Lucrative VEP contract: Liow oblivious of MCA colleague's interest
Former transport minister Liow Tiong Lai was unaware that his fellow party member was a shareholder of a firm that won a lucrative contract from his ministry in 2015, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) heard.
According to the transcript of the PAC's hearing on March 27, 2019, Liow was asked whether, as the transport minister, he knew that Tanjung Piai MP Wee Jeck Seng owned a 25 percent stake at the time when TCSens Sdn Bhd won the lucrative reciprocal charge-vehicle entry permit (RC/VEP) contract.
At the material time, Liow (photo, above) was the president of MCA while Wee was an elected central committee member of the party.
"I don't have knowledge of the shareholders in the company (at the time). We didn't dwell into that," Liow testified.
He said that the decision to award the contract to TCSens was not his alone and that the Transport Ministry's technical committee had vetted the company's proposal and it had received the green light from the finance minister.
At the time, the finance minister was Najib Abdul Razak, who was also prime minister.
Wee had a 25 percent stake in TCSens, which won the right to the RM145 million contract to implement a system to collect RM20 from Singaporean vehicles entering Malaysia.
Liow's knowledge of Wee's involvement in TCSens was raised by Wong Kah Woh (DAP-Ipoh Timur) who went on to suggest that it would be prudent for a minister to run a background check on a company vying for such a lucrative contract.
To this, Liow said that his concern was whether the company could do the job.
"As long as they match our requirement... (and) would be able to implement that (project)," he said.
Wong Hon Wai (DAP-Bukit Bendara) then asked whether the federal government's policy at the time allowed for backbenchers to have a stake in a company vying for a government contract without an open tender process.
"Mr Chairperson (Ronald Kiandee, Bersatu-Beluran), I am not aware of this policy but I think that the question was posed in bad faith - to reach a conclusion that will affect my image and also my integrity in performing my duties as a minister.
"If that happens, I reserve my right to take legal action," Liow said.
Hon Wai pressed Liow further, but Kiandee eventually put a stop to it, saying that the finance minister was the appropriate person to answer that question.
Wee was called as a witness on Sept 3, 2019. At the time, he was not the Tanjung Piai MP because he lost the seat during the 2018 general election. He won it back in the Tanjung Piai by-election on Nov 16, 2019.
Wee began his testimony by stressing that he was not involved in the TCSens operations and was only a sleeping partner. He said he was aware that his partner at TCSens - who he named as Kenneth Tan, a person he had known for more than a decade - was keen on bidding for government projects.
Wee said he knew another shareholder by the name of Roslan Ramli but not the other shareholder, Mizan Zaini.
"(They) told me before that they might take up government projects, but they have to 'fight' (compete). I told them 'you fight-lah' because that is a company matter, does not involve me. I'm a shareholder.
"It is up to the company to 'fight' and the 'fight' must follow proper government procedures," he said.
Wee said he was given an offer by Tan to invest 25 percent in an "IT company", so he forked up RM25,000 for the TCSens' paid-up capital of RM100,000.
"I trust my friends. That's all. I don't know business... He offered and I paid 25 percent and then, if we get something, God willing, we profit. That's all," he said.
Wee said he never benefited from the TCSens deal with the Transport Ministry and had, in fact, lost his RM25,000 investment by surrendering his stake, without any payment, sometime after the May 2018 election.
He said that by that time, TCSens was also losing money and had trouble paying the staff because the government had allegedly stopped paying the company.
Kiandee (PAC chairperson): Okay, you never received any benefit from the company?
Wee: No. Everything, no.
Kah Woh: Not even your RM25,000?
Wee: No.
Kah Woh: No?
Wee: Sudah rugi! (They lost money!)
Wee became increasingly irate and told the PAC chairperson that he was there to talk about the RC/VEP project and not about his personal dealings, prompting Kiandee to explain that the PAC was looking into the possibility of a conflict of interest.
Following this, Wee protested on grounds that the proceeding was done in bad faith at his expense.
"Are there MPs who are not in business? There are those in business. Why are you making assumptions about me? Ada salah sangka (You are jumping to conclusions)," he said, to which Kah Woh replied that the PAC was trying to establish the facts.
