KUALA LUMPUR — A private company operating Malaysia’s digital court bail system has been running contract-free across 192 courts nationwide for five years, while quietly investing over RM130 million in public bail deposits to earn millions in annual interest, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed today.
Tabled in the Dewan Rakyat, the PAC’s explosive probe found that e-Jamin operator Dapat Vista Sdn Bhd operated without a Letter of Appointment, Letter of Acceptance (SST), Letter of Intent (LOI), or any legal agreement with the federal government since its launch on Jan 10, 2020.
Despite handling tens of millions in public funds, the e-Jamin system operated under repeated special exemptions—violating constitutional and federal financial laws while placing millions of ringgit in bail funds at risk without performance bonds, insurance, or a trustee structure.
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin disclosed that of the RM193.71 million in bail deposits held in the e-Jamin account as of Dec 31, 2024, Dapat Vista had invested RM130.8 million under its own corporate name, generating between RM4 million and RM5 million in annual interest.
“The e-Jamin system was initiated following a 2017 study by Dapat Vista to facilitate the court bail payment process and was implemented as a proof-of-concept (POC) approved by the Chief Justice. However, its implementation did not adhere to prevailing government financial and procurement procedures,” Mas Ermieyati told a press conference at the Parliament building today.
“e-Jamin operations across 192 courts nationwide have been running for five years since Jan 10, 2020, without any formal contractual agreement,” she added.
Mas Ermieyati noted that the findings stemmed from four proceedings conducted between Nov 4 and Dec 2, 2025, involving key witnesses from the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM), Ministry of Finance (MOF), Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), Office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court (PKPMP), Accountant General’s Department (JANM), and Dapat Vista.
Constitutional breaches and insolvency risks
The investigation revealed that bail monies paid through e-Jamin were routed directly into the operator’s commercial bank accounts, bypassing the federal government’s official accounting channels.
Mas Ermieyati warned that the failure to account for these funds in the Consolidated Trust Account breached Article 97(1) of the Federal Constitution and Section 7 of the Financial Procedure Act 1957.
Furthermore, the absence of a trustee framework left members of the public who posted bail completely unprotected. In the event of the company’s bankruptcy, guarantors would effectively be left as unsecured creditors.
Probers also uncovered a loose thread in the system’s accounting: an unverified balance discrepancy of RM557,258 between e-Jamin’s system records and the company’s actual bank statements.
A previous directive to suspend the e-Jamin system for three days was met with fierce public backlash over fears of severe delays in releasing accused persons. Consequently, the Ministry of Finance opted to maintain the system free of charge under a formal agreement incorporating a trustee bank structure.
However, the PAC expressed deep concern over how long the arrangement was allowed to bypass standard state financial controls.
“The PAC also concluded that the five-year period of contract-free operations, facilitated by repeated special exemptions, represented an excessively long period of financial non-compliance, especially given that the government possesses its own alternative channels for bail management, such as the eCourt Finance (eCF) system, electronic fund transfers (EFT) and the iPayment system,” Mas Ermieyati said.
Audit findings and urgent PAC demands
According to Auditor General’s Report (LKAN) 2/2024, the Criminal Bail Deposit Account balance under e-Jamin stood at RM182.94 million as of Dec 31, 2024—down RM10.77 million from the RM193.71 million recorded previously.
The report bluntly noted: “Criminal bail deposit receipts through the e-Jamin system were not accounted for as deposits in the Federal Government’s Financial Statements.”
“This is because the deposits remain under the control of the external entity managing them and have not been remitted to the federal government,” the report stated.
Because the required legal frameworks remained unfinalised, MOF granted a special exemption from compliance with financial rules until Aug 31, 2026. Feedback from JANM dated Aug 27 indicated that while PKPMP submitted a Cabinet Memorandum (MJM) and formal agreement documents, they had yet to be tabled to the Cabinet.
“Consequently, in a letter dated Aug 20, 2026, PKPMP requested an extension of the special exemption from MOF regarding compliance with financial procedures for managing bail receipts through the e-Jamin system, to allow the MJM to be tabled and the necessary Cabinet approval to be obtained,” the report stated.
In light of the severe procedural flaws, the PAC issued a series of stern recommendations to protect public funds and government data integrity.
Mas Ermieyati urged PKPMP and MOF to expedite negotiations to finalise a formal, binding agreement with Dapat Vista. The committee also called on the government to definitively clarify the legal definition of “public funds” to prevent inter-agency confusion, ensuring security deposit management complies strictly with Article 97(1) of the Federal Constitution and Sections 4 and 7 of the Financial Procedure Act 1957.
“PKPMP is also advised to develop its own in-house security deposit module via eCF or e-Kehakiman to avoid vendor dependency and ensure 100 per cent ownership of government data, in addition to expediting the reconciliation of criminal security deposit account balances and implementing periodic monitoring,” she said.
“The PAC also wants the MOF, AGC and National Digital Department to tighten controls on information and communication technology procurement to ensure that no vendor operates without a valid contract from the first day of implementation.”
“The MOF also needs to tighten the granting of special financial exemptions to uphold the principles of good governance,” she added. – October 5, 2026