“He sat through numerous meetings, briefings and reports by his permanent secretary and staff.
“Yet, it appears that he does not know what was going on.”
The assemblyman added that Pairin has to explain why his government had such little, or even no knowledge, on what the Federal Government was doing in Sabah, despite being a member of the Barisan Nasional (BN).
Junz wanted the deputy chief minister to state whether, as far as Sabah was concerned, it was the case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing.
He challenged Pairin to disclose how many briefings he had with his permanent secretary, political secretary and ministry staff.
“Indeed, have they also conspired to keep him in the dark?
“If Pairin was briefed properly and regularly, and still missed the critical bits, then how and why did that happen?”
Alternatively, the assemblyman charged, Pairin may have run a ministry that literally had no checks on its own projects, expenditure and payments.
“Pairin was able to sit through Cabinet meeting after Cabinet meeting while being blind and/or guilty.
“He was keeping his colleagues in the dark about what was going on at the Water Department.”
Junz expressed surprise over Pairin’s “emotional response” on the scandal at the Water Department.
“He’s a trained lawyer and seasoned politician,” reminded the lawmaker, who recently defected from the DAP to an undisclosed local Opposition party.
“In fact, he was the ‘giant killer’ who removed the Berjaya government.
“The normal reaction would be to resign or clean up the mess before resigning.”
He lamented that Pairin had not been sacked or told to resign over “negligence and gross mismanagement of his ministry”.
He recalled Pairin’s record as chief minister for nearly 10 years (1985 to 1994) and deputy chief minister and infrastructure development minister since 2004.
“Either he knows the ins and outs of government or was conveniently suffering amnesia and/or overcome by emotion,” said Junz.
“He’s appealing his case based on pity.”
He said the deputy chief minister must be aware that written agreements and contracts are critical to every project; and that no construction contract can be written without a clause requiring regular reporting and checking before every single payment.