KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 -- Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng has warned against the recent Emergency ordinance enabling Putrajaya to tap into the Treasury's consolidated funds without parliamentary oversight and scrutiny, describing it as an extremely dangerous power accorded to the prime minister.

He said that the nation's tens of billions of ringgit can now be determined by one man instead of going through the check and balance system of parliamentary democracy.

In a statement, Lim likened the ordinance to "a cruel April's Fool" on parliamentary democracy that grants the prime minister unfettered powers on the nation's financial coffers.

"This is another act of treachery by the Perikatan Nasional government against Parliament and th...