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PETALING JAYA: Former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng reiterated that he did not initiate direct negotiations for a solid waste transfer station project during his tenure, saying the process began with a request from the Ministry of Housing and local Government.
This comes after reports that businessman Tamrin Ghafar would file a defamation lawsuit against Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin for her comments on the matter.
Previously, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz included the mentioned project among those awarded through direct negotiations by the administration led by Pakatan Harapan (PH). The project was awarded to Bumi Segar Indah. Tamrin is an advisor to the company.
Zuraida had said he was not aware of the project and blamed Lim, saying that he had agreed to reduce the cost of the project by 10% and advised the company to approach the local Ministry of Housing and Government to make a formal proposal on the matter. .
In a statement today, Lim said the project was first awarded through direct negotiations under the management of Barisan Nasional (BN) in 2017.
“I did not participate as finance minister in discussions or direct negotiations for this project, either with the company or with Tamrin, as this project was under the ministry of housing and local government.”
Lim said Zuraida’s ministry had first applied to the finance ministry for the re-election of Bumi Segar Indah after the cabinet, of which Zuraida was a part, decided as a policy that all negotiated projects directly awarded in the BN era would continue to be subject to a 10% reduction in costs.
“There is a copy of this letter (from Zuraida’s ministry) and it is impossible that Zuraida did not know about it,” he said.
Lim added that if he had given instructions for the project to be awarded through direct negotiations, surely Zuraida would have already disclosed such a letter.
He accused Zuraida of playing politics by linking the Cabinet’s decision on cost reduction for directly negotiated projects as evidence that he personally allowed the project to proceed.
“Although the Cabinet decided on a 10% reduction in costs for directly awarded negotiated projects in the BN era, in some ways it is ‘all Lim Guan Eng’s fault,'” he said.
