Firm linked to works minister given RM15 billion highway contract, says Sarawak Report

Whistleblower site Sarawak Report says a lucrative road upgrading contract was given to a company with links to Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusuf. – Sarawak Report screenshot, May 1, 2015.

The RM15 billion Pan Borneo Highway road upgrading contract was directly awarded to a little-known company whose director is a nominee of the brother of Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusuf, said Sarawak Report.

In its latest exposé, the whistleblower site said Mohamad Zaidee Abang Hipni was a director and largest shareholder of Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd (LBU).

LBU was registered in 2011 and has no track record in construction, Sarawak opposition leader and Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen said recently.

Sarawak Report said Mohamad Zaidee was brought into the company on December 2 last year, and quit his post as Petra Energy Berhad financial director the next day.

It said that Mohamad Zaidee was "a long-standing employee" of Tan Sri Bustari Yusuf, Fadillah's brother, who is a major shareholder of Petra Energy and a close associate of former chief minister Tan Sri Taib Mahmud.

Sarawak Report said two companies that have shares in LBU are Multimur Resources Sdn Bhd and Jalinan Rejang Sdn Bhd.

"Mohamad Zaidee Abang Hipni owns 40% of Multimur Resources, which in turn owns 55% of Lebuhraya Borneo Utara, meaning he owns 22%% of the overall company. There are six other beneficial owners," it said.

Prior to Petra Energy, the whistleblower site said that Mohamad Zaidee worked for many years at Obyu Holding Sdn Bhd, a Sarawak-based investment company it said was controlled by Bustari.

"YB Chong’s complaint that this was a crony contract is therefore clearly borne out, despite the chorus of condemnation by BN allies of the Yusuf brothers," said Sarawak Report in reference to Chong, who triggered a commotion in the recent Sarawak assembly seating over his questions on the project.

"How otherwise can it be explained that the long-term employee of the brother of the minister of public works stepped down to take over a new and little-known company just weeks before it was confirmed that the minister had awarded that company a massive surprise contract of this nature?

"Why would Mohd Zaidee Abang Hipni take such a risk, resigning from a good job after working for two decades for Mr Bustari Yusuf in order to move in charge of a new company with no track record in anything, unless there was something he knew?

"Should not this former employee be required to demonstrate first that he was not acting on insider knowledge and according to a plan? And second, to prove that he is not in fact still working for Mr Bustari?"

The site added that Bustari was close to Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the wife of prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Citing insiders, Sarawak Report said Rosmah and Bustari formed a close friendship years ago when they both worked for developer Island Peninsular Berhad.

The site also said that one of Najib's brothers, Datuk Mohamed Nizam Razak, was one of the substantial shareholders of Petra Energy.

Sarawak Report also quoted a statement by Sarawak Building and Civil Engineering Contractors Association (SBCECA), which had expressed its concerns over the closed-door nature of awarding contracts, saying that it seemed to inflate costs by at least 30%.

“SBCECA urges the government to ensure all future projects are openly tendered and awarded to the lowest qualified tenderer in a transparent manner,” its chairman Lau Kah King said in a statement.

“Open tenders will save the government at least 30% in construction cost. ‘Selected tenders’ and direct negotiation procurement methods not only cost more to the government, it also doesn’t guarantee timely completion and better quality."

- TMI