YTL Power's shares fall over 7% amid MACC investigations into 1Bestarinet payment claims

KUALA LUMPUR: YTL Power Bhd's share price dove over 7% as it opened for Thursday trading following reports that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was questioning its subsidiary's payment claims for the Education Ministry's RM4bil school Internet project.

The company's stock slumped as much as 28 sen to RM3.61 a share and was one of the most actively traded counters on Bursa Malaysia with over 12 million shares transacted in the first half-hour of trading.

The project in question, called 1Bestarinet, was aimed at providing high-speed internet access to 10,000 schools nationwide and implementing a cloud-based virtual learning environment (VLE).

Following an open tender process involving 19 companies, the project was awarded to YTL Communications Bhd in 2011.

However, national newswire Bernama reported yesterday that the MACC had launched investigations into the payment claims for the project's service tender, and conducted raids at government offices as well as YTL Comm's office.

The sources informed Bernama that several documents were seized, and the MACC is currently reviewing them to identify potential witnesses for the investigation.

YTL Power said in a stock exchange filing yesterday to confirm the MACC had recently requested information from YTL Comms in respect of the 1Bestarinet project, and it was providing its full cooperation to the anti-corruption agency.

It said YTL Comms had in 2011 secured the 1Bestarinet project for submitting the most technically compliant and cost-effective bid.

"The project was certified by the Ministry of Education as being successfully completed at the end of the contract period on June 30, 2019," it said in the filing.