Zafrul: Ex-finance minister approved RM6b in direct negotiation
PARLIAMENT | Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has claimed that 101 projects worth a total of RM6.61 billion were approved by the finance ministry through direct negotiations under the former Pakatan Harapan administration.
He was responding to a question from Ahmad Maslan (BN – Pontian) who had asked whether there were any direct negotiations under the Harapan administration, how many such instances and what were the total value...
PARLIAMENT | Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has claimed that 101 projects worth a total of RM6.61 billion were approved by the finance ministry through direct negotiations under the former Pakatan Harapan administration.
He was responding to a question from Ahmad Maslan (BN – Pontian) who had asked whether there were any direct negotiations under the Harapan administration, how many such instances and what were the total value.
“To answer your question, under the former administration, 101 projects worth a total of RM6.61 billion were approved through direct negotiations by the Finance Ministry,” Tengku Zafrul said.
However, he clarified that direct negotiations are allowed under certain conditions with approval from the Finance Ministry.
Among the conditions is that there is only one source for the required supply or that the project cannot be delayed without causing damage to the country, he explained.
This caused an uproar in the Dewan Rakyat, with Perikatan Nasional (PN) MPs calling for the minister to release a list of all the projects in question.
The quarrel ended with Ngeh Koo Ham (Harapan-Beruas) being kicked out of Parliament for one day by speaker Azhar Azizan Harun when Ngeh refused to sit down during the argument between both sides.
“RM6 billion? Astaghfirullah,” said Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (BN-Baling) when Tengku Zafrul first revealed the figures.
Government MPs then began heckling former finance minister Lim Guan Eng, who is also the Bagan MP.
“Bagan, please answer,” said Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN – Pasir Salak).
“Bagan is so great. Bagan is a hero. So transparent,” Abdul Azeez said sarcastically.
Lim then stood up and explained that all the projects which were approved through direct negotiations had cabinet approval and that, as explained by Tengku Zafrul earlier, they were all subject to conditions.
He also said he welcomed the revelation of the list of contracts approved through direct negotiations if Tengku Zafrul wanted to do so.
Lim also pointed out that the number of projects approved through open tender was much larger.
However, the government MPs continued to heckle him, with Abdul Azeez demanding to see the list and Tajuddin asking whether Lim gave the projects to his cronies, among others.
Tiong King Sing (GPS – Bintulu) also interrupted Lim: “Bagan talked about being clean, that DAP is clean. But how clean are you when you have direct negotiations?”
As the MPs continued to talk over each other, the speaker tried to give space for Lim to explain himself and later on, to give space for Tengku Zafrul to complete his wrapping up for Temporary Measures for Government Financing (Coronavirus Disease 2019 [Covid-19]) Bill 2020.
Eventually, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim stood up and said he agreed with the suggestion of revealing the full list of contracts which were approved through direct negotiation, but it must not only include those during Harapan’s administration but also under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration.
“No, we want to know about Harapan first, because Harapan accused us all of being thieves,” Abdul Azeez shot back.
Around then, International Trade and Industries Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said that it is not true that the contracts were approved by the Harapan cabinet.
Azmin was formerly the Economic Affairs Minister under the Harapan administration before he defected and helped form the PN government.
His statement appeared to incite the opposition MPs, a number of whom immediately began shouting at him.
The Dewan Rakyat descended into pandemonium after that, with some opposition MPs calling Azmin a liar and traitor.
Speaker Azhar attempted to calm the House down and asked everyone to sit down so that Tengku Zafrul can continue with his speech.
However, several opposition MPs refused to sit down, including Ngeh.
“Beruas, first warning. Second warning. Sit down. Third warning. Sit down. I want you to leave the Dewan now until tomorrow.
“I am giving a warning to all, whoever wastes time I will kick them out of the Dewan now,” Azhar said, amid more shouting.
Though there were some more protests after that, Tengku Zafrul managed to power through the rest of his speech.
The Covid-19 bill was eventually passed through its second reading with a voice vote, after which it went into the committee stage, which is expected to be completed today as well.
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