KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim filed an emergency motion in Parliament on Wednesday to call for a Royal Commission to be established to investigate the doubts and controversies over the Federal Government’s decision to spend on three controversial mega projects.
The three mega projects are the RM11.31bil High Speed Broadband Project, the RM4.26bil purchase of the Bank Internasional Indonesia by Maybank and the RM1.7bil procurement of 12 units of the Eurocopter Cougar EC 725 helicopters.
Anwar said this in the motion addressed to the Dewan Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia.
Anwar claimed that on Sept 16, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also the Finance Minister, had approved the High Speed Broadband hastily at a price deemed too high and without any open tender process.
On Sept 30, Najib had also approved the purchase of 56% of the shares in the Bank International Indonesia through Maybank and it was a waste of the nation’s funds because the shares were bought at a price five times higher than the book value, he said.
Two days before he moved from the Defence Ministry to the Finance Ministry, a letter of intent was issued for the purchase of 12 helicopters, a deal made in a dubious manner, said Anwar.
“Although the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi had on Oct 28 announced that the Government had decided to postpone the purchase, it had not removed people’s doubt over the earlier decision to purchase the Eurocopter helicopters,” he said in the motion.
The Dewan Rakyat will decide Thursday whether the emergency motion will be accepted.
LOH FOON FONG
Star Online
29/10/08
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