MACC urged to probe Chong’s allegations
KUCHING: A concerned citizen has lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission (MACC) Sarawak, to look into recent allegations made by Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen.
Chin Siaw Hong, 49, filed thereport yesterday against four parties, namely, former prime minister and former finance minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, current Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Chong and the contractor involved.
The complaint against Chong’s allegations is about the grasscutting project along federal roads here.
It is learnt that Chong has recently alleged that the grass- cutting contractor, who was supposed to look after the federal roads here, did not do the job well.
Chongwassaidtohavespecifically referred to the allocation for this year, pointing out that ‘ the allocation for a 12-month period had been ‘dried up’ by the Sarawak Barisan Nasional (now Gabungan Parti Sarawak - GPS) government within 10 months”.
According to Chin, the term ‘dried up’ carries negative implication and can even be described as corruption if translated into the Chinese language.
He said Chong, who is a deputy minister, Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman, should be aware of the implication of his allegations .
If there was indeed misappropriation of federal funds as Chong claimed, Chin said the MACC should look into it.
In a statement written in Chinese, Chin said he wondered why Chong brought up this matter after the change of government on May 9 this year.
“Why was there not a problem with this grass- cutting project before May 9? The problem arose when we have a new government.
“The federal funds should be channelled directly from the Finance Ministry to the contractor, so how did the funds end up in the hands of the Sarawak government?
“If the contractor has indeed received the federal funds but did not do their job, shouldn’t the deputy minister (Chong) take action against the contractor?
“But if the contractor was not given the federal funds but Chong alleged that the funds had ‘dried up’, then the problem lies with the Finance Ministry. If this is the case, both the previous and current finance ministers should be called to the MACC office to figure out where the funds had gone to,” added Chin.