MACC: Probe on Asia Mobility project ongoing

PUTRAJAYA: Investigations are currently underway on how Asia Mobility Technologies Sdn Bhd (Asia Mobiliti) was appointed to participate in Selangor’s Demand-Responsive Transit (DRT) project.

“Investigations are still ongoing, and the area on which we are focusing is the procedure for how contracts are awarded,” said Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.

Azam, who spoke to reporters after attending a book launch ceremony by Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M), also reiterated that the MACC did not find Asia Mobiliti’s involvement in the Selangor DRT project in any way connected to the Youth and Sports Ministry or its minister, Hannah Yeoh.

Asia Mobiliti’s founder and chief executive officer Ramachandran Muniandy is Yeoh’s husband, and the awarding of the DRT contract to his company has raised a furore, with many demanding that the Selangor state government explain why the contract was awarded to a Pakatan Harapan elected representative’s spouse.

MCA Youth had urged the MACC to conduct an open and transparent investigation into the DRT project and they submitted a memorandum on the matter to the MACC on June 6.

MCA Youth requested that the MACC investigate whether the Selangor government had conducted an appropriate cost and feasibility assessment to approve and carry out the project and had 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 to Asia Mobiliti by the state government and not by Yeoh’s ministry.

Yeoh had subsequently, on June 1, said she welcomed the probe into Asia Mobiliti, which had merely provided a proof of concept (POC) for the DRT project.

Asia Mobiliti had also issued a statement earlier that the contract was only for nine months and the POC was to prove its capability of running the DRT project.On a separate issue, Azam said that 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 surrender himself,” he said.

Azam said the MACC 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 that several criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges had been prepared to be levelled against Muhammad Adlan.

However, because he was out of the country, the businessman could not face charges.

On Aug 9, last year, Muhammad Adlan’s lawyer, Datuk Dr Baljit Singh Sidhu, denied that his client was trying to evade the authorities.

Baljit had said his client categorically rejected the allegation that he was “a fugitive on the run”.