Najib questions Warisan Plus’ clean credentials over RM1.45bil road projects

(FMT) – Former prime minister Najib Razak has questioned Warisan Plus’ credentials as a clean and transparent government and called for answers about how road project contracts in Sabah were awarded.

In a Facebook post, Najib urged leaders of Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional as well as the public to obtain answers about how road projects were awarded.

Quoting information purportedly leaked by a civil servant to a news portal in January, Najib questioned the propriety of road projects worth RM1.45 billion which were awarded by the Warisan-led Sabah government to four companies which had not earned any revenue in 2019.

The projects were allegedly awarded through direct negotiations, and company records quoted by the portal allegedly showed that three companies had not earned any revenue and the fourth was only established in March 2019 and had not lodged any financial statements.

In February, Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Peter Anthony had dismissed the news portal’s report as being slanderous and had threatened legal action against the portal on top of lodging a police report on the matter.

Anthony had said he did not have the power to award contracts through direct negotiations, as only the state finance ministry had the authority to do so.

Najib said the leaked information showed that four companies were awarded projects ranging between RM325 million to RM500 million.

According to SSM documents, the four had paid-up capital ranging between RM750,000 to RM1.24 million, but three had recorded losses of between RM12,000 to RM1.1 million, he said. These three companies also did not record any revenues in 2019, he said.

The fourth company was only established in March 2019 and had not lodged any financial statements, Najib said.

He said he had previously raised these questions but they had gone unanswered.