THE Armed Forces Fund Board’s (LTAT) takeover of automated enforcement system (AES) concession companies in 2015 was a bailout, said the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Moreover, the RM555 million takeover price was overvalued and exorbitant as KPMG had valued the companies at no more than RM251 million, said the PAC.

PAC, which began investigating the AES project last year, tabled its findings today in Parliament.

The select committee said the Transport Ministry should not have outsourced the project to A.T.E.S. Sdn Bhd (ATES) and Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd (Beta Tegap) in 2011.

“In fact, the ministry had ignored the ATES project committee’s opinion that the government should handle the AES project through the Road Transport Department (JPJ),” said the PAC report.

“Moreover, the terms of the concession agreement and fees did not benefit the government,” said PAC.

The ATES project committee was chaired by then chief secretary Mohd Sidek Hassan. 

PAC recommended that the government declassified the investigation files on AES and that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) reopen the case to see if kickbacks were paid in the awarding of the contract. 

In 2005, the government had decided to deploy an automated camera surveillance system to reduce the number of road accidents.

The AES system was aimed at detecting motorists who break the speed limit and beat the traffic lights. 

However, instead of implementing it themselves, in 2011 the Transport Ministry appointed ATES and Beta Tegap to install 1,093 units of surveillance cameras in the country. 

ATES was awarded a contract of RM295 million for 543 cameras while Beta Tegap would install 550 units for RM260 million. 

But due to public pressure over the privatisation of the project, the government ordered LTAT to take over both companies for RM555 million in 2015. – November 23, 2021.