by Theleaders | August 19, 2026 6:03 pm
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was involved in the government’s procurement process for the Jana Wibawa programme by submitting a list of 54 proposed contractors and later providing additional information that led the Finance Ministry to re-evaluate a Bumiputera contractor that had initially failed its assessment, the High Court heard today.
The Finance Ministry’s deputy secretary-general (policy) Datuk Zamzuri Abdul Aziz confirmed this while testifying as the 26th prosecution witness in former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s power abuse and money laundering trial.
Today, Zamzuri referred to Muhyiddin’s November 13, 2020 letter to the finance minister, which contained a list of 54 proposed companies for 54 proposed Jana Wibawa projects, including KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd.
At that time, Zamzuri was secretary of the Finance Ministry’s government procurement division.
When asked by lead prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, Zamzuri said the list was from the letter signed by Muhyiddin, but was uncertain about how this list was created.
Based on this list, Zamzuri agreed that the PMO was involved before the process to evaluate contractors for three of the Jana Wibawa projects, which were eventually awarded to KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd and Sutracom Sdn Bhd.
In this trial, evidence had shown that KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd was on July 30, 2021 given a RM62 million contract under Jana Wibawa via direct negotiation or without going through an open tender to build a road from Felda Bukit Jalor to Gemas, Negeri Sembilan.
Banking evidence had previously also shown that KCJ Engineering later, on September 1, 2022, issued RM800,000 in cheques to Muhyiddin’s political party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.
On October 12, 2022, KCJ Engineering’s RM800,000 cheques entered Bersatu’s CIMB bank account.
Following the PMO’s letter containing the 54 proposed Jana Wibawa contractors to the Finance Ministry, Zamzuri had directed his then deputy, Datin Rosni Mohd Yusoff, to carry out evaluations on whether the contractors were qualified for the Jana Wibawa projects.
Zamzuri confirmed that KCJ Engineering had initially failed the Finance Ministry’s evaluation and that this would usually result in the company not being considered for government projects.
He said he did not know why the PMO gave additional information on KCJ Engineering on February 3, 2021, but agreed that this showed the PMO was involved in the government procurement process.
Based on the additional information from the PMO, Zamzuri replied yes when Wan Shaharuddin asked if there “was involvement in the procurement process by PMO”.
Yesterday, Rosni said KCJ Engineering had initially failed the Finance Ministry’s evaluation as it had a record of having sick projects and unsatisfactory work performance, but cleared a second round of evaluations based on additional information from the PMO on February 3, 2021.
Earlier, Zamzuri agreed with Muhyiddin’s lawyer Chetan Jethwani that the PMO had provided the Finance Ministry with a list of additional information on multiple companies, instead of just KCJ Engineering.
Zamzuri agreed that the PMO would not have sent so much additional information if the Finance Ministry did not request more information, also agreeing that the request for additional information was because of incomplete information for the evaluation of contractors.
Chetan: And at no time did PMO or Tan Sri (Muhyiddin) say to you or anyone in the government procurement division that you have to select KCJ Engineering even though they have failed, there is no interference of that nature?
Zamzuri: Correct.
Zamzuri agreed with Chetan that this was a normal process of re-evaluation for all contractors since the project was via direct negotiation, where only one contractor is involved.
In this trial, Muhyiddin is facing seven charges, namely four counts of alleged power abuse to obtain RM225.3 million in bribes for his party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (from Nepturis Sdn Bhd, Azman Yusoff, KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd, Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd and Mamfor Sdn Bhd), and three counts of alleged money laundering involving money that Bersatu received from Bukhary Equity.
The trial before High Court judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin resumes tomorrow.
Source URL: https://theleaders-online.com/finance-ministry-witness-says-pmo-involved-in-jana-wibawa-procurement-process-but-no-order-to-select-kcj-engineering/
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