KUCHING: Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen believes that whatever he exposed on the Kapit Jalan Song/Sg Yong project already warranted an investigation and questions if the repeated calls from Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) for further information is a trap.
“I have nothing more, nothing new and nothing additional to expose about the case. Whatever I have exposed is enough to warrant an investigation by MACC,” Chong told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Puzzled by MACC’s persistence in asking him to provide more information, Chong who is also Kota Sentosa assemblyman questioned if MACC was setting a trap for him like in the case of PKR Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli who ended up being charged under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act, 1989 (Bafia) after exposing ‘misdeeds’ in the National Feedlot Centre (NFC).
“I have given the particulars of the project involved – how much over-priced the government is going to pay for the project (at least by RM20 million), the incredibility of a RM1 million capital company undertaking a RM119 million project and the unusual secret conversion of ‘open tender’ to ‘selected tender’.
“What more does MACC want or need from me? Is MACC expecting me to provide them some bank accounts and transactions of the company involved? That would be against the law.
“If I were to give the bank account statements of the company involved, I would be charged under the Personal Data Protection Act, 2010 or Banking and Financial Institutions Act, 1989 (Bafia),” said the state DAP chairman in a statement.
“As such, I am puzzled by the repeated calls by MACC for me to produce further information on the matter.
“Is MACC setting a trap for me or is MACC truly serious about investigating the matter?”
He said he was very sure that MACC deputy chief commissioner (operation) Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri knew the provisions of the law which prohibits any person from disclosing or even possessing another person’s bank account information.
“It is only the MACC or the police who has the legal means to access such information.
“So, why ask me for this information when the MACC knows full well that it is against the law for me to produce such information?
“I also wish to tell the MACC officer, whatever in my possession, I have already disclosed to the press.
“There is no additional information.
“It is for the MACC now to use its statutory power to get more information, if it wants to investigate the matter.”
He claimed until today, he was yet to receive any call from MACC, be it through his mobile phone or his office.
He was also puzzled over MACC’s claim that its Investigation Division director Datuk Mohd Jamidan Abdullah had contacted him but to no avail.
“However, if the MACC officer still wants to visit me in my office, they are most welcome,” said Chong.
Chong had on last Thursday held a press conference during which he alleged that the cost of constructing Song-Sungai Yong Road – part of the long awaited stretch from Song to Kapit – had escalated by RM20 million after the ‘selected tender’ process was applied.
He said the contract worth RM119.8 million was awarded to a local company eight months after the cancellation of the open tender process despite the fact that many companies submitted tender prices below RM100 million.