KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will summoned former Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai over the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) system between Johor and Singapore.
This follows the findings of the Auditor-General’s Report 2017 (second series), which questioned the manner on how the system was awarded through direct negotiations instead of open tender.
PAC deputy chairman Wong Kah Woh told an online news portal that the meeting with Liow, who is also former MCA president, would be conducted in the middle of this month.
“We will discuss the awarding of the VEP system contract to a company called TCSens Sdn Bhd without an open tender,” Wong was quoted in the article.
According to the article, it is learnt that TCSens is linked to former MCA deputy secretary-general and former Tanjung Piai member of parliament Wee Jeck Seng.
In the Auditor-General’s Report 2017 presented in Parliament on Dec 3 last year, the audit also found a drastic hike in operational expenditure of the RM149.45 million system.
It was also reported that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was given assurance by Liow that the contractors were capable and had the expertise for the project.
However, it was later found that the contractors have only RM35.54 in their accounts, instead of the required RM2.3million.
Following the revelation of the Auditor-General’s Report, the said contractors produced written proof that they had RM3 million in their account.
The contractors also gave an undertaking, in which, they would bear the cost of the project until the VEP system goes operational two months after its launch.
The audit said the project involved two contracts, Capital Expenditure Contract (Capex), worth RM45.15 million, and Operational Expenditure Contract (Opex), worth RM104.3 million.
Auditors also found that The contractors have sub-contracted the Opex to a third party although they are not allowed to do so.
Other weaknesses found related to the system were that equipment worth RM4.07million, including cameras, barrier gates, fix readers were left uninstalled.