Just days after dismissing opposition concerns as “noise,” Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha has announced that an investigation is underway into claims of attempts to defraud the government’s flood relief programme.
As a result, Mustapha has said there has been a delay in payouts in some regions.
“This is not what we wanted to do but until we get to the bottom of this, we cannot continue in some regions. Both the farmers and the officers responsible for carrying out the assessment have to be honest and held accountable. When people are dishonest and we have these things occurring, we have to go back and correct them. Because of these claims, we have to review and redo some areas which are resulting in delays in the entire process but we have to ensure things are done the right way,” Mustapha was quoted as saying by the Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday.
