MACC detains tech firm CEO for undelivered project

KUALA LUMPUR: A 56-year-old chief executive officer of a company was detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in connection with a uCustoms project.

He was detained on Friday (Oct 1) night after going to the MACC to assist an investigation.

MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Azam Baki confirmed the arrest.

The suspect, who was brought to the Putrajaya's Magistrate's Court for remand proceedings on Saturday (Oct 2), was represented by lawyers Daljit Singh and Nicholas Mark Pereira.

"He has been remanded for six days," said Daljit.

He added that his client's company would issue a statement soon.

The uCustoms project was recently mentioned in the Auditor-General's report.

What was supposed to be a cost-savings system resulted in a RM273mil loss for the government instead.

The Customs Department's "uCustoms" project, which kicked off in 2013, was meant to be a modern online system to increase work efficiency and save costs.

However, seven years on and five extensions later, the million-ringgit project has yet to materialise.

The Auditor-General's 2019 report (Series 2) found that RM273mil in payments were made for the project but the system supposed to replace the one in use since 1995 was never completed.

Out of 3,876 deliverables, only 1,056 or 27.2% had been received by the Customs Department, while only three out of 70 main modules had been completed and were operational.

"Overall, it can be summed up that the development of the uCustoms system failed to be completed within seven years and two months (86 months), even after five extensions of time (EOT) were given.

"A total of RM272.99mil was paid to suppliers and the project management office while a liquidated ascertained damages (LAD) of RM55,650 had been imposed.

"A notice of LAD charges amounting to RM3.94mil was issued on Dec 31, 2020, for EOT 3 and EOT 4 to Company 374044-H," the report said.