THE East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project will carry on even after it was linked to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Najib’s former aide Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, while giving testimony during the ongoing 1MDB trial, had alleged that the ECRL, Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline and Multi-Product Pipeline projects were used to bail out 1MDB and SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Dr Mahathir said the claim that the ECRL project was part of the negotiations to bail out 1MDB was Amahri’s claim.

“That is my opinion. The Chinese government has not asked for anything to date. We have a contract with them to build it. We have reduced the scope of the work and trimmed cost. So ECRL will continue,” he told reporters today after launching the Piagam Warisan dan Budaya Tanah Air in Kuala Lumpur today.

On September 4, Amhari told the high court that the ECRL was among several projects that were used to bail out 1MDB.

Amahari told the court that the Chinese funding into the ECRL, Multi-Product Pipeline and Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline projects were discussed with China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council in mid-2016.

The court revelation had prompted prominent economist Prof Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram to call on Putrajaya to review the mega infrastructure project.

He noted that the government had relaunched the ECRL project before Amhari’s disclosure last week.

“All my position [against the ECRL] in the past had been based on publicly available information. But now we have a very important disclosure about the circumstances under which the ECRL was hashed out. Nobody has refuted that and certainly [senior lawyer] Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, in interrogating the witness, did not fundamentally challenge the statements he made,” Jomo was quoted as saying in reports.

The mega project was originally slated to cost RM81 billion but following renegotiations by the Pakatan Harapan government, the cost has now been scaled down to RM44 billion.

Dr Mahathir said those who want to call it off should negotiate with Beijing.

“They have to negotiate. If they are willing to negotiate with the Chinese and tell me that they can suspend, I will follow them,” he said sarcastically. – September 20, 2019.