TENGKU Zafrul Abdul Aziz has pledged to cooperate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation allegations of corruption in the Jana Wibawa programme

The international trade and industry minister, who formerly held the finance portfolio, said he has nothing to hide.

“I will give full cooperation,” he tweeted yesterday.

“The media asked me about Jana Wibawa. There is nothing I need to hide and I am always ready to provide an explanation if asked to do so,” he said in a tweet yesterday.

Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is reported to be a suspect in the probe, a claim he denied yesterday.

Muhyiddin said he had given a statement to the MACC on his role in the Jana Wibawa programme but that he was not a suspect.

He said he explained to investigators how the project contracts were awarded.

“It has nothing to do with the claims of the current prime minister (that billions of ringgit were embezzled),” he told reporters after attending a blood donation drive in Kuala Lumpur

Muhyiddin said he told MACC officers it was his job as the prime minister to recommend the contractors for approval by the Finance Ministry (MOF).

“Jana Wibawa was a scheme proposed by then finance minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz to help Bumiputera contractors during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of them had to close down.

“Only the MOF had the power to approve and select the companies while the Prime Minister’s Office’s (PMO) role was to suggest the names of the companies. But the power of approval did not lie with the PMO,” he said.

“It is not fair of the government of the day to train its sights on me when it was the finance minister who made the decisions,” said Muhyiddin.

Putrajaya has postponed RM5.7 billion worth of rural development projects under the Jana Wibawa scheme pending a review to find out whether the contracts were awarded in accordance with procurement rules.

“The MOF has instructed me to postpone the implementation of these projects. The procurement was carried out via selective tenders or direct negotiation,” Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quoted as saying in reports.

“It is the prime minister’s policy as finance minister to see whether the procurement procedure and expenditure governance are in accordance with the rules and regulations,” he said, referring to Anwar Ibrahim. – February 15, 2023.