Yeo, who was in charge of energy, science, technology, environment and climate change, disagreed with the claim by PBS Youth chief Christoper Mandut that PH had not followed up on the takeover bid after the 2018 general election.
She said efforts on the takeover had entered the “first quarter phase” of this year but were disrupted after the fall of the PH government in March.
The Bakri MP said the Sabah government led by caretaker chief minister Shafie Apdal had constantly strived for state autonomy in the energy sector, and confirmed that Shafie’s claims regarding the acquisition of SESB were supported by documents.
“After forming the PH (federal) government and the Warisan-led (state) government, a Cabinet paper was approved by the government not only to take back SESB but also for the Sabah government to regulate the energy industry, including restoring all electricity rights to the people of the state,” she said.
Yeo said technical and financial task forces had been formed to reach a settlement early this year, and a meeting had been scheduled to be held between federal and state government representatives to review the report from Dec 13 last year.
She said another meeting to complete details of the report had been scheduled for the first quarter of 2020, but did not take place due to the “Sheraton move”, which led to the fall of the PH government and the formation of a new government led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Had this event not taken place, she said, the Sabah government would have taken back SESB and started its financial recovery process after decades of inefficiency and losses.
Yeo also denied claims by former Sabah PKR vice-chairman Kenny Chua that Shafie had refused to cooperate with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) federal government to continue the SESB takeover bid.
She also said Chua had never attended any of the meetings in relation to this matter.
“I hope Sabahans are able to distinguish who is lying and who is sincere in solving their electrical predicaments that have long occurred in Sabah,” she said.