Support letters not a basis for awarding tenders - Ahmad

All government agencies are bound by the guidelines on the giving out of tenders while bidders' support letters from influential individuals are not allowed at all to be the basis for consideration in making decisions.

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan said the guidelines issued by the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Planning Unit (MAMPU) were in support of the Finance Ministry's guidelines on giving out of contracts to prevent leakage of development funds.

"Support letters received (from influential figures) must not at all be accepted as the basis, merit or qualification for consideration in making a government decision.

"All public servants must act in accordance with the law, regulations and government administrative procedures in force," he added in reply to a question from Senator Datuk Dr Johari Mat in the Dewan Negara, on Wednesday.

To a supplementary question from Johari, Ahmad stressed that the government had never taken lightly the reprimand and disclosures on allocation leakages as reported in the Auditor-General's Report.