KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — The son of Umno Pasir Salak MP Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman gatecrashed a press conference by the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) today, to defend an alleged scandal involving himself and his father.
Faizal Tajuddin, who is also Pasir Salak Umno deputy chief, said his family has not received a single penny from the government, after Muda pointed out the alleged conflict of interest in the award of compensation money to a company led by Tajuddin’s family members.
“We won the contract because at the time the government wanted to promote the land. They did an open tender and wanted it to be a joint developer project.
“We offered RM220 million while the market rate was RM180 million,” Faizal told reporters here.
“If Muda wants I will arrange a meeting with my father and they can hash it out. Doing it this way is just sensationalising it,” he added.
Muda co-founder Amir Abd Hadi had earlier said that Tajuddin, who is the chairman of public transport company Prasarana Malaysia Bhd, should not have sat in the meetings involving another company called Tindakan Juara Sdn Bhd — as the latter has his own wife and sons named as directors.
He said Muda has copies of the minutes of meetings where Tajuddin sat on in, while they decided on compensation payments for a project that went undeveloped at the Dang Wangi LRT station.
“We want better answers from Tajuddin as to why and how he was able to sit in during a meeting where a company with his family members as directors were being offered compensation for works that went undone at this site,” said Amir when met by media outside the unfinished LRT Dang Wangi station.
Kronologi #SkandalTajuddin pic.twitter.com/fAaLvk5Tj3
— Parti MUDA (@partimuda) January 5, 2021
Amir pointed out that Tajuddin became Prasarana chairman on May 1, 2020, but checks on the construction progress showed it was only 15 per cent finished by September 30, 2020, eight years after it was proposed on March 29, 2012.
Then on October 8, 2020 Prasarana decided to terminate the contract and compensate the company to the tune of RM87.7 million.
“We have proof that Tajuddin was chairing this meeting. How can he do that when they were deciding what amount to pay to them?
“Not only that, we’re hearing that he wants another RM470 million to build a new Prasarana office here. Thing is there is already a RM150 million Prasarana office at Subang Depot so why do we need another one?” he asked.
On March 29, 2012 the government appointed Intan Sekitar Sdn Bhd a consortium between Crest Builders Sdn Bhd, who owned 51 per cent of the build, and Detik Utuh Sdn Bhd who took 49 per cent.
Detik Utuh is owned by Tajuddin’s family through another company Tindakan Juara Sdn Bhd.
Detik Utuh's directors include Tajuddin's daughter Sri Rahayu Tajuddin, and its majority shareholder Tindakan Juara Sdn Bhd is also linked to the family.
Tindakan Juara's directors and shareholders include Sri Rahayu, Tajuddin's wife Datin Seri Rokiah Abd Samat, and Tajuddin's son Firdaus.
Tajuddin said yesterday that due to lack of funds Prasarana could not finish the Dang Wangi project and he has asked the federal government for an injection of cash.
Amir and Muda questioned Tajuddin’s motives and insisted the government not grant them the compensation until further investigations are done or Tajuddin explains his actions.
“In fact, Detik Utuh had his name on it. He only recently removed himself,” Amir added, referring Tajuddin.
Amir also said Muda will lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the matter soon.
