‘FORGED’ MAT SABU SIGNATURES
Officials to forward documents to police to probe attempts to dupe govt agencies
THREE more bogus recommendation letters to secure contracts with forged signatures of the defence minister have allegedly surfaced.
This has brought to five the total number of fake documents unearthed to date.
It is learnt that officials were expected to forward the documents to police to probe attempts by local companies to dupe the ministry’s agencies.
The fake documents were related to three local firms which were attempting to push their bids in the past several months.
“It could well be the tip of an iceberg as more such documents are expected to surface as the government attempts to clean up the ministry,” said a source.
Yesterday, Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu’s special functions officer Rafizal Ali lodged a report at the Wangsa Maju police station on two recommendation letters purportedly issued by the minister in an attempt to secure defence contracts.
It came just a week after the ministry was rocked with news of improper land swap deals involving private concerns.
Last Tuesday, Mohamad had revealed that the ministry had suffered half a billion ringgit losses in a land swap deal involving development projects approved by the previous Barisan Nasional government.
In his police report, Rafizal divulged that he became aware of the fake letters — allegedly approved for the supply of furniture and bus services to agencies under the ministry — on Feb 12.
The first letter dated Dec 9 last year was from a company that sought Mohamad’s recommendation to supply RM3 milllion worth of furniture to the Armed Forces in Kelantan and Perak.
“The letter contained Mohamad’s signature, official stamp and an instruction note purportedly supporting the company,” said Rafizal.
He said the second letter was dated Jan 17 for a Kedah firm to provide a five-year bus service contract, for an undisclosed amount, for military camps.
“After obtaining relevant information, we discovered that both were forged letters. The defence minister had never issued any such support letter.
“The signature, official stamp and instruction note in the letter were not from the minister’s office,” he said.
Wangsa Maju district police chief Superintendent Noor Azmi Yusoff confirmed the report.
“We have been informed that several individuals outside the ministry were involved in the act. We have given their names to the police to facilitate investigations,” added Rafizal.