KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's Finance Minister Zafrul Aziz on Thursday said there is nothing wrong with conducting direct negotiations, backtracking from accusing the previous Pakatan Harapan government just days ago of giving out billions of ringgit worth of contracts without tender.
Under pressure from opposition MPs, the government on Wednesday released details of the 101 contracts. Mr Zafrul said PH had also engaged in direct negotiations, a claim that caused an uproar as the coalition had promised to do away with the practice in its manifesto ahead of the 2018 election. "Perhaps it's better for the minister, who has refuted claims of being involved in direct awards, to explain what happened," Lim said.
Among the other spending from the RM6.61 billion outlay was by the Defence Ministry under PH, which issued RM901 million in direct tenders.