KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 — Malaysian Chinese businessman Lian Tan Chuan today said he was not intentionally hiding his name from official records on who actually owned the Bumiputera contractor Nepturis Sdn Bhd, claiming that “nobody” had asked about it.
Nepturis had told the Malaysian government that it was a 100 per cent Bumiputera company, and had in January 2022 won a RM141 million project under the Muhyiddin administration’s Jana Wibawa programme that was only for Bumiputera contractors.
While the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) records on Nepturis only have Lian’s two Bumiputera long-time employees as the shareholders, Lian has said he actually owns 30 per cent of the company’s shares based on his verbal agreement with both of them.
Testifying as the 21st prosecution witness in Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president and former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s power abuse trial, Lian said his company Nepturis had given RM1 million to Bersatu in February 2022 as a “reward” for what he believed to be Muhyiddin’s help in securing the RM141 million project.
Lian is not a Bumiputera, and confirmed that the government was never told that he was involved in Nepturis when it was evaluating whether the company was qualified for the RM141 million project.
Quizzed by Muhyiddin’s lawyer Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad on why he did not want to disclose his 30 per cent interest or stake in Nepturis, Lian replied, “Nobody asked, actually.”
Amer: How would people want to know if you don’t disclose? Because this is not publicly available information.
Lian: There’s no special reason, I’m not trying to purposely hide. There’s no reason to hide. Nobody asked anyway.
Lian, who has more than one construction company, had also told Amer that the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) regulations would not allow his name to be named in multiple companies.
Bumiputera company’s hidden ‘ghost’ shareholder
Lian had formed multiple companies, including MK Construction & Communication Sdn Bhd, Metrasys Sdn Bhd and also Nepturis.
Lian today confirmed he had created Nepturis in order to apply for government projects specifically allocated for Bumiputera companies.
Previously, he had made his MK Construction employees Aliza Abd Malek and Rizman Akum Khan to be the only directors and shareholders of Nepturis in SSM records, but the two Bumiputera individuals did not have to pay anything to be the company’s owners on paper with 50 per cent shares each.
Based on Lian’s verbal understanding that he would have 30 per cent shares and Rizman and Aliza would actually hold 35 per cent shares each in Nepturis, Lian had previously said all Nepturis decisions must be agreed between the three of them.
Agreeing that he has no official position in Nepturis and is not a director or registered shareholder there, Lian further agreed with Amer that his arrangement with Rizman and Aliza is something that is “out of the ordinary” with company law.
When Amer said the law does not allow for such an arrangement, Lian replied: “I have no idea about this. I’m not aware this is a ‘kesalahan’ (offence). Ya, I’m not aware, seriously.”
Agreeing that there is “nothing in black and white” or written to show that he actually controls 30 per cent of Nepturis, Lian agreed that SSM would not know of his involvement and existence in Nepturis.
Amer described Lian as being like a “ghost behind the scene but controls Nepturis”, with the businessman then agreeing that the government would not know of his role or involvement in Nepturis and that his name would not appear in public records on Nepturis.
Bidding for RM141m project as a ‘wholly Bumiputera-owned’ company
On February 1, 2021, Nepturis sent a letter to Muhyiddin as part of a limited tender against four other Bumiputera companies for the RM141 million project, describing itself as a “syarikat milik penuh Bumiputera” (wholly Bumiputera-owned company).
Lian disagreed that the letter had misled Muhyiddin as he said Nepturis “on paper” was 100 per cent Bumiputera-owned.
When Amer suggested that he had misled Muhyiddin based on his personal arrangement with Rizman and Aliza, Lian said, “No, I didn’t do it purposely.”
Lian confirmed that he had been advised by Malaysia’s Bumiputera contractors’ association president Datuk Azman Yusoff to prepare five letters from Nepturis and its cronies or business associates to bid for the RM141 million project, when the tender should have actually involved five independent and unrelated Bumiputera contractors.
While confirming that the five Bumiputera companies including Nepturis did not tell the government that they knew each other or had previously worked together, Lian disagreed that there was “deception” or an attempt to mislead the government into believing that five unrelated companies were bidding for the same project.
Lian disagreed that these five companies were actually breaching the Competition Act, and said he was not aware that the law prevents bid‑rigging, claiming that “we didn’t know that we need to disclose all these things” and that they had only wanted to comply with the requirement to have five companies bid for the project.
The five companies were Nepturis; its business associate MZ Hakujaya Sdn Bhd; Permata Rebana Sdn Bhd, which was a construction partner in another Nepturis project; JM Letrik Sdn Bhd, which was introduced by Lian’s subcontractor; and Azman’s Fastcoll Corporation Sdn Bhd.
Lian said Azman had allowed him to use Fastcoll in order to meet the requirement to have five companies to bid for the project.
Amer suggested that Lian wanted to make sure no “outsiders” join in the tender for the RM141 million project by arranging for participation from only companies that he knew personally.
Lian replied that this was due to “time constraints” as Azman had requested five companies and had wanted it fast, explaining that he then went to the companies that he knows and that these five companies were the only companies that he knew. He agreed this was not Muhyiddin’s request.
Among other things, Lian confirmed that the five letters never disclosed to the government that a non-Bumiputera was involved either directly or indirectly in any of the five companies.
Lian agreed with Amer that a non-Bumiputera’s participation was never made known to the Finance Ministry (MOF) or the Works Ministry (KKR) or the Public Works Department (JKR) throughout the entire process of evaluation of contractors for the RM141 million Jana Wibawa project.
Lian agreed that the government evaluating the tender bid from the five Bumiputera companies would have believed that no non-Bumiputera was involved, and said he did not declare his shares in Nepturis as Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) regulation disallows him being named in different companies and as no one asked.
Lian denies intention to cheat government
Asked by lead prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, Lian said the construction company Metrasys jointly owned by him and his wife had never tried applying for government projects as it did not have Bumiputera status, and as there were far fewer government projects that were open for non-Bumiputera companies.
“We never tried because projects for non-Bumiputera are really limited. Projects with many opportunities are for Bumiputera projects. Throughout my time in business, very limited projects, very much fewer projects for non-Bumiputera,” he said, confirming that in this context he had no intentions to deceive the Finance Ministry.
Asked why he did not convert Metrasys into a Bumiputera company via Aliza and Rizman, Lian replied, “Because I want to maintain Metrasys just simple for my wife and me only. For Bumiputera company, we have some other plan, that’s why we set up Nepturis.”
Lian denied that this was a move to deceive the government in order to get projects, further explaining: “Because, according to CIDB conditions, my name cannot be in two companies, because, for example, my name is already in Metrasys, so my name cannot be registered in Nepturis.”
Lian said Nepturis would not get the Bumiputera status and Grade G7 contractor status if his name had appeared in both Metrasys and Nepturis.
Later when asked by deputy public prosecutor Wan Nur Iman Wan Ahmad Afzal why he did not declare his 30 per cent shares in Nepturis to SSM, Lian said: “Because CIDB does not allow my name in two companies.”
And when asked why he had said he did not “purposely” mislead the government when Nepturis declared itself as a 100 per cent Bumiputera company despite his arrangement with Rizman and Aliza, Lian replied, “Same also, because my name cannot be in two companies because of CIDB’s condition.”
Lian confirmed that his name could appear in other businesses if they do not involve CIDB.
As for why Metrasys had kept injecting capital including millions of ringgit into Nepturis from time to time, Lian said this was because Nepturis did not have sufficient capital under Aliza and Rizman.
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.
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