KUALA LUMPUR: PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli today refuted caretaker Environment and Water Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man's explanation over a RM2 billion flood mitigation project which had allegedly been awarded to a company facing bankruptcy.
He also took issue with how the Pas leader had avoided answering the questions which had been posed to him regarding the project.
Rafizi said Tuan Ibrahim's simplistic response that anyone who had issues with the project should lodge reports with the relevant authorities like the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), was laughable.
"It is not necessary for me to lodge reports with the MACC...I have been doing that all my life but nothing is done...The MACC will just classify it as NFA (no further action) until scandals are exposed this way and it invokes public anger.
"It was the same with the LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) scandal...it was only after it was publicly exposed that they finally charged someone.
"Tuan Ibrahim's response that I lodge a report with the MACC is the kind of replies Umno would give," he said.
Rafizi said this at a press conference today in response to Tuan Ibrahim's reply to Rafizi's expose last week about the project.
The Pas leader refuted claims that his ministry had approved projects after Parliament was dissolved and said he had no plans to do so.
Tuan Ibrahim was also quoted as saying that he would ensure that projects approved by the ministry followed all the financial procedures.
He also made it clear that he never interfered in matters involving the ministry's tender and challenged those who made the accusation to lodge a report with the MACC.
Tuan Ibrahim had then responded to Rafizi's expose about the RM2 billion flood mitigation project involving Tuan Ibrahim.
Rafizi said he was informed by a government source that the ministry is in the process of awarding the project through direct negotiation to a company owned by an individual alleged to have links with Umno.
He also claimed that the effort to quickly approve projects during this interim stage of administration was the consequence of funds being used for the 15th General Election (GE15).
Rafizi claimed that Tuan Ibrahim's involvement with the company was not new, as the ministry had awarded the upgrading of the Krubong-Durian Tunggal flood retention pond project worth RM578.6 million to the company.
The project was announced last October.
He raised concerns that the project awarded to the company could become a sick project in the future because the company had a critical debt of RM144 million based on the records of the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM).