MACC raids YTL Communications in probe on 1BestariNet project

Graft busters also raid a government office in its probe on the controversial project initiated in 2011 by the then education minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

(FMT) – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) raided YTL Communications Sdn Bhd’s office in Kuala Lumpur today as part of an investigation into the now-defunct RM4 billion 1BestariNet project.

An MACC source said a government office was also raided today.

“Several documents were seized in the raids and MACC is identifying the witnesses who will be summoned to give statements to assist in the probe.

The investigation is focussed on the submission of claims with false details, involving the payment of about RM2.7 billion, said the source.

The source said MACC would also investigate elements of other crimes in the project under the MACC Act 2009.

MACC investigation division senior director Hishamuddin Hashim confirmed the probe and raids when contacted.

FMT has also reached out to YTL Corporation Bhd for comment.

The controversial 1BestariNet project, initiated in 2011 by Muhyiddin Yassin as the education minister then, had been awarded to YTL Communications.

Phase 1 of the mega project – to provide internet connectivity and a single learning platform for teachers, students and parents – began in December 2011 and went on until June 2014 under a RM1.1 billion contract.

In addition, an interim Phase 1 project proceeded for two years from June 2014 under a RM468 million contract.

It then continued to Phase 2 under a RM1.55 billion contract, from July 2016 to June 2019.

In 2019, then education minister Maszlee Malik decided not to extend YTL Communications’s contract.

Two years later, Maszlee claimed that Muhyiddin had pushed then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for his (Maszlee’s) resignation as education minister over the YTL Communications’s contract.

He said he was asked to meet Mahathir five times over the matter and that two people in the education ministry’s top leadership had joined him to explain why they opted not to extend YTL Communications’s contract.

Maszlee had also said the decision not to extend YTL’s contract was based on several in-depth studies conducted by independent and professional bodies with authority on the matter, including the auditor-general and the Public Accounts Committee.