Instead, he said, it was a letter to approve negotiations involving the environment and water ministry.

He explained that even after getting the general approval to negotiate, the ministry would still need to discuss with the company and send its recommendations with regard to the next steps to the finance ministry.

“The environment and water ministry will need to discuss the requirements and conduct an assessment as it involves financial and technical capacities, among others, so it would take at least two to three months.

“I believe that this is a politicised issue as the matter is clear. There was no Letter of Acceptance and Letter of Intent (exchanged). There was only a letter to approve negotiations between the parties,” Bernama quoted him as saying last night.

Yesterday, PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli had revealed that a letter dated Oct 27 was related to a project to upgrade a plant for a drainage catchment area worth RM285 million in South Klang. He claimed that the project was approved 17 days after Parliament was dissolved on Oct 10.

Tengku Zafrul advised Rafizi, who is the Pakatan Harapan candidate for Pandan, to report any wrongdoing in the government to the authorities instead of making such allegations.

“Go to the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the authorities,” he said.