Guan Eng not happy with Finance Minister
(FMT) – Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng has asked Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin to take her grievances over the list of 101 direct deals under the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz.
“It is Zafrul’s list. If she is not happy, she should be taking it up with him, not me,” Lim said during a press conference at the DAP headquarters this morning.
Zuraida, who held the same portfolio when she was with PH, had said that two directly negotiated projects involving her ministry then were done without her knowledge.
The Ampang MP, however, later said her ministry would investigate the matter.
Lim also urged his successor to make corrections to the list of 101 direct deals supposedly made during the PH administration, which he maintained was an outright lie.
He reiterated that the list was part of a dirty political tactic against PH, especially when there was no similar list for direct deals granted under the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government or the present Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.
Lim also said two of the projects on the list should be removed. These were the 2018 Fifa World Cup live telecasts by RTM and the Klang Valley Double Track 2 project (KVDT2).
On the live telecasts, he said the cost was paid fully by sponsors AirAsia and Maxis.
“Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who had questioned PH about the RM29.9 million payment to Sports Media & Distributor (which held the exclusive rights to the telecasts), should urge Zafrul to exclude the cost from the list of direct deals,” he said.
He also said former communications and multimedia minister Gobind Singh Deo had reiterated the government “did not pay a single sen”, but had made a profit of RM3.3 million from advertising and sponsorship of the live telecasts, and the amount was added to the Consolidated Fund Account.
On the KVDT2 project, Lim said it was a direct award given under BN, which was signed a day before the dissolution of Parliament.
He said the project was initially offered to the recipient company for RM5.3 billion but PH renegotiated the contract to come to a lower price of RM4.48 billion.
This was done following an appeal by Dhaya Maju Infrastructure Asia Sdn Bhd and Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera to the government to resume the project.
He said PH had agreed to continue the project to avoid legal action and to care for the welfare of members of the armed forces.
Explain ratification of trade pact, Azmin told
Lim urged International Trade and Industry Minister Azmin Ali to explain his statement in the Dewan Rakyat on the ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
He said Azmin had lied and misled the house when he said the CPTPP was ratified by the previous PH government on Sept 5, 2018.
He said PH withdrew its decision to ratify the trade pact in a separate Cabinet meeting held on Nov 29 that year.
Lim said he had referred the Gombak MP to the parliamentary rights and privileges committee on Aug 13.
He said Azmin had instructed the ministry’s secretary-general, Lokman Hakim Ali, to write to Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun to explain the issue.
Following that, he said, the speaker had crossed out his motion to refer Azmin to the committee.
He said that as the minister, Azmin should be the one to explain the matter, and not the secretary-general.
