Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, the Minister for Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, has refuted allegations of corruption in the flood mitigation project aimed at addressing the nationwide issue. He dismissed claims that the project’s cost had soared to RM16.6 billion and involved companies and individuals receiving commissions as proxies for the minister as baseless and malicious.
The Finance Ministry has allocated RM11.8 billion for 33 flood mitigation projects, according to Nik Nazmi, and the amount has not reached RM16.6 billion as alleged by Bersatu Information committee member Badrul Hisham Shaharin, also known as Chegubard.
“This is not the first time that Chegubard has made baseless accusations. He has also lost several lawsuits due to proven slander. Similarly, Chegubard’s accusations demonstrate his lack of understanding of the procurement process and government budget allocation procedures,” Nik Nazmi said in a statement.
Badrul Hisham had alleged serious corruption in the flood mitigation project and called for a police investigation. He lodged a police report on Wednesday and also claimed that a company registered to deal in cosmetics was acting as a flood mitigation consultant to siphon millions from the project. He also alleged that several law firms in Klang and Batang Kali were “laundering” kickbacks from companies awarded flood mitigation works.
Nik Nazmi described the allegations as defamatory and stated that he would take legal action against the opposition politician soon. He also clarified that most of the projects this year are still in the tender process, with 19 having had Letters of Acceptance issued, and there has been no allocation for development expenditure.
Furthermore, government flood mitigation projects undergo a transparent procurement process involving the Finance Ministry and the procurement board, in which the minister himself is not personally involved. The minister emphasized the importance of transparency and the proper procedures in such projects.
