By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Aug 25: PBB asserts the revelation in Parliament yesterday of PH’s direct awarding of contracts shows that the latter are “wolves in sheep’s clothing”.
Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice-president Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the news of former PH government awarding direct contracts without open tender came as a shock to him.
“It came as a shock to me. This revelation by (Finance Minister Senator Datuk Seri) Tengku Zafrul (Tengku Abdul Aziz) surely speaks volumes of former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, DAP (Democratic Action Party) and PH (Pakatan Harapan) who have misled all Malaysians to think that they are angelic and clean when they were given the opportunity to govern Malaysia.
“They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They try to portray that they are clean… that they advocate for transparency, good governance but what has been revealed is just the opposite,” Abdul Karim said here today.
It was revealed in Parliament by Tengku Zafrul yesterday that the former PH government had awarded 101 contracts worth RM6.61 billion under former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng who is Bagan MP without open tender.
This had led to heated exchanges from both sides of the political divide.
When Lim tried to clarify that such a move was approved by the Cabinet, Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali who was also a former PH minister stood up and claimed that the issue of direct contract awards was never presented to the Federal Cabinet.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun had to call for order by giving warning three times to all the MPs to sit down but still had to resort to ejecting Beruas MP Ngeh Hoo Kam from Parliament for keeping on protesting despite being asked to keep order.
Tengku Zafrul, however, did explain that the said direct negotiations of contracts were allowed by the federal government with the approval of the Finance Ministry based on certain criteria.
He explained that some of the criteria included urgent need of goods procured, compatibility of the goods, goods supplied by a single manufacturer and contracts with Bumiputera companies which fulfil the eligibility criteria. — DayakDaily
