KUALA LUMPUR – The Transport Ministry (MoT) has lodged a police report against news portal Sabahkini2 for publishing an allegedly defamatory article that linked its secretary-general to the awarding of projects under the ministry through direct negotiation.
In a statement issued today, the ministry refuted the claim and said it will seek legal advice in pursuing the next course of action.
It said it is the Finance Ministry that is responsible for approving procurement through direct negotiations.
“The tender on ‘Perolehan 10 Set (6 Car) Electric Train Set (ETS) Baharu’ was advertised on January 23, 2020. After the tender period was closed, only three tenderers submitted proposals and the Tender Evaluation Report was presented to the Procurement Board on June 23, 2020.
“The tenderers did not achieve passing marks in the financial and technical evaluations because they did not meet the criteria set out in the tender document,” it said.
As such, it said, the government proposed direct negotiations, since the process for re-tendering would take time, as well as the difficulty in getting companies that are registered under the train manufacturing category.
It said the government set the department’s estimate for the project procurement at RM587 million, but the procurement through direct negotiation with the company that was awarded the contract was RM456 million, a saving of RM131 million.
The statement was issued following a report by Sabahkini2 on April 1 last year with the title “Dulu di Motac disiasat SPRM, kini di MoT KSU buat ‘Runding Terus KTMB’ untuk kroni?” (Investigated by Election Commission when at Motac, now secretary-general holds direct negotiations for KTMB at MoT for cronies?). – Bernama, April 7, 2021
