Zafrul said he does not know whether Muhyiddin has interest in the companies as it was not disclosed to him. He was also not informed that Bersatu would receive contributions from the companies in the list.
KUALA LUMPUR (July 6): Dozens of contractors were given contracts under Jana Wibawa programme without tender under the order of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin when he was the prime minister.
Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, who was the finance minister under the Muhyiddin administration, testified at the High Court on Monday that the list of 54 Jana Wibawa contractors came directly from the Prime Minister’s Office without bidding process and competition with other Bumiputera contractors.
“I do not know how the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) made the evaluation or how the companies were chosen for which project,” he said. “I also verify that the list was by the PMO and not the Finance Ministry.”
Zafrul was reading out his written testimony as the 11th prosecution witness in Muhyiddin’s abuse of power and money laundering trial involving the programme formally known as Jana Ekonomi Empowerment of Bumiputera Contractors to pump-prime the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The programme was meant to help Bumiputera contractors by speeding up implementation of government projects.
One of the projects under Jana Wibawa was given to KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd to build a new road connecting Felda Bukit Jalor, Gemas worth RM100 million. KCJ Engineering is one of the companies which has been alleged to have funnelled RM800,000 to Bersatu where Muhyiddin is the president.
Zafrul said he does not know whether Muhyiddin has interest in the companies as it was not disclosed to him. He was also not informed that Bersatu would receive contributions from the companies in the list.
“I verify that I have not received any contribution from any of the 54 listed companies,” Zafrul said. “I have no knowledge of whether the 54 companies had given contributions to any political party or not.”
Zafrul also testified that neither he nor the Cabinet was informed that Bersatu would receive money from KCJ Engineering.
KCJ Engineering was initially rejected
He also noted that neither KCJ Engineering nor any other companies submitted any application to him or the Finance Ministry for the road construction project.
Instead, there was an accompanying letter by Datuk Dr Marzuki Mohamad, Muhyiddin’s chief private secretary, addressed to Datuk Wan Murtadza Wan Mahmud, the senior private secretary of Zafrul at the Finance Ministry.
Titled “Proposal to appoint 54 contractors for the implementation of the 54 projects under the Jana Wibawa project via direct negotiation (design and built) dated Nov 13, 2020”, the letter was forwarded to the Government Procurement Division within the Ministry of Finance.
"I know Marzuki personally, being the chief private secretary to Muhyiddin, and this (his) letter, containing the list of contractors dated Nov 13, 2020, was annexed with Muhyiddin's letter dated the same day and titled, "Proposal to appoint 54 contractors for 54 projects under the Jana Wibawa programme via direct negotiations (design and build)"," he added.
A memorandum for the Felda road project was subsequently submitted to the ministry for consideration, he said, which stipulated that the project be implemented via conventional direct negotiations, in accordance with Muhyiddin's letter. But the Finance Ministry's procurement's initial evaluation at the time recommended that KCJ Engineering not be selected for the project, following a meeting on Dec 15, 2020.
However, the decision was reversed after a second evaluation meeting was conducted on Feb 26, 2021, following the receipt of additional information from the PMO in a letter dated Feb 13, 2021, Zafrul said.
“Hence approval was given by the Finance Ministry via direct negotiations," the former minister said, adding the ministry then issued a memorandum dated March 9, 2021 for the appointment of a contractor on a direct negotiation basis for the Felda road project. Three days later, KCJ Engineering was approved as the conractor to implement the project for a period of 34 months at an approved costs of RM62 million, down from RM100 million initially.
The agreement to appoint KCJ Engineering as per Muhyiddin's suggestion was then signed in July 2021, Zafrul said.
Under Jana Wibawa, the Finance Ministry only acted as the ‘executor’ to finalise the appointment to ensure the conditions were met, he added.