‘Big lie’, says Guan Eng on list of PH direct deal projects

By MT Webmaster On Aug 27, 2020

(FMT) – Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng tonight accused his successor of telling a “big lie” following the release of details of 101 projects that were awarded through direct negotiation under Pakatan Harapan.

In a tweet, Lim said the release of the details was an “evil tactic” by the ruling Perikatan Nasional government.

“Big lie by PN minister of finance. The truth shall be exposed tomorrow,” he said, referring to a press conference that will be held at 11am in Parliament.

“Stay tuned.”

Earlier today, the finance ministry issued a statement with details of the projects worth RM6.61 billion.

The statement was accompanied by graphics representing the list of ministries for which the projects were approved and the total cost, as well as the details of the individual projects.

The top five ministries with the highest value in terms of direct negotiation contracts were transport (four projects worth RM4.47 billion), defence (six projects, RM900.6 million), home affairs (eight projects, RM517.8 million), communications and multimedia (12 projects, RM380.12 million) and housing and local government (two projects, RM170.79 million).

The release of the details comes a day after Lim challenged Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz to go public with the list of projects.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has since said it would review the projects approved through direct negotiation to determine if there were elements of corruption.