Billion ringgit government grants abused, says Rafizi
More than a billion ringgit in government grants given for research and development (R&D) purposes has been misused, raising the question of what the funds were used for, a PKR lawmaker said today.
Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli said between 2009 and last year, RM1.152 billion was disbursed as grants. Of the total, RM900 million was from the Science Fund, Technofund, Innofund and Human Capital Development Fund (STI Fund); RM246 million from the Commercialisation of R&D Fund (CRDF) and RM6 million from the Technology Acquisition Fund.
However, Science Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Ewon Ebin had recently admitted that only 20 R&D end results had been commercialised yearly.
"This raises the question – what else were the funds used for? Were they fully utilised for commercialisation of the R&D end results or for other purposes?" Rafizi said at a press conference at the PKR headquarters.
The PKR strategist, who became famous for exposing the RM250 million National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) cattle scandal that led to the eventual resignation of an Umno minister, said he would expose the abuse of the ministry's R&D grants in the next couple of weeks.
Claiming he had "full proof", Rafizi said he would unveil how the grants were used to help certain unnamed "individuals" linked to Putrajaya.
The wrongdoings, he said, were bigger than the NFC scandal.
"Obviously in Malaysia, if you dig hard enough you'll find some dirt," he said, adding that the information on the wrongdoings involving the R&D grants came from both the ministry's yearly reports as well as information from whistle-blowers.
The NFC scandal was first exposed by the Auditor General Report 2011 which stated that the cattle-rearing project did not meet its milestones, followed by revelations by Rafizi that funds were abused to buy high-end property.
The project was awarded to NFCorp, operated by the family of former Wanita Umno head Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil whose husband Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Salleh Ismail chairs the company's board of directors, which also includes the couple's children.
They were later alleged to have misused the government's allocation of RM250 million for the project.
Salleh pleaded not guilty in March last year to two counts of criminal breach of trust involving some RM49.7 million with regards to the purchase of two condominium units, and two other charges under the Companies Act.
Shahrizat subsequently quit her ministerial post and did not contest in the last general election. – April 15, 2014.
