The contract to supply indelible ink for the 13th General Election was awarded to a businessman who is allegedly closely linked to the top government officials and Election Commission(EC) heads, Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli claimed.
The PKR leader told the Dewan Rakyat that his investigations and sources within the EC itself confirmed that the contract was secured by one “Mohamad Salleh Mohd Ali” through direct negotiation.
Rafizi also claimed that the man, who he described as an “expert in direct negotiations”, also received the contracts to supply clothes, and caps for GE13.
“The companies controlled by Mohamad Salleh is very much involved in a lot of government contracts, even Defence Ministry jobs. Everything he gets... because he is close with the government leadership, the EC chairman and deputy chairman,” Rafizi said in Parliament.
Rafizi said that one of the three companies owned by Mohamad Salleh, who is originally from Singapore, included on “Integrated Challenge Malaysia Sdn Bhd”.
He stressed that the indelible ink was not only expensive but was also faulty.
“We all know that when a contract is not negotiated through open tender, costs are not according to market prices, quality is not satisfactory, it wastes taxpayers money,” he said.
Rafizi asked the Government to explain what the government planned to do to reduce the number of direct negotiations.
Previously, Rafizi had demanded the EC to reveal the name of the ink supplier and threatened to reveal it in Parliament.
He had said that a Singaporean who had no expertise on the matter had gotten the contract and also claimed that the company did not have the capital for the job.
Meanwhile, a report in EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, in a report in The Malaysian Insider, denied that he knew Mohamad Salleh.
Abdul Aziz said that the buying of the ink was undertaken by the EC secretary, Datuk kamaruddin Baria and not him or his deputy.
“I don’t know. Why make such wild accusations? Why accuse us during the puasa month? Is he not afraid of sinning? Why involve me and (deputy EC) Datuk Wan Ahmad(Wan Omar)?”
Astro Awani
Tue Jul 16 2013
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