KUALA LUMPUR – A former prime minister and finance minister will be among those summoned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as part of its probe into contracts awarded to fleet management company Spanco Sdn Bhd in the late 1990s.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said all those involved in awarding projects to Spanco will be investigated, noting that more than 20 individuals have been summoned to provide their statements regarding the case.
“We will call up anyone who made the decision to award projects to Spanco at that time,” Azam told a press conference, as quoted by Berita Harian in Sarawak today.
“The company was formed in 1998 or 1999, so anyone who was involved, including the prime minister and finance minister (then) will be summoned for their statements to be recorded and for us (MACC) to find out what they know about the case.”
He also said that the investigation into Spanco is in its early stages, with investigating officers looking into the facts of the case.
“The issue was first reported to MACC when there was some dispute after the cancellation of a contract with one company (saw questions on how) Spanco has been getting the contract from then until now. That is the focus of our investigation.”
Previously, Berjaya Group founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan had sued Spanco and the Malaysian government, then led by former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, for terminating its letter of intent (LoI) for a vehicle fleet concession and awarding it to another company.
The LoI, which was offered to Berjaya Group and Naza Group under the then-Pakatan Harapan federal government, was cancelled in 2020 after Perikatan Nasional (PN) took over Putrajaya under Muhyiddin’s leadership.
The PN government had then awarded the contract to Spanco, which has held the concession since 1994, and paid it RM700 million more than the Berjaya-Naza contract, according to claims made by Tan last year.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that the government’s agreement with Spanco is harming the nation – a stance he said he has stood by since his stint as finance minister in the 1990s.
“I don’t know what is wrong (about Spanco), but I know that it’s not right. I know that it is detrimental to the nation, and I know civil servants are not happy with it,” he said.
Last month, Scoop reported that the MACC had mounted a raid on the residence of a businessman holding a “Tan Sri” title as part of its investigations into alleged graft related to the procurement and management of the government’s vehicle fleet.
Sources told Scoop that the operation was a continuation of the graft buster’s ongoing investigation, which started in July 2023.
On January 31, it was reported that several personal bank accounts holding tens of millions of ringgit belonging to the businessman were frozen by the MACC as a result of its investigations into the same matter.
Sources also said the businessman is a proxy for a tycoon who is now also being investigated by the MACC regarding allegations of corruption and money laundering based on information from the Pandora Papers.
The case is being investigated under Section 17 of the MACC Act 2009, which stipulates a corporate liability principle where a commercial organisation can be considered guilty if any of its employees or associates commit corruption for the benefit of the organisation. – February 6, 2024