ALOR STAR: Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has questioned why the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is not investigating an individual who had lobbied on behalf of a company for a water treatment concession project in Kedah three years ago.
The Kedah menteri besar said this should be the focus of the anti-graft watchdog's attention instead of the Kedah Football Association (KFA).
Elaborating on the water concession issue, Sanusi claimed the company in question had wanted the state government to continue the concession.
The company, he claimed, had entrusted an individual to lobby for the concession renewal on their behalf.
"However, there was no direct deal (between the state government and the individual). We have no idea what promises the person had made to them (the company)," Sanusi told the New Straits Times when contacted.
For the record, the Kedah government did not renew the concession agreement for five water treatment plants in the state and a water supply concession for Langkawi island after they expired in 2020.
The decision not to renew the concessions for the two companies was announced by the then-Pakatan Harapan state government in early 2020.
The concessions for the water treatment plants on the Kedah mainland and the water supply to Langkawi expired in July and November 2020, respectively.
On Sunday, Sanusi had claimed that the company had donated RM6 million to the KFA in hopes of securing the contract's renewal. However, he said the state government did not renew the contract as it was too costly.
The company had then demanded for the RM6 million to be returned.
Commenting further, Sanusi, who is also KFA president, stressed that MACC should be questioning the individual who was appointed by the company concerned, instead of KFA officials.
"They (MACC) should have arrested the individual who had scammed the company, not the trio (the KFA officials).
"They (the KFA officials) were arrested and are publicly shamed just because they are my friends.
"The objective is to paint a bad image of me. This has nothing to do with corruption but merely to create a (bad) perception," he claimed.
Sanusi was responding to a report earlier today that MACC would be summoning him over claims of graft involving over RM6 million.
Sources claimed that MACC launched the probe after receiving a report from a contractor who had claimed to have been promised contracts in the state if funds were channelled into the football association's account.
"Based on investigation, there is an important high-positioned individual in the state government and in the football association who had promised to grant construction projects and services as a return to the contractors for channeling funds.
"However, after these contractors had done so to the football association's account, they did not receive any projects as promised by the individual involved," the source was quoted as saying.
The source had claimed that the contractor, believing he had been cheated, subsequently lodged a report to the MACC.
MACC Investigation Division senior director Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hashim had confirmed that the MACC would be calling up the menteri besar as part of the probe.
On Friday, it was reported that the MACC had remanded KFA chief executive officer Zulkifli Che Haron and three individuals, including two consultants aged between 40 and 60 years, to assist in the investigation of a case involving solicitation and acceptance of bribes amounting to RM6 million.
The funds were allegedly a reward for helping a company owner secure construction project tenders for a race track and projects to manage, operate, and maintain five water treatment facilities in Kedah.
Sanusi had previously claimed that the issue stemmed from the Kedah government's decision to not renew a company's water concession project despite the company having paid RM6 million to the KFA.
He had also claimed that he was the real target of the MACC.
