans all women civil servants.

NONE Zuraida (right) challenged women leaders in Umno and its president Najib Abdul Razak, who is acting women, family and community development minister, to rise to Fauziah’s defence.

"This can be done by taking stern action against the Umno bloggers who have (resorted to) character assassination ... (this) attacks the integrity of the civil service, which should be given independence to make the right decisions in the interests of the country.”

Meanwhile, according to Bernama , George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd has furnished a bank guarantee of RM50.875 million to Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd as the performance bond to undertake the LRT contract.

In a statement today, George Kent executive director Cheong Thiam Fook said the payment clearly debunked mischievous allegations, that the company lacked the financial muscle to undertake the 44-month national infrastructure project.

"We have the necessary financing in place to complete the contract, on which preliminary work has already started," he was quoted as saying.

The Ampang LRT contract entails the engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of the signaling system, communication, track work and third rail, electrification of the rail system and other associated works for the 17.7km extension, connecting the current Sri Petaling station to Putra Heights.