KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak has questioned whether Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir is accusing that the Barisan Nasional (BN) forced Chinese companies to give kickbacks to certain individuals.
The former prime minister’s remarks came after Dr Mahathir claimed at the China Entrepreneur Club Leaders Forum, in Beijing on Sunday that there were previous instances where the BN was said to have demanded a 30 per cent stake from China investors if they wanted to invest in Malaysia.
“Does it make sense that the BN government was supposedly sought 30 per cent of shares in Chinese owned companies as bribe.
“Is Tun (Dr) Mahathir accusing the huge companies owned by China as having colluded with the BN government to commit a crime of corruption ?,” he asked in a Facebook posting tonight.
Dr Mahathir did not reveal which are the companies that he was referring when he made the accusation.
Najib described Dr Mahathir's speech at the forum as amounting to a political ceramah.
“Tun Mahathir should stop creating stories and show proof that his accusations are true and as a Prime Minister, by right should stop playing politics in front of foreign investors,” Najib said.
The Pekan Member of Parliament said the two infrastructure projects implemented under the BN government was the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) awarded to the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) and the two pipeline projects awarded to the China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPPB).
He adds that CCCC Ltd is public listed company controlled by China’s government and is a huge global company with annual sales volume of US$70 billion (RM280 billion), worldwide.
CPPB is one of the biggest petroleum pipeline construction company in the world, which is fully owned by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and is in turn is fully controlled by the Chinese government, he said.
CNPC is the fourth largest company in the world with an annual sales value of around US$300 billion (RM1.2 trillion), Najib added.