PETALING JAYA: Youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh says she is leaving it to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to probe into the Selangor government’s appointment of her husband’s firm to run a public transport service in the state.
Yeoh said she welcomed the MACC’s probe into the Selangor demand-responsive transit (DRT) issue, adding that “Malaysia deserves nothing less” than the truth.
“Now that the probe has started, I want to see truth and vindication come out of this investigation,” she said in a Facebook post.
She also said it would not be proper for her to comment as it may be construed as an interference with the ongoing investigation.
“In fact it was for this reason I had not said anything sooner as in my view the best way forward in dealing with such claims is to leave it to the relevant authorities to investigate them,” she said.
Yeoh had declined to comment when asked by reporters yesterday on the controversy, saying that it “has nothing to do with the youth and sports ministry, and this is a youth and sports ministry event”.
She was speaking then to reporters at the youth and sports ministry here after launching the Sport Satellite Account 2022, an accounting system that provides detailed information on the sports industry and measures its contribution to the nation’s economy.
Various parties have highlighted the possibility of preferential treatment and conflict of interest in the selection of Asia Mobility Technologies Sdn Bhd (Asia Mobiliti), which is headed by Yeoh’s husband, M Ramachandran, as one of two firms to run a nine-month proof of concept (POC) for a DRT project.
Yesterday, it was reported that the MACC was investigating new leads into a Selangor government contract to a company co-founded by the husband of a Cabinet minister.
An MACC source said recent complaints and information received by the anti-graft agency had led to new leads being discovered, with investigations ongoing to determine the authenticity of this information.
The investigation comes after MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki previously said the agency did not find any wrongdoing in the preliminary investigation. He said further investigations could be pursued based on new leads.
Yesterday, Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari said he was open to disclosing the complete details of Asia Mobiliti’s appointment and minutes of the meetings involving the Land Public Transport Agency.
