THE value of projects that were awarded through direct negotiations under the Barisan Nasional government is much higher than during the Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) short tenure, former finance minister Lim Guan Eng said.

Between 2013 to 2018, Lim said BN had awarded 12 direct tender projects with a value of RM139.3 billion, compared to the RM6.61 billion for 101 projects during PH’s 22 months in power.

On average, that would put each of the 12 BN projects at RM11.6 billion each.

“That is still not the full list yet,” the Bagan MP and DAP secretary-general said in a press conference in Parliament oday.

Lim was responding to claims by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz made in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday that 101 projects worth RM6.61 billion were awarded through direct negotiations in the 22 months the PH government was in power.

The disclosure sparked a commotion, with MPs slamming Lim.

Lim in a statement earlier today challenged Zafrul to list all the projects awarded through direct negotiations by PH, as well as those by the current Perikatan Nasional government.

Lim said such disclosures might reveal whether some ministers who defected from PH to form the PN government had applied for projects via direct tender from Lim when he was finance minister.

“This is such an irony for them to actually criticise themselves,” Lim added.

He said PH had allowed some exceptions for direct negotiations such as if a project was urgent, involved national interests, or had been earmarked for a Bumiputera company.

“I can’t see where we had made the mistakes. We had made sure that that the cost of the project, even if negotiated directly, must comply with the prescribed procurement procedure.

“This is the norm (in direct negotiation projects) not only in Malaysia, but also in Western countries,” he added.

Lim in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday said all direct tender projects under PH rule had been awarded with the cabinet’s permission.

However, Senior Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said this was not true as Lim had never tabled such projects at PH cabinet meetings.

Azmin had been a cabinet member at the time and was one of those who defected from PH to form the PN government.

Lim in his press conference today accused Azmin of lying. – August 25, 2020.