DISCUSSIONS to include Petron Fuel International Sdn Bhd (Petron) as a fuel supplier for federal government vehicles started two years ago under the previous Barisan Nasional government, said the Finance Ministry today.

In a statement, the ministry said that the move to appoint Petron was an administrative decision on operational matters and, as such, neither Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad nor Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng needed to be consulted.

“The decision was made without any political influence,” said the ministry.

It also added that Najib Razak, as a former finance minister, should know that other fuel suppliers, such as BHP and Caltex, could also apply to supply fuel for government vehicles.

“And all applications will be processed under the same guidelines used to approve Petronas, Shell and Petron.”

The ministry was responding to criticisms levelled by Najib and PAS’ deputy president against Petron’s appointment, as it reminded the public of previous nepotism concerns.

Najib had said Petron was linked to Mirzan Mahathir, the son of Dr Mahathir, and the appointment also amounted to disruption of Petronas’ business that “belonged to the Malaysian people”.

He also questioned why Caltex and BHP were sidelined.

The Finance Ministry had said that Petron’s appointment did not involve any financial implications to the government.

“With this approval, the government obtains more choices between Petronas, Shell and Petron, and this will open more opportunities and healthy competition among petrol and diesel suppliers,” the statement said.

The ministry also said Petron first made its application in 2016 and in December last year.

“The discussions that started then shows that the previous government had no objections to Petron’s application. The present government only continued this internal process based on the existing guidelines.” – September 2, 2018.