Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin has denounced allegations of wrongdoing surrounding the award of a vehicle fleet concession to Spanco Sdn Bhd, calling it part of a series of “character assassination” attempts to tarnish his reputation.
“To this day, this vile slander circulation in traditional and social media without complete details of how I’m involved in this matter and what had I done wrong.
“So is the previous allegation that I have supposedly swindled hundreds of billions in government funds, that has not been proven by my accusers to this day,” he said on Facebook last night.
Muhyiddin was prime minister between March 2020 and August 2021.
He pointed out that, unlike the current Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, he does not concurrently hold the finance portfolio and thus, has no involvement in the awarding of contracts since the matter was handled by the Finance Ministry.
“Don’t equate my position to that of the 10th prime minister (Anwar) who is also the finance minister. I know my position,” the Pagoh MP added.
Concession and lawsuit
Spanco had held the concession to procure and maintain the government's fleet of vehicles since 1993, but the contract expired in 2019 and an open tender was launched to award the contract for the next 15 years.
Berjaya Group and Naza Sdn Bhd formed a concession to bid for the contract and reportedly managed to secure a letter of intent (LOI) for the contract since it made the lowest bid.
However, the LOI was terminated in 2020 during Muhyiddin’s administration and the contract went to Spanco instead, despite the Naza-Berjaya consortium’s bid being RM700 million lower than Spanco’s offer.
Berjaya’s founder Vincent Tan took the Finance Ministry and Spanco to court over the matter last year.
Tan’s revelation prompted groups such as PKR’s Mahasiswa Keadilan Malaysia to lodge reports calling for an investigation against Muhyiddin.
On Thursday, MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said the agency had recorded a former finance minister’s statement as part of its investigation on the case.
He also said the minister had served from 2020 to 2021 without naming the minister, in an apparent reference to Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz who is currently the investment, trade and industry minister.
“We will call anyone, including former prime ministers and former ministers involved in authorising the project.
“Many witnesses have already been called, except for the former prime minister. I leave it to the investigators to decide when (if necessary) to call him,” Bernama quoted Azam as saying.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said in his statement last night that the government should explain why the LOI previously given by the earlier Pakatan Harapan administration had been cancelled.
“I believe the information is with the Finance Ministry. The date when the contract was awarded to Spanco should also be revealed,” he added. - Mkini
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