KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that the government’s agreement with the fleet management company Spanco Sdn Bhd is causing financial losses for the country.
Addressing the Prime Minister’s Department’s monthly assembly today, Anwar stressed that his stance against the company, which handles the procurement and management of the government’s vehicle fleets, has been a constant since his stint as finance minister in the 1990s.
“Everyone is involved in (using) the facilities (provided by) Spanco, and my firm stance against Spanco (dates back to) when I used to be finance minister – investigate them.
“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.
The prime minister added that, despite a historical absence of political will to take action against the company, his administration is now dedicated to addressing such cases.
In the past, Berjaya Group founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan had filed a lawsuit against Spanco and the Malaysian government, led at the time by former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The lawsuit pertained to the termination of Berjaya’s letter of intent (LoI) for a vehicle fleet concession, which was subsequently awarded to Spanco.
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 the government under Muhyiddin’s leadership.
The PN government 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.
Last month, Scoop reported that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission 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 and/or associates commit corruption for the benefit of the organisation. – February 5, 2024