Check your facts, PM’s aide tells Zahid counterpart in funding spat

In a funding dispute between the rural and regional development ministry and the finance ministry, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's senior press secretary, Tunku Nashrul Abaidah, confronted Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's press secretary, Fadzmel Fadzil. Nashrul claimed that Zahid's press secretary should verify his facts, after the latter raised concerns about the Treasury's statement on the ministry's expenditure.

Nashrul expressed confidence that the Treasury had not issued its statement recklessly. He praised the Treasury secretary-general as a senior civil servant who is diligent and adept at his job, likely having a better understanding of the nation's finances than Zahid. This conflict stemmed from Zahid's claim that payments to contractors on rural development projects were delayed, causing some contractors to face cash flow issues and even shut down.

In response, the finance ministry secretary-general, Johan Mahmood Merican, attributed the delays to the fact that most of this year's allocation for rural road projects had already been spent. He also stated that Zahid's ministry had consistently spent more than its approved annual allocation for rural road projects since 2023.

However, Fadzmel argued that spending more than the approved annual allocation was impossible, as funding requests are submitted to the Treasury and expenditures are processed through Putrajaya's financial management system.