Syed Saddiq: I Swear To God That I Would Be The First Person To Resign If Found Corrupt
The minister allegedly accepted an under-the-table deal to grant a tender to Institut Kemahiran Belia Negara (IKBN).
By Arisha Rozaidee — 28 Nov 2019, 01:43 PM
Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman has vowed to resign if he is proven guilty of misusing his power
On Monday, 25 November, he shared a video of his speech in the Dewan Rakyat on Twitter.
The minister's tweet read, "I refuse to budge when it comes to integrity. I want the Ministry of Youth and Sports to be free from bribery and embezzlement. Here is my answer in Parliament."
Paya Besar and Jelebu Members of Parliament (MPs) alleged that Syed Saddiq had accepted an under-the-table deal to grant a tender to Institut Kemahiran Belia Negara (IKBN)
According to Berita Harian, they claimed that it was suspicious how the tender was granted to the three shortlisted companies out of 6,000 applicants.
Paya Besar MP Mohd Shahar Abdullah asked, "Minister, I only want to ask for one commitment from you, in this honourable hall. Do these three companies not have any links to you?"
"If we find that there are accusations and proof, are you willing to resign as minister?" he added.
Syed Saddiq then replied, "Allah is my witness. If there is abuse of power, swindling and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) proves that this is abuse of power, I would be the first person to resign."
He also said that he had instructed his own officer to lodge a report with the anti-graft agency.
Syed Saddiq said that all the tenders were done via open tender system through government's 'e-Perolehan' system
He also added that the tender evaluation was done in a transparent manner by the committees appointed based on a set criteria.
Malay Mail reported that the minister repeatedly stressed that he was not involved in the process.
He then went on to say, "I can name every single tender before this that was given a grant via direct negotiations and limited tender. Projects were abandoned and tens of millions of ringgit wasted. Contracts were given to fellow allies of UMNO. I can prove it!"
His remark against UMNO caused a second round of shouting matches between MPs to erupt, but order was restored and then the meeting continued.
