KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — Former environment and water minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has today slammed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for freezing the RM7 billion allocated for flood mitigation projects through direct negotiation deals.

The PAS deputy president said such projects need to be expedited via direct negotiations and was not a matter of procurement error.

"As the prime minister, he should not consider all projects through direct negotiation tenders as irregular and there are parties looking for opportunities,” he said in a statement.

"He knows that many emergency projects need to be expedited to reduce bigger disasters and more losses.

"It must be done through direct negotiation methods or selected tenders, especially those involving disasters such as floods, dam breaks, landslides and others,” he added.

Last month, Tuan Ibrahim had instructed his lawyers to file a defamation suit against PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli for allegedly claiming that he had approved flood mitigation works after the dissolution of Parliament.

On November 11, Rafizi shared with the media an allegedly official letter addressed to the chief secretary of the Environment and Water Ministry, which said that a company had been approved via direct negotiation for a flood mitigation project at Sungai Langat.

The company had allegedly been approved by then-finance minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, who is now the international trade and industry minister in Anwar’s administration.

Rafizi had first commented on the matter on November 7, where he said the allegedly Umno-linked company that received the project had a special status making it exempt from having to file audited financial statements.

Earlier today, Anwar ordered the Finance Ministry to pause channelling funds for RM7 billion out of the RM15 billion flood mitigation projects announced by the previous Ismail Sabri administration.

Anwar said he gave the suspension order to conduct a full review of contracts that had been awarded through direct negotiations, for possible procedural breaches.

The federal government’s flood mitigation project 2030 had been announced by the previous finance minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz in October during the tabling of Budget 2023 as part of Malaysia’s long-term strategy to deal with climate change.

In March, then Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government announced an additional RM15 billion for flood mitigation projects between 2023 and 2030, following floods nationwide.

Before this, Ismail said only RM1 billion had been set aside for mitigation projects under the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025).