CANCELLING directly negotiated mega projects under Budget 2023 will help the government save costs and avoid paying commissions to middlemen, Malaysian Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (Macfe) president, Akhbar Satar said.

He said government procurement must be open, transparent, be based on good governance and not involve any unnecessary waste of public funds and legal breaches associated with direct negotiations.

“Cancelling direct negotiations is also proof that the government is firm about avoiding leakages that might involve fraud or extremely high prices, especially when it is awarded through direct negotiation,” he told Bernama.

Akhbar, who is also on the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board, said if mega projects are awarded open tenders, the offered price is usually the best or with a profit around 15 to 20%, unlike the 50% profit achieved under direct negotiations.

“Contractors should be reminded that they cannot arbitrarily quote high prices, including commissions to government officers. It also ensures those who are in charge of the project as well as those approving them are ensured there are no elements of fraud or corruption during negotiations,” he said, adding that if direct negotiations needed to be done, they would need to be carried out with integrity and transparently.

“Direct negotiation projects should only be awarded to competent, reliable contractors and should be implemented with full integrity. A deterrence to bid rigging is to set pre-qualifications of the companies or contractors by requiring them to submit audited financial statements for recent years,” Akbar said.

Rasuah Busters chief executive officer, Nurhayati Nordin said institutional reforms through the tabling of the Government Procurement Act and the Whistleblower Protection Act announced in the tabling of Budget 2023 are part of the demands made by Malaysians.

She said justice could only be achieved if the functions of prosecuting institutions and the judiciary are not influenced by executive power, which can affect the confidence and perception of the people.

“To ensure that, proposed institutional reforms should move in tandem with reforms proposed previously by #RasuahBusters. Bureaucratic red tape is an obstacle that allows a considerable amount of corruption in public service-related affairs,” she added.

In his Budget 2023 speech, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the budget should have the ability to mobilise all the strength and energy to translate new policies, especially in eliminating wastage and corruption as they have become so systemic that they have undermined the government and tarnished the country’s image. – Bernama, February 26, 2023.