THE RM45 million Semporna treatment plant at Kampung Sungai Intan, Sabah, which is under Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation, is linked to a relative of Sabah’s chief minister, claims former Umno minister Shafie Apdal. 

Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat today, he said there were allegations that the project was given to his proxy company, when in fact, it was given to Musa Aman’s nephew’s company. 

“The tender was open. The one who received the contract was Musa Aman’s nephew (anak buah). It was his company. The consultant who did the project is Shahelmey Yahya, the current Sabah Umno Youth state liaison secretary. He is also the consultant who manages (the) Pan-Borneo (project),” he said while debating Budget 2018 at Parliament. 

He said the water treatment plant was not a “white elephant project” and that he could provide video proof of this.

The Malaysian Insight is attempting to verify these allegations with Musa.   

“If the project was a failure, why was the same consultant awarded (the Pan-Borneo contract)?” he questioned. 

Shafie said the water treatment plant, which was built in the 1990s, was to undergo upgrading works to be undertaken by the Rural and Regional Development Ministry and the state government as it was run down. 

The plant was designed by Wilayah Kaya Sdn Bhd to supply water to Semporna, Shafie’s parliamentary constituency.

“The federal government couldn’t have done the project without approval from the state as land and rivers come under the jurisdiction of the state government,” he said. 

Shafie had been Rural and Regional Development minister at the time until he was dropped from the Cabinet line-up by Prime Minister Najib Razak in July 2015. He was among the first cabinet members appointed by Najib in April 2009. 

Shafie said professional consultants had recommended that the treatment plant be upgraded, and the first phase of the project was to build the water treatment plant, followed by the process to widen and deepen the river. 

“And the absolute solution was to add dam pipes to the river. It would solve the problem. (And) the plant is still working,” he said. 

MACC is investigating some 350 rural projects involving water and electricity supply, as well as road projects, given by the ministry to 60 companies between 2009 and 2015 in Sabah. 

Some RM1.5 billion in federal funds are believed to have been misappropriated from a RM7.5 billion allocation for Sabah. 

Shafie was called by the MACC over his recommendation for a company trying to land a RM43 million maintenance project from a university in Sabah.

In 2012, the MACC launched a probe against a company owned by Shafie’s ally, Peter Anthony, over false claims involving a RM43 million contract for mechanical and engineering maintenance work at Universiti Malaysia Sabah.

However, the MACC cleared the allegations against Anthony, who is now a Warisan vice-president, on August 9 that same year. – November 7, 2017.