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KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee is ready to investigate three issues, namely, the land exchange involving the Ministry of Defense, the Automated Execution System (AES) and the 1Bestarinet system, starting on November 30.
PAC President Wong Kah Woh (pix) said the Government, Procurement and Research Committee (JKSTUPKK) pointed out the problems to him.
He said that during Monday’s meeting with JKSTUPKK, their boss, Tan Sri Ambrin Buang, who was the former auditor general, briefed them on all three issues.
He said that PAC was of the opinion that these three proceedings were worth pursuing against them.
The committee was created in May 2018 to investigate the acquisition and purchase of assets by the ministries in terms of misappropriation, abuse of power or any financial waste.
At a press conference, Wong said that JKSTUPKK had investigated 16 land swap deals involving 2,923 acres of government land valued at RM4.8 billion.
He said the land swap agreements resulted in the government suffering losses due to inconsistent land valuations and cases where political considerations prevailed over defense interests.
“The land swap was a method used to develop the facilities of the Ministry of Defense financed through the swap of federal lands with the private sector.
“It is intended to meet development allocation requirements that are deemed insufficient for plans to upgrade and build new military facilities,” he said.
Wong said the PAC will begin its procedures on the land exchange by calling the first witness, the Secretary General of the Defense Ministry on November 30 and then decide which other witnesses should be called.
Regarding the AES, he said the problem was that the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) had paid RM555 million to take over the concession when the previous concessionaire had only invested RM40 million in the project.
He said that JKSTUPKK investigated the reasons behind LTAT’s decision to invest such a large sum in the acquisition of the AES company.
The AES project is an initiative of the law enforcement system that aims to tackle the problem of traffic accidents in the country.
It was implemented by the Ministry of Transport through subcontracting.
LTAT is a statutory body established by an act of Parliament, Act 101, in 1973 to provide retirement and other benefits to members of other ranks and a savings plan for officers of the armed forces.
At the 1BestariNet System Services Project, Wong said that JKSTUPKK found weaknesses and negligence in the implementation of the project that led to its objectives not being met.
He said that the RM2.71 billion project was implemented by the Ministry of Education for eight years, from 2011 to 2019.
He said the project aimed to provide some 10,000 schools across the country with high-speed 4G internet access and a virtual learning platform or virtual learning environment.
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