PAC slams govt for redacting names of responsible firms, ministers in report on AES speed trap cameras

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Wong Kah Woh today criticised the government for not fully declassifying the Special Investigation Committee on Public Governance, Procurement and Finance (JKSTUPKK) report on the Automated Enforcement System (AES).

Wong said that the act of declassifying the JKSTUPKK report was only done on July 8 this year, but that the names of the involved companies, Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd dan ATES Sdn Bhd, and ministers were redacted despite being public information.

“The act of blacking out part of the report that has nothing to do with aspects of national security or sensitive policies is clearly childish and demeaning to Parliament,” he said in a statement here.

On November 23 last year, PAC presented its report recommending that the JKSTUPKK report, which was considered "Top Secret", be declassified.

The PAC previously found the implementation of AES through outsourced companies inappropriate, saying that it should have been done by the Road Transport Department.

Wong called the government’s 2014 directive for the Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) to take over the two concession companies, Beta Tegap and ATES, an indirect bailout action by the government.

PAC also found that the terms of the contract were detrimental to the government as the total compensation paid by the government to LTAT amounted to RM668.9 million in 2019.

Datuk Seri Mohamed Arshad Raji, who heads the army veterans' group National Patriot Association, questioned the deal in 2020, saying that: "[The public] were never told why the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) was coerced into spending RM555 million in the AES project.”