He said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim should know this since he is also the finance minister.

The PAS deputy president said Anwar should not consider all projects awarded through direct negotiations as “disorganised and involving opportunistic parties”.

“He knows that many urgent projects need to be expedited to avoid greater disasters and losses,” he said in a statement today.

“They have to be done through direct negotiations or a selected tender, especially projects related to disasters like floods, burst dams, landslides and others.”

However, he said, these projects must still follow the set financial procedures for procurements.

Tuan Ibrahim said every financial process went through stringent checks, procedures and guidelines set by the finance ministry.

Earlier today, Anwar said several flood mitigation projects worth RM7 billion will be reviewed as procedures were not followed and the projects were awarded through direct negotiations.

He also claimed that senior finance ministry officials had disagreed with the direct awarding of these projects but were only “following instructions”.

In March, 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).