Billions for Sabah rural projects? What happened – Lajim
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah president Datuk Seri Panglima Lajim Ukin said the people would like to know what actually happened to the billions allocated for projects in Sabah when Datuk Seri Panglima Shafie Apdal was the Rural and Regional Development Minister.
He said while Parti Harapan is against the ruling Barisan Nasional government, it would not close an eye if an act of corruption had been committed even though if it involved a party who is now part of the opposition.
“If something is wrong, it is wrong. We can't just simply sweep it under the carpet,” he said.
Lajim also pointed out that after he left the Barisan Nasional government in 2012, he never had any encounters with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“When I left the BN, I was at that time the Federal Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government. I was also a former Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Sabah,” he said.
“I have never been called up by the MACC. Neither has my house nor office were ever raided by them.”
Lajim said during Shafie's tenure, he often boasted that billions in allocations were channeled to Sabah for rural roads, electricity and water projects for the people's welfare.
“Now it is reported that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission believes that as much as RM1.5 billion had been siphoned from funds allocated for rural development projects in Sabah,” he said.
He said the projects, estimated to cost a total of RM7.5 billion, were reportedly planned to be carried out between 2009 and 2015.
“Now, this period is during Shafie's tenure as Rural Development Minister. I, like everyone else, want to know what happened to the money for these projects related to water, roads and electricity. Billions that were funded by the federal government,” he said.
Lajim said according to the MACC, some of these projects were not properly done, some were not done correctly, and they were also looking at corruption elements in the projects.
Based on what the MACC is saying, Lajim said, he now understood why the billions that Shafie previously boasted have not benefited Sabah in a significant way.
“In many rural parts of Sabah, we have electrical poles without cables, water pipes without water and rural roads constructed in the middle of nowhere,” he said.
Lajim said if there were elements of corruption, it would make sense that rural projects in Sabah were not completed or abandoned and therefore failed to achieve their intended objectives of serving the people.
He said MACC should be allowed to conduct their investigation into the irregularities of these rural projects because it involved billions that could have benefited so many rural folks had they been implemented properly.