KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has denied any conflict of interests in the government’s decision to allow private companies to shoulder a majority portion of travel expenses during his recent official working visits to several countries.
Anwar said that while the government had spent RM1.6 million to charter a Malaysia Airlines plane to travel to four countries, the remaining seats on the flight had been offered to representatives from the private sector, which paid a total of RM4.5 million.
Stressing that the government would have forked out RM2.5 million if it had used its executive jet, Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said that the seats were offered to the companies as they were also heading to the same nations for investments or joint venture purposes.
“I repeat, the government did not use funds from the private sector. There is no conflict of interest. Do not fall into a trap of slander,” he said in a post on his social media pages today.
Anwar attached in his posts a screenshot of a report by Sinar Harian, which quoted the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) chief executive office Pushpan Murugiah as saying that the companies who chipped in for the government’s trip could pressure the government into a quid pro quo.
He also said that while the decision might have been motivated by financial factors, the government should have considered the possibility of conflict of interests between the government and private sector.
The prime minister’s explanation comes amid PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden’s call for the government to explain why the government did not bear the full cost of Anwar’s working visits, asserting that “sponsorship” from private companies might imply bad governance.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament today, the Alor Setar MP questioned why the private company representatives had been allowed to travel on the same flight as government leaders, adding that a police report had been lodged earlier today to urge authorities to investigate the matter.
Expressing similar sentiments, Bersatu MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal asserted that the collaboration with private companies contradicts laws, pointing to the case of Singapore’s former transport minister S. Iswaran.
Wan Fayhsal claimed that if Anwar refused to address the matter transparently, he could face a similar fate as Iswaran, who was sentenced to 12 months in jail by a Singapore court in October for obtaining gifts worth about SG$403,3000 over seven years from two businessmen.
Last Thursday, Anwar told the Dewan Rakyat that several companies, including Petronas, Spurs Energy, Yinson and Proton, had covered part of the costs of his working visits to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Peru, Brazil and Qatar.
Government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil later clarified that the business delegation which accompanied Anwar for the trips was fully-funded, stressing that the government paid for the prime minister’s flight as he was not funded by any company. – November 25, 2024