KUALA LUMPUR, 6 March 2009: Two ministries – defence, and agriculture and agro-based industries – were taken to task over its spending and instructions in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Tian Chua (Batu-PKR) said that there was an alarming increase in the direct negotiations done by the Defence Ministry over the past three years.
“The number of defence contracts distributed through direct negotiations rose from 52 to 100 from 2006 to 2008 while the percentage rose from 8.54% to 20.95%.
“At first sight, this seems to be a controllable trend. However, if you look closely at the value of contracts given out through direct negotiation, you will realise that there has been a very drastic increase from RM2.113 billion to RM4.392 billion,” said the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) information chief.
The figures for direct negotiation contracts were given out by the Defence Ministry in its reply to Chua in parliament.
Read more here.
This article first appeared on 6 March 2009 in The Edge Financial Daily under the title Tian Chua: Something fishy going on in defence. Used with permission.
