FORMER transport minister Liow Tiong Lai has defended the Transport Ministry’s decision to award an allegedly inexperienced firm the contract to implement the Vehicle Entry Permit system at country’s land entry points.

He said the system was awarded after careful study by ministry officials.

“They went through the proper procedures and it was sent to the Finance Ministry for vetting. I also read the reports prepared by the ministry, and it (the company) looked okay,” he told The Malaysian Insight today.

Liow is being summoned by the Public Accounts Committee to explain the awarding of the VEP contract after the Auditor-General’s Report 2017 (second series) found that the implementation of the RM149.45 million system resulted in a drastic hike in operational expenditure.

The A-G also found that the contract was awarded through direct negotiations and not open tender.

Former prime minister Najib Razak was said to have been given assurances by Liow that the contractor was capable and had the expertise.

However, it was later learnt that the contractor, TCSens, had no experience and had only RM35.54 in its accounts instead of the required RM2.3 million.

It is understood that TCSens is linked to former MCA deputy secretary-general and ex-Tanjung Piai MP Wee Jeck Seng. Liow is former MCA president.

Liow did not want to be drawn into Wee’s purported links to TCSens, only saying that ministry officials had vetted the firm.

Liow is expected to appear before the PAC in mid-January to answer questions on the 2015 implementation of the VEP system.

“I will answer whatever they want. I will cooperate with the Public Accounts Committee. But to date I have not received anything from the PAC,” he said.

Liow said at the time, the ministry wanted to expedite the implementation of the system and its officials had picked what was considered the best proposal.

He confirmed the contract was not awarded as an open tender but through direct negotiations.

Other irregularities in the implementation of VEP included equipment worth RM4.07 million – such as barrier gates, cameras and fix readers – that were not installed. – January 1, 2019.