However, the PAC members pressed on. Wong Chen (PKR-Kelana Jaya, now renamed Subang) said since the company won an RM145 million contract, the valuation for the company would have been enormous and suggested that had Wee cashed in his shares, he should rightfully have made a fortune.
Wee said that after the 2018 election, TCSens approached him for more funds because it couldn't pay the staff and that was when he threw in the towel and returned his shares for free.
"I told them, I cannot do anything. Please lah, you take back. If you want to find someone else or funds, pandai-pandailah. He said the government wasn't paying. I cannot do anything," he said.
Wee assured the PAC he had never once arranged for a meeting between TCSens' officials and the transport minister, who at the time was Liow, the MCA president.
He also gave his assurance that TCSens was not involved in any corporate social responsibility programmes in the Tanjung Piai constituency.
The PAC members were not satisfied and kept prying, to which Wee eventually relented and said Tan had once asked for him to introduce him to corporate figures involved in the "One Belt, One Road" project.
At this point, the PAC members started to accuse Wee of being more than a "sleeping partner", to which Wee protested again, stressing that he has nothing to do with the company's operations and that he knew nothing about business.
When Wong Chen asked for Wee's educational background, the latter said he had a degree in business management but again insisted that he knew nothing about business because he was a full-time politician.
An eye on the Belt and Road initiative
The principal owner of TCSens, Kenneth Tan or Tan Chean Suan, testified before the PAC on Oct 23, 2019. He explained that his company responded to a request for proposal (RFP) on the RC/VEP project sometime between 2013 and 2014.
When PAC members pressed him on the RFP process - what the government targets or guidelines were and who TCSens submitted its proposal to, among other questions - Tan struggled to come up with an answer.
For instance, Tan said, he had submitted a proposal at a "JPJ" branch at an "old building" and could not recall who received it. He requested that he be allowed to refer to his company documents for an answer.
He said his company one day received an email from the government for a "proof of concept" demonstration and that was how he won the contract.
When Tan was asked, specifically, if he approached Liow with the proposal, Tan replied in the negative.
"I don't involve anything in MCA. I didn't enter MCA building before. So I am not - I don't know anybody in MCA," he said.
Tan would later confirm to the PAC that he got to know Wee a decade ago when the latter was the deputy youth and sports minister.
The PAC established that Tan was 28 when he started TCSens. Tan said he held a diploma and had been an active trader. In 2008 or 2009, he was a subcontractor supplying 15 million RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags for CD labels to the Home Ministry.
Asked why he invited Wee to join TCSens as a shareholder. Tan said it had to do with the Belt and Road initiative.
"We don't want to involve any so-called politics into business. So, we getting him in actually was not for this. We were trying to get, to ask him to introduce us to the Belt and Road business.
"This is because that time, Belt and Road is very famous then. We were trying to have more business overseas. So, we just asked to introduce us only. When he came in, he just came in as a sleeping partner, or sleeping shareholder," Tan said.
Steven Choong (PKR-Tebrau) was not convinced. He said no one would invest in a company without a track record and pointed out that Tan "only have a diploma", with no software engineering experience.
Choong: What potential has this company got? I don't see any potential.
Tan: Our potential is RFID. I've told you that we have such good technology. Good system. You see if you say about qualification, I disagree. How about those millionaires, for example, Jack Ma? He doesn't have a good education but he has a successful business. Yang Berhormat, you can't attack me as personal saying that my education is not good... Many businessmen, they have no good education but they have good ideas on business.
Tan said he explained the company's potential to Wee and the latter was convinced.
Asked about TCSens former shareholder Mizal, better known as celebrity AC Mizal, Tan said he did not know that the former joined Umno in 2011.
He said that he got to know Mizal through Roslan because the duo had children who went to the same school.
The PAC eventually concluded that the RC/VEP project did not warrant the award of a contract without open tender.
They also concluded that there was political influence in the award of the contract and urged the MACC to investigate the matter.
DAP Youth lodged a police report yesterday urging the police to take action.
The full PAC report can be accessed here.
