Perak Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders cried foul today over the award of a lucrative RM2.2 billion highway contract to companies linked to former Chief Justice Tun Zaki Azmi and Umno lawyer Datuk Hafarizam Harun, two key figures in the Perak constitutional crisis of 2009.
They demanded both men and the Najib administration explain the award and yesterday’s allegation by controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin that the deal was Barisan Nasional’s (BN) gift for their help in toppling PR in the northern state.
“(Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib Razak and the Works Ministry must come out to refute this allegation with proof that they carried out an open tender process and the award was based on the firms’ proper qualifications, track record and expertise in the field.
“As an MP and the former mentri besar of Perak, I demand an explanation from the authorities… failing which, this allegation would hold true,” PAS’s Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin told The Malaysian Insider.
Nizar, who once led the Perak PR government, said the allegation was unsurprising as both men had been central figures during the year-long constitutional impasse that saw an endless series of legal suits mounted.
As an example, the Bukit Gantang MP said Hafarizam had even joined an Umno delegation to several Middle Eastern countries like Jordan, Syria and Egypt in a bid to justify the ruling party’s power grab on the point of law to Malaysian students there.
Nizar’s former colleague in the Perak PR government, Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham, shared his sentiment.
The Perak DAP chief charged that both Hafarizam and Zaki had already “compromised their principles” by allowing their political affiliations to interfere with their duties in the legal profession.
“With or without this allegation, these two have already soiled their careers,” he told The Malaysian Insider. (more…)
