PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin has denied an allegation linked to a lucrative contract said to have been awarded to his son-in-law.
“I strongly deny this. This is a malicious lie created to smear my image and that of my family,” he said in a statement.
Muhyiddin said he was never involved in the awarding of the National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe) contract to IRIS Corporation Bhd, for which there had been an open tender.
He also said that the awarding of the contract was done in accordance with the government’s standard procedures and it was supervised by the finance ministry and other relevant ministries.
Muhyiddin said he had no say when it came to such matters.
He also stressed that none of his family members had any vested interest in IRIS Corporation, be it as a shareholder or company director.
“So how is it that my family members and I have been accused of abuse of power?”
Muhyiddin believed that the claim was part of a series of allegations being made by the current unity government.
Yesterday, FMT reported that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was investigating the award of the contract to Muhyiddin’s son-in-law Adlan Berhan.
Adlan was named in media reports in 2020 as being linked and possibly a key player in the contract for the NIISe. He was alleged to have links to one of the project’s frontrunners, security solutions provider S5 Holdings Inc, according to a report in The Vibes.
However, S5 group managing director Syed Mohammad Hafiz Jamalullail was reported by The Edge as saying in 2021 that none of his political connections, including Adlan, was involved in S5.
The NIISe was reportedly mooted by Muhyiddin when he was the home minister in the Pakatan Harapan government, after the Sistem Kawalan Imigresen Nasional was cancelled by him because of high costs.
Estimates put NIISe’s cost at about RM1.2 billion, about 66% less than the RM3.5 billion estimated for the former project.
Previously, Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi tried to suggest that Muhyiddin’s son-in-law might be the unnamed relative mentioned by Anwar Ibrahim when the prime minister was talking about cronies and relatives being awarded lucrative contracts.
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