KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 16): The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has opened an investigation paper into an agreement between the federal government and a foreign company, estimated to be worth RM1.1 billion.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Seri Ahmad Khusairi Yahya confirmed the matter with The Edge when contacted but declined to comment further.
A source from MACC said that on Feb 13, the commission had obtained several documents related to the agreement from the Ministry of Economy.
The commission is expected to call in several witnesses, including the ministry’s secretary-general, the source said.
Former Minister of Economy Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli on the same day claimed that the MACC is preparing a raid on him.
A day earlier, the MACC confirmed that it had received a report from a number of NGOs regarding allegations of misappropriation involving an investment of RM1.11 billion linked to a former senior minister.
During Rafizi’s tenure as minister, the Ministry of Economy spearheaded a collaboration between the Malaysian government and UK-based ARM Holdings plc to bolster local semiconductor design capabilities and ultimately produce Malaysia's own graphics processing unit (GPU) chips within five to seven years.
The agreement was signed between the Malaysia Investment Development Authority (Mida), an agency under the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) and Arm.
Under the deal, Arm will provide Malaysia with intellectual property (IP) licences and compute subsystems (CSS) for US$250 million (RM1.11 billion), to be paid over ten years. In addition, Arm will collect royalties on chips sold.
According to a source within Miti who was involved in the ARM partnership agreement, the deal went through Miti in part due to its involvement in supporting the country’s semiconductor sector.
While the deal received Cabinet approval, Miti was “forced to conduct due diligence over the weekend” before the signing on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. “We scrambled to do the due diligence … The deal was forced upon us,” the Miti source said.