A RM50 million e-mail project is stirring up controversy but the company driving it insists it is not facing any financial problems.
KUALA LUMPUR: A local IT company, which is spearheading Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s RM50 million dream of providing 1Malaysia e-mail account to every Malaysian aged 18 and above, has denied it is facing financial problems.
Tricubes Bhd insists that the project, scheduled to be up and ready by July, is a private funding initiative (PFI) and therefore private-sector driven.
“The Malaysia Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu) is the appointed government facilitator for this project.
“It will be privately driven by Tricubes, and therefore no taxpayers’ money is involved,” Tricubes CEO Khairun Zainal Mokhtar said in a statement today.
“The 1Malaysia e-mail project is the sixth EPP (Entry Point Project) listed under the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).”
A Tricubes public relations executive Farah Ibrahim also insisted that the company is not in poor financial shape despite in danger of being delisted from Bursa Malaysia due to financial irregularities.
The little-known ACE-listed company triggered Bursa Malaysia Securities’ Guidance Note 3 (GN3) last year when auditors “expressed a modified opinion with emphasis on Tricubes’ going concern in the latest audited financial statements for the financial year ending March 31, 2010”.
When asked how Tricubes was chosen for the project, Farah said that the firm had gained the government’s trust over the years mainly through its work with Maybank and the Royal Malaysian Police.
“It (e-mail) is a good project to have,” Farah said. “And it’s our own investment, our own resources, blood, sweat and toil.”
Tricubes project manager Amir Shariffuddin said the e-mail venture was mainly to allow direct and secure communications between citizens and the government.
It will also supply value-added e-government services such delivery of notices and bills and disseminating government announcements.
“If there are workshops or events, the announcement can come straight to one’s inbox,” Amir said.
Tricubes is unable to reveal all the details of its business model for the 1Malaysia e-mail project, but it has underlined key strategies to ensure commercial viability, including advertising and future e-service transactions. - FMT
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