Director’s remand over S’wak solar projects extended

PUTRAJAYA: A director of a Bintulu-based company had his remand period extended for another three days to facilitate investigations into alleged misappropriation in the awarding of contracts for solar hybrid projects at 369 rural schools in Sarawak.

Magistrate Shah Wira Abdul Halim extended the remand period of the 39year-old man starting today until July 6 to enable the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to conduct investigations.

On July 28, the man was arrested at the Putrajaya MACC headquarters at about 7.45 pm when he arrived at the MACC headquarters to give his statement and was remanded for five days from June 29 until yesterday.

The case is being investigated under Section 6 (a) (A) of the MACC Act 2009.

To date, three individuals are detained by the MACC to facilitate investigations into the case.

On June 27, the managing director of the company and its lawyer were remanded for six days to assist investigations into the case and their remand period, which expired on Monday, was extended until this Saturday.

In early June, an online portal reported the possibility of misappropriation in the awarding of the contracts for the solar hybrid projects, worth RM2.5 billion, in Sarawak which were allegedly awarded directly under the directive of a former Malaysia leader.

The leader had allegedly instructed the Education Ministry in January last year to appoint a car rental company in Bintulu to undertake the project in installing solar panels at 369 rural schools in Sarawak.

On June 11, Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik said the Ministry of Education had begun conducting an internal investigation to identify individuals involved in misappropriation of contract award for the supply of solar energy and diesel to 369 schools in Sarawak.

Some 369 schools in Sarawak are without fixed electricity supply and are only using diesel generators for electricity supply.

Prior to 2017, diesel was supplied to schools by contractors on a contract basis.

From Jan 1, 2017, Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd, which was originally one of the contractors involved, was granted the contract to supply electricity to all 369 schools for a period of three years until Dec 31, 2019 with a contract value of ‘over RM1 billion’ inclusive of Goods and Services Tax (GST) .

Apart from supplying diesel to the rural schools in Sarawak, the company was also involved in the installation of solar hybrid systems and maintenance of generators in the 369 schools. - Bernama