Warisan vice-president Junz Wong said the AirAsia Farm, a fresh produce e-commerce platform which Kitingan launched on Monday, showed that the previous Warisan-led state government had the state’s best interests in mind.
Wong, who is the former state agriculture and food industry minister, said he felt vindicated after the launch of the project, which validated the multimillion-ringgit loan approved to AirAsia under the previous state administration.
“I have said since last year that Warisan, under the leadership of our president Shafie Apdal, has a vision and grand plan to industrialise Sabah,” he said in a statement here today.
“And this includes the RM300 million loan by the state-owned Sabah Development Bank (SDB) to AirAsia. I have said that it was a loan, not a grant. It will be repaid in due course.
“On Sabah’s end, this would benefit local farmers and fishermen as we can leverage on AirAsia’s flights and e-commerce platforms. In fact, part of the loan was to build a logistic hub in Kota Kinabalu.
“So I thank Jeffrey for making a big U-turn in acknowledging Warisan’s foresight and vision for Sabah. Finally, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) agrees with Warisan’s vision for Sabah.”
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) cleared the SDB over the loan after finding no wrongdoing in its investigations into the matter last January.
The investigations were reportedly launched after chief minister Hajiji Noor had ordered a forensic investigation by an independent audit firm into SDB’s purported move, as the funds were allegedly disbursed in a hurry to AirAsia after the GRS administration took over.
Kitingan and nominated assemblyman Yong Teck Lee were among those who had previously voiced out against the loan being approved by SDB, saying such funds should go to state-initiated projects.
Shafie had previously disclosed that AirAsia had planned several projects in the state capital, including an agriculture produce storage facility known as “OurFarm”.
He added this was in line with the airline’s target of becoming the main distributor of agricultural fishery products that would be marketed through e-commerce channels.
In his statement today, Wong charged that the GRS government had attempted to spread lies over the loan.
“If you recall, the loan was approved last June or July during Warisan’s administration.
“But when GRS came into power, they lied to all Sabahans and politicised this noble initiative in October 2020,” he said, adding that Hajiji had told MACC to investigate the loan and insinuated that Warisan was corrupt.
Kitingan then tried to fuel the matter further, he added, by claiming the loan would put SDB and Sabah in jeopardy.
“Shafie and myself welcomed the investigation because our conscience was clear. Look what happened today. Look who was right.
“And just this week, Jeffrey launched the very same programme he once accused as ‘bringing jeopardy to Sabah’,” Wong said.