PUTRAJAYA: Investigations into the Selangor Demand-Responsive Transit (DRT) project will focus on how the project was awarded, says top anti-graft buster Tan Sri Azam Baki.
"Investigations are still ongoing, and the area we are focusing on is the procedures on how contracts are awarded," said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner after attending a book launch by Transparency International Malaysia on Thursday (June 13).
However, he reiterated that the MACC had not found any connection to the Youth and Sports Ministry or its minister Hannah Yeoh with regards to the award of the contract.
Asia Mobility Technologies Sdn Bhd’s (Asia Mobiliti) participation in the DRT had caused a public uproar with several quarters demanding that the Selangor government reveal how the firm had been awarded the project.
The MACC had previously said that they were looking at the process used by the Selangor government in awarding the project to the company where Yeoh’s husband is the chief executive officer.
MCA Youth had previously urged the MACC to make an open and transparent investigation into the DRT project.
On June 6, MCA Youth submitted a memorandum to an MACC representative detailing the actions they had urged the commission to take.
It wanted the MACC, among other things, to investigate whether the Selangor government had carried out an appropriate cost and feasibility assessment to approve and carry out this project.
MCA Youth also lodged a police report over the DRT project on May 29.
Azam had previously said there was no wrongdoing as the project was awarded by the state government, not Yeoh’s ministry.
Yeoh had on June 1 said she welcomed the probe into Asia Mobiliti, which provided a proof of concept (POC) for the DRT project.
On another issue, Azam said there has yet to be any progress in tracing the whereabouts of businessman Datuk Seri Muhammad Adlan Berhan, who is believed to have gone abroad.
"He has made no attempt to contact the MACC or contact us to surrender himself," he said.
MACC, he said, is working with Interpol and other enforcement authorities to locate Muhammad Adlan, who is the son-in-law of former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
On Feb 22, Azam said several criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges had been prepared for Muhammad Adlan.
However, the businessman could not be charged as he was absent from the country.
On Aug 9 last year, Muhammad Adlan's lawyer Datuk Dr Baljit Singh Sidu denied that his client was trying to evade authorities.
Baljit said his client categorically rejected that he was "a fugitive on the run."
