Explain to the public, Rafizi tells Tuan Ibrahim over RM2 billion project award to 'problematic' company

PETALING JAYA - PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli calls on Pas deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man to provide an explanation to the public over the RM2 billion government project the latter awarded to Mangkubumi Sdn Bhd.

Rafizi questioned how could a major project be awarded to a "problematic" company under the caretaker environment and water minister.

He said as a minister, Tuan Ibrahim was responsible in the appointment of Mangkubumi as a contractor under the Jana Wibawa programme and while the company was handling a major project worth billions of ringgit, the latter had acted as if he knew nothing about it.

“He (Tuan Ibrahim) acted as if he knew nothing about it when he was the one who signed the contract to award Mangkubumi the latest project.

"If he had not signed it, it would not have become a problem," he said in a press conference at PKR headquarters here, today.

During the press conference, Rafizi said he revealed a document under the ministry showing that the process (to award the project) has already reached the advanced stage which was the recommendation for direct negotiation.

He added that Tuan Ibrahim did not deny that the documents that listed two major projects by the company which were the Krubong Flood Mitigation Project amounting to RM 578.6 million and the Sungai Langat Phase 2 Flood Mitigation Project amounting to RM2 billion were government documents that were in the ministry's records.

“Up until now, he has yet to deny that the document is a work document that is in his own ministry’s records.

“If I made stuff up, I would have been in jail by now for criminal defamation,” he said.

Rafizi said for as long as Tuan Ibrahim did not explain to the public regarding the matter, people would have understood that he did not have a warrant yet but his ministry under his leadership has already gone to such a stage.

He further said Tuan Ibrahim's failure to provide explanation over the matter was almost as if he confirmed that all the allegations made were true.

In his previous press conference on Monday, Rafizi claimed that through extensive research on the company, it was found that the owner was someone who was close to Umno and had received profits from government projects.

What was even worse, Rafizi said was that Mangkubumi has also received an official reprimand from the Auditor General for its work performance which in a 2016 report has criticised the company’s project under Public Works Department (JKR).

“I am questioning the matter because it is a great loss to the people when large projects under the ministry continue to be given to a company that is clearly closely related to the leadership of Umno and was once a court case for being involved in a money laundering case amounting to RM139 million which was transferred to Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, an Umno leader with a bad record of malfeasance,” he said.

Logically, he said, with all this information, it was only appropriate that a company like Mangkubumi was no longer awarded contracts for major government projects although it was not being blacklisted.