KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 19): Sunway Construction Group Bhd (KL:SUNCON) said on Tuesday that the company and its subsidiaries have been spared from an ongoing anti-graft probe targeting one of its employees.
The company received an official written confirmation on Aug 18 from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) that its investigations focus solely on the personal conduct of the individual concerned and it remains an isolated case, Sunway Construction said in an exchange filing.
The agency also confirmed that Sunway Construction and its subsidiaries avoided Section 17A of the MACC Act 2009 that spells out corporate liability if an employee commits bribery on behalf of the organisation.
“The board takes this matter with utmost seriousness and remains steadfast in its commitment to the highest standards of integrity, transparency and governance across all levels of operations,” Sunway Construction added.
Sunway Construction said separately that the employee in question has been terminated while awaiting investigation by authorities.
Further, the company said it has initiated a comprehensive audit and review of its tendering procedures to identify and address any procedural gaps across its operations to strengthen internal controls and safeguard against misconduct involving employees or subcontractors.
"We want to assure stakeholders that the integrity of SunCon’s operations remains intact and uncompromised," said Sunway Construction managing director Liew Kok Wing.
Liew also said the company has further enhanced its internal controls following MACC’s review to ensure project delivery is not affected.
The announcements followed Sunway Construction’s disclosure on July 21 that the MACC had initiated an inquiry against the employee in relation to engagements with unnamed subcontractors.
At the time, the company stressed that the inquiry did not concern how the group secures contracts from its clients and that the matter had no financial or operational impact on the group.
The MACC arrested a manager of an unidentified construction company, his wife, and two other men in the Klang Valley in an operation dubbed Op Ways launched in July to look into alleged corruption involving a data centre construction project tender in Johor worth about RM180 million.
Two companies were suspected of securing data centre projects by bribing the contract manager, according to state news agency Bernama.
A raid at the manager’s Petaling Jaya residence uncovered about RM7.5 million in cash, luxury watches, jewellery and gold coins. The suspect was in the process of burning nearly RM1 million in cash when the raid occurred, Bernama reported.