Some LOAs for JanaWibawa projects involve politicians’ family members, says Azalina

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department says MACC has not yet been able to uncover the true value of the projects.

(MalaysiaNow) – Several lists of letters of acceptance (LOA) issued through projects under the JanaWibawa scheme involve family members of key leaders of certain political parties, says Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Legal and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said.

She said however that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had not been able to identify the true value of the projects so far.

She said MACC had conducted a probe into issues related to direct negotiation tenders, which included development and infrastructure projects under JanaWibawa.

“A total of 56 projects received LOAs and the total worth of all the projects is RM6.3 billion,” she said in a written reply on the Parliament’s website.

Azalina was answering a question from Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) on the total number and value of projects involved with abuse of power, in particular direct negotiation tenders involving family members of key leaders, as well as the actions taken against those who received “kickbacks”.

Answering a separate question about the number of high-profile charges involving politicians and civil servants, Azalina said 60 out of 180 cases had been tried from 2018 until January this year.

She said 72 individuals had been convicted while the remaining 120 cases were still in the trial process in court.

She was responding to Ismail Abd Muttalib (PN-Maran) who asked about the number of high-profile charges involving politicians and civil servants who had not yet been brought to court for punishment and the reasons for the delay.

Meanwhile, Azalina said the government planned to hold an engagement session on the political funding bill to obtain feedback from political coalitions, parties and stakeholders so that any bill tabled in the Cabinet is inclusive, comprehensive and reflects the current needs.

“Paperwork and reports from the previous administration will also be considered by the government,” she said in response to a question from Ahmad Saad @ Yahaya (PN-Pokok Sena) regarding the government’s plans on tabling the bill to address the issue of foreign funding.