Guan Eng cakap karut
So, the decision to award Zarul’s consortium the Penang Undersea Tunnel project and that the price would be RM6.3 billion and that it would be partly paid through a land-swap involving 50 acres of land along Gurney Drive with a gross development value of RM15 billion, was decided even before the open tender was called.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
“The contract for the Penang Undersea Tunnel Project was awarded through open tender. So how can there be corruption when there was an open tender? I mean, it’s ridiculous… you know? I don’t know what sort of lies (Raja Petra) will make up, but are we going to be entertaining these lies?”
That was what Lim Guan Eng said today (READ MORE HERE).
Let me relate a story regarding open tenders and how there can definitely be corruption in open tenders.
Anwar Ibrahim was the President of UIA (University Islam Antarabangsa) or IIUM (International Islamic University Malaysia) for ten years from 1988 to 1998. Anwar was also Malaysia’s Education Minister in 1986 and Malaysia’s Finance Minister from 1991 to 1998.
It was during Anwar’s time that the government built the new campus in Gombak. And that campus is huge and cost billions.
Anwar Ibrahim also called for open tenders but they were all rigged and massive corruption was involved
Anwar asked for an open tender to be called. But he had already decided who would be given the job. The procedure was they would first call for a prequalification exercise and only those who prequalified would be invited to tender.
The tender was then called and all the prequalified companies bought the tender documents. The ‘nominated’ company then bought the tender documents from all the other companies at RM500,000 each. The ‘nominated’ company would decide the prices for the other companies but their own price would be the lowest.
Hence the ‘nominated’ company was awarded the tender while all the others who ‘lost’ the tender received RM500,000 each for doing nothing. The lowest tenderer, the ‘nominated’ company, of course included the RM500,000 per company in their price plus the kickback they had to pay Anwar, which came to tens of millions.
And how do I know all this? Well, I was the lobbyist for one of the companies that ‘lost’ the tender and that received RM500,000 from the company that ‘won’ the tender. So, if Guan Eng is trying to tell us that there is no corruption in open tenders, then he cakap karut.
The Penang Undersea Tunnel was implemented on an open tender basis but everything had already been kowtim earlier
Now, on Guan Eng’s statement that the Penang Undersea Tunnel was awarded to Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli’s consortium through an open tender, page 13 (SEE BELOW) of Zarul’s statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) states that Guan Eng told him there will be no direct negotiations and the job would be tendered out. Nevertheless, Zarul’s consortium would be awarded the job.
So, the decision to award Zarul’s consortium the Penang Undersea Tunnel project and that the price would be RM6.3 billion and that it would be partly paid through a land-swap involving 50 acres of land along Gurney Drive with a gross development value of RM15 billion, was decided even before the open tender was called.
No one said there was no open tender. But it was a ‘staged’ open tender. What was going to happen was already decided before the open tender was called. Who would get it, at what price, the land-swap — all this had already been decided earlier. The open tender was just to make everything look halal because a negotiated job may raise questions.
Guan Eng pointed out that the previous Barisan Nasional government had investigated the project for corruption and no action was taken against him — NFA (no further action).
That is a load of hogwash. The pervious Barisan Nasional may have investigated the matter but it was not the previous BN government that dropped the case. It is the current Pakatan Harapan government that dropped the case.
The MACC started investigations in January 2018. The investigations ended in February-March. But in May the government changed and Tommy Thomas took over as the new Attorney-General. It was Tommy who asked the MACC to close the file and stamp it NFA.
Guan Eng is trying to give an impression that the previous government cleared him of corruption. That is not true. It was the current government that did this. And the AG, Tommy Thomas, is Guan Eng’s lawyer. So, there is an unethical conflict of interest here. Your defence lawyer becomes the AG and then makes the decision to drop the case against you.
Why did Guan Eng settle his case with Nasrudin out of court if he is innocent of corruption?
Guan Eng also said:
“There was (even) a suit by me against Pas’s Nasrudin (Hassan Tantawi who made) a similar allegation, and you know, he withdrew his statement, expressed regret and even paid me legal fees of RM10,000. For those who try to (make this allegation), they must not only look at the facts, but this court case with Nasrudin. You’ve got to take this into account.”
So, Guan Eng settled his case with Nasrudin out of court. But then if Guan Eng is innocent, and if Nasrudin lied, why settle the case out of court? Is this not what they are saying about Abdul Hadi Awang (if he is innocent why agree to an out-of-court settlement in the case against Clare Rewcastle Brown)?
Yes, when Hadi settles his case with Clare out of court, that means he is guilty. When Guan Eng settles his case with Nasrudin out of court, that means he is innocent. Apalah apek ni! Cakap berpusing-pusing!
