KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): Former prime minister and Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin confirmed that he has been asked to present himself at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters on Thursday (March 9).

“Tomorrow on Thursday I was requested to go to the headquarters of the MACC at 11am,” said the Pagoh MP in a Facebook post.

In the post, Muhyiddin denied a report by a portal which said he was arrested at a golf course on Wednesday, saying it was fake news.

“Today I attended a few meetings regarding Bersatu’s (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) annual general assembly which will begin this Friday,” said Muhyiddin, who is also president of the PN component party.

This is the second time that Muhyiddin was summoned by the MACC. The first time, which he confirmed in February, was to record his statement regarding the Jana Wibawa projects introduced during his stint as PM.

At that time, he said he was called up by the anti-graft agency not as a suspect but to give his statement concerning the award of projects to selected contractors, Bernama reported.

The Jana Wibawa or 'Program Jana Ekonomi Pemerkasaan Kontraktor Bumiputera Berwibawa' was introduced to expedite project execution post Covid-19 pandemic. To facilitate the implementation, the government resorted to either pre-qualification tenders or direct award.

At least RM6.3 billion worth of projects have received letters of acceptance (LOAs), a few of which involved “certain main political parties’ leaders”, the facto law minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said had told the Dewan Rakyat.

Of those, RM5.7 billion worth of projects have been postponed pending review of the procurement process, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said last month.

Aside from Muhyiddin, Minister of International Trade and Industry Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz — who was finance minister during Muhyiddin’s tenure as PM from 2020 to 2021 — had also been called in by the MACC in February, although he declined to say if it is related to Jana Wibawa.

Last month, two individuals linked to Bersatu were charged in court with soliciting and accepting bribes of up to millions in ringgit in relation to the programme.

The two individuals, former Bersatu information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan and the party’s deputy division chief Adam Radlan Adam Muhammad, have denied any wrongdoing.