Malaysia to probe Najib govt's $2.0b payments to pipeline firm

KUALA LUMPUR, June 06 (Reuters): Malaysia's finance minister announced plans on Tuesday to report to the anti-graft agency upfront payments of billions of ringgit the Najib government made to a Chinese firm. The two pipeline projects have barely begun.

Since taking office two weeks ago, Lim Guan Eng has been driving a campaign to expose financial scandals in the administration of Najib Razak.

Lim said Najib's government had paid 8.25 billion ringgit ($2 billion) or 88 percent of the total value of two pipeline projects awarded to China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CCPB). They are less than 15 per cent complete.

"We have discovered that the payment schedules for the above contracts are based almost entirely on timeline milestones, and not on progressive work completion milestones," Lim said.

In November 2016, CCPB won the contracts to build a 600-km petroleum pipeline along the west coast of peninsular Malaysia, and the 662-km Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline in eastern Sabah state.

Lim said the contracts were negotiated directly by Najib's office. The former prime minister had ignored red flags raised by the attorney-general's office on both deals.

In March 2017, the finance ministry raised 85 per cent of the project funding from China EXIM Bank through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Suria Strategic Energy Resources (SSER). ction defeat.