MACC report against Shafie's 'contracts to top party official'
Published on: Thursday, November 17, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has been urged to investigate former Federal Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal (pic) for any possible abuse of power when awarding projects worth tens of millions of Ringgit to a tycoon contractor who also happens to be a key official in his new party.Gerakan Akar Umno Malaysia (Gaum) Chairman Datuk Zulkarnain Mahdar lodged a MACC report against Shafie based on an allegation by a blogger known as "Chegu Bard" who is Solidarity Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) chief and was published in his blog on Sept. 27.He said the blogger, who is a prominent Malaysian youth NGO and contested under Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) for the Rembau parliamentary seat in the 13th General Election (GE13), alleged that the official who also heads a Sabah NGO, was benefitting from many business opportunities from Shafie when he was the Minister.ADVERTISEMENT "CheGu Bard also called on Shafie to provide explanations on a Rural Water Supply Project (BALB) worth about RM24 million awarded to this official's company on Aug. 9, 2011."A month later, the blogger claimed that a Tenom Water Supply System for phase 2 worth RM29 million was procured on Sept 25, 2011. "Based on information that we received, there were also many projects under (Shafie's) Ministry awarded to this official. We are questioning whether it is a coincidence that this official has been getting direct projects from the former Umno Vice-President.ADVERTISEMENT "In fact, it is known in Sabah that there are close ties between Shafie and this official as Shafie was the one who officiated the official's non-governmental organisation and now this official is also one of the Supreme Council members of Parti Warisan Sabah founded by Shafie," he said.Zulkarnain, who is also Pakatan NGO Pro BN Chairman, said the blogger also alleged that the official is one of the contributors to the operations of Parti Warisan Sabah in enticing opposition assemblymen to join them.
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So far, Zulkarnain said none of the Warisan Sabah leaders, including Shafie, have lodged police report on the blogger's allegations nor issued a denial to the accusations.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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He said MACC should also probe into the relationship between Shafie and this official that enabled the latter to get many development projects under the ministry that is receiving annual allocation of between RM2b and RM4 billion from the government.He said MACC should also look into whether the distribution of projects under the Ministry during the tenure of Shafie was done in a transparent and fair manner.