PETALING JAYA: Transparency International-Malaysia (TI) has urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to look into the cancellation of a Letter of Intent (LoI) for a government vehicle fleet management concession and the subsequent awarding of the contract to another company.
TI president Dr Muhammad Mohan said the offers by the Berjaya Group-Naza Group JV (joint-venture) and Spanco Sdn Bhd need to be explained as the difference in the tender prices is about RM400 million.
He questioned the rationale behind the revocation of the LoI after awarding it to the Berjaya Group-Naza Group JV (joint-venture).
“It is also important to look into what was stated in the LoI. Did the government include a clause allowing it to cancel at any time or was it done arbitrarily?”
Muhammad said it is of paramount importance that MACC ascertain what transpired to result in the cancellation of the LoI and if proper procedures were followed.
The Berjaya Group-Naza Group JV has since filed a suit against the Finance Ministry for terminating the LoI.
Berjaya Group founder and adviser Tan Sri Vincent Tan said yesterday the JV was selected to manage the fleet concession by the previous administration through an LoI issued in 2018.
Berjaya formed a 49:51 JV with Naza in 2018 to jointly bid for the contract. The deal reportedly involved around 12,500 vehicles, worth an estimated RM300 million annually starting after the fifth year.
Tan said the consortium had received the LoI from the Finance Ministry to replace Spanco as the fleet management provider.
The LoI was said to have been terminated three months after former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin took over from former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government.
“It (the government) terminated us and gave it to Spanco. The government agreed to spend RM700 million more (compared with the JV’s bid). The government thinks Berjaya and Naza are not good enough in the car business.
“We have filed a suit against (the) Finace Ministry and we are ready to go to court on this. You will hear more of this down the road,” he added.
According to Tan, the tender by the JV was the lowest among the other bidders and that stakes in the JV have since changed, with Berjaya now holding just 40%.
It was reported that Spanco has been maintaining the government’s vehicle fleet since 1994 and when its 25-year concession ended in December 2018, the government invited interested parties to submit a request-for-proposal.
Taiping MP Wong Kah Woh said the claims made by Tan were serious and showed non-compliance in the tender process by the government under Muhyiddin’s leadership.
Wong said in a statement that MACC needs to urgently investigate why the LoI was cancelled.
He said among the issues that must be looked into is the decision of the tender committee and the reasons behind the government’s non-compliance with the tender decision of 2019.
Wong, a former public accounts committee chairman, said the Muhyiddin-led government needs to justify its decision for awarding the contract to Spanco.
