KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has warned his predecessor, Muhyiddin Yassin, against challenging him to reveal alleged procedural breaches in the awarding of government contracts while he was in office.
He was responding to remarks by Mr Muhyiddin, who stated on Monday that he was not afraid to be investigated after police reports were lodged against him for embezzling government funds of 600 billion USD 137 billion that were meant for managing the COVID-19 epidemic during his tenure as prime minister.
On Tuesday, Anwar was quoted by Malay Mail as saying: "I want to remind Muhyiddin not to challenge me because there are processes and procedures that have not been followed." He stated that tens of billions of ringgit were allocated by Mr Muhyiddin's government that had violated existing rules and procedures. The prime minister said there were even companies with vested interests involving familial links.
However, Mr Anwar did not elaborate on the companies and nature of business they were involved in.
He was quoted as saying by the Star: They are not clean, as it was found that there were approvals done without following the regulations.
This includes approvals made during the movement control order. The MCO movement control order was implemented under the administration of Muhyiddin to manage the spread of COVID - 19. It included lockdowns and restrictions on social gatherings.
According to Malay Mail, Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said on Monday he was informed by his ministry that there had been several procedural breaches in the PN administration.
It came after Mr Muhyiddin's administration misappropriated 600 billion in funds for COVID 19 funds.