KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki has denied accusing former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin of being involved in fleet management company Spanco Sdn Bhd.
He said this in response to Muhyiddin’s recent lashing out at allegations of his involvement in awarding government contracts to Spanco.
Pointing out that his previous statements on the matter were general in nature and did not directly implicate Muhyiddin in the ongoing investigation into Spanco, Azam questioned the former prime minister’s vehement denial.
“What does (Muhyiddin’s denial) mean actually? I was just making a statement (on the Spanco case) when I was asked (by the media) whether he (Muhyiddin) will be summoned (for his statement to be recorded),” Azam told reporters at Mersing, Johor today, as quoted by Sinar Harian.
“I said that I’m not denying (that Muhyiddin might be called up for his statement), but it depends on the MACC investigating officer. I never made the assumption (that Muhyiddin is involved in the Spanco case). It’s normal to address any possibility (in an MACC investigation).”
As such, Azam said it is up to the investigating officer in charge of the case to decide whether there is a need to record Muhyiddin’s statement
On February 23, Muhyiddin said that allegations of his involvement in the Spanco investigation are a series of character assassinations made by political enemies to sabotage his reputation.
He also said that the current administration should reveal why the letter of intent (LoI) given to another company by the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) government was axed.
“Do not simply throw accusations at me. As prime minister between March 2020 and August 2021, I was not involved in awarding any government contracts as they are managed by the Finance Ministry,” the Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman said in a statement.
His statement came after Azam confirmed that MACC had recorded the statement of a former finance minister who held office between 2020 and 2021, as part of the ongoing probe into Spanco.
However, Azam said the MACC had not called up the former prime minister who held office during the same period.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had previously said that the government’s agreement with Spanco was harming the nation – a stance he said he had stood by since his stint as finance minister in the 1990s.
Previously, Berjaya Group founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan had sued Spanco and the Malaysian government, then led by Muhyiddin, for terminating its LoI for a vehicle-fleet concession and awarding it to another company.
The LoI, which was offered to Berjaya Group and Naza Group’s joint venture company Cekap Urus Sdn Bhd under the then-PH federal government, was cancelled in 2020 after PN took over Putrajaya under Muhyiddin’s leadership.
The PN government had then 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 MACC 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.
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 matter. – February 25, 2024