1BestariNet certified as successfully completed, says YTL Power

 

YTL Power International Bhd said its subsidiary was selected for the project because of its technically compliant and most cost-effective bid. (YTL pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

YTL Power International Bhd has come to the defence of its subsidiary YTL Communications Sdn Bhd which was raided by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) earlier today in its probe into the 1BestariNet project.

YTL Power said the project, which ended on June 30, 2019, had been certified by the education ministry as having been successfully completed at the end of the contract period.

“The 1BestariNet project was awarded to YTL Communications in 2011 by the education ministry, pursuant to an open tender involving 19 companies that tendered bids for the project.

YTL Communications was selected for being the most technically compliant and most cost-effective bid,

 it said in a statement.

The company did not confirm whether its subsidiary’s office was raided by the graft busters, instead saying MACC had merely 

requested information from YTL Communications

 regarding 1BestariNet.

The utilities arm of YTL Corporation Bhd maintained that YTL Communications would fully cooperate with the MACC probe, and 

trusts that the matter will be satisfactorily resolved

.

Earlier, an MACC source said the anti-graft agency raided YTL Communication’s Kuala Lumpur office and a government office today, as part of an investigation into the RM4 billion 1BestariNet project.

The source said several documents were seized in the raids and that several witnesses would be summoned to assist in the probe.

The investigation was focussed on the submission of false claims involving about RM2.7 billion, said the source, adding that the MACC was also looking into elements of 

other crimes

.

MACC investigation division senior director Hishamuddin Hashim confirmed the probe and raids when contacted.

The controversial 1BestariNet project, initiated in 2011 by Muhyiddin Yassin as the education minister then, had been awarded to YTL Communications.

The mega project, designed to provide connectivity and a learning platform for teachers, students and parents, was often criticised for poor internet service.

In 2019, then education minister Maszlee Malik decided not to extend YTL Communications’s contract.

He said the decision was based on several in-depth studies conducted by independent and professional bodies with authority on the matter, including the auditor-general and the Public Accounts Committee.

He also claimed Muhyiddin had pushed then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for his (Maszlee’s) resignation as education minister over YTL Communications’s contract. - FMT