Kota Kinabalu: Former Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan said the signing of Sabah’s five per cent petroleum royalty agreement, which he witnessed with then State Secretary Datuk Hamid Egoh, was never discussed by the Berjaya State Cabinet beforehand.
Pairin said he and Hamid were called only as witnesses to the signing and were not party to the decision.
“We were witnesses only… witnesses to the fact that we had seen Harris sign and agree to that agreement,” he said in response to a question by a UiTM student at the Bicara Negarawan Forum’s question-and-answer session here.
“This matter, as far as I can remember, was not discussed in the State Cabinet,” he said. It was signed by newly-appointed Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh one week after the Double Six tragedy.
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