KUALA LUMPUR – Putrajaya remains in business with vehicle fleet management company Spanco Sdn Bhd, amid ongoing probes by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on graft allegations.
The Finance Ministry in a written reply said that as of now, the government’s contract with Spanco remains in effect.
“The government always ensures that the procurement contract for Spanco to supply, maintain and manage the government’s vehicle fleets is executed as needed as well as complies with procedures and due diligence,” the ministry said.
The written answer was to Lim Lip Eng (Kepong-PH) who asked a parliamentary question dated March 12. A copy of the answer was shared by the DAP lawmaker this morning.
Last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also finance minister, said that the government’s agreement with Spanco was harming the nation.
“I don’t know what is wrong (about Spanco), but I know that it’s not right. I know that it is detrimental to the nation, and I know civil servants are not happy with it,” he said then.
Spanco’s contracts with the government in the late 1990s are being investigated by the graft busting agency, who have in turn recorded the statement of a former finance minister, who held office between 2020 and 2021.
Spanco and the Malaysian government are being sued by Berjaya Group founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan for termination of its letter of intent (LoI) for a vehicle-fleet concession and awarding it to another company.
The termination took place under the administration of then prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (Pagoh-PN).
The LoI, which had been offered to Berjaya Group and Naza Group by the preceding Pakatan Harapan federal government, was cancelled in 2020 after Perikatan Nasional (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.
Scoop earlier 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.
Sources told Scoop that the operation was a continuation of the graft busters’ ongoing investigation, which started in July 2023.
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 same matter.
Sources also said the businessman was a proxy for a tycoon who was now also being investigated by the MACC regarding allegations of corruption and money laundering based on information from the Pandora Papers. – March 19, 2024