Shafie Apdal’s ministry denies abuse of authority

The Rural and Regional Development Ministry today dismissed a claim of abuse of authority, involving Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Shafie Apdal, in the offering of rural electrification projects in Sabah and Sarawak.

The ministry also denied that Shafie was involved in the negotiation process and setting of costs for the projects.

It said in a statement that for rural electrification projects in the two states, the meeting on price negotiation was attended by representatives of the relevant departments while all price negotiation outcomes would have to be approved by the ministry officers before they were submitted to the Finance Ministry for final approval.

The statement was issued to dismiss a claim by Batu Member of Parliament Tian Chua at the Parliament lobby on Monday that cronies influenced the decisions pertaining to project negotiations.

The ministry said that to expedite implementation of the rural electrification projects in the two states, it had offered contracts to nine companies in Sabah compared to only four having been given the letter of intent earlier on.

“This clearly shows that the ministry gives opportunities to more contractors to participate in the implementation of the projects.

“The question of whether the appointed companies failed to fulfil the conditions does not arise because all the companies had obtained the approval from the Finance Ministry,” it said.

The ministry said it had adhered to all the procedures set for implementation of the procurement process through direct negotiation for the rural electrification projects.

“As such, allegations that the projects had been implemented without transparency are unfounded and are totally dismissed,” it said.


comments

transparency..? Yes award the project through direct negotiation no open tender right? N the main contractors sub-contract the projects to establish/qualified electrical companies at huge profits. N yes again this is transparent for everyone to see. This is what we call transparency in Malaysia. What a joke!!!