HeiTech Padu announced on Monday that it had signed the letter of award from JPJ for the RM190 million three-year contract which commences on May 1.

Loke today said the ministry’s board of acquisitions agreed on Nov 24 that Heitech Padu’s bid for the maintenance of JPJ’s MySikap system and IT infrastructure was the lowest and most reasonable.

“This acknowledgement was submitted to the finance ministry for its final approval on Dec 4 and the Treasury’s approval was given on Feb 8 for a value of RM185 million, excluding service tax,” he said.

He added that the matter was brought up by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim when the Cabinet met earlier today due to insinuations that the project was awarded to HeiTech Padu as a result of Anwar’s ties with Farhash, who was Anwar’s political secretary before he was appointed prime minister.

Loke said that during the Cabinet meeting today, Anwar stressed that no other government contract had been awarded to Heitech Padu after Farhash acquired shares in the company.

“The Cabinet takes a serious view of the insinuations that this contract was allegedly awarded to Heitech Padu because of its (Farhash’s) close ties with the prime minister,” said Loke.

“If anyone is not satisfied with this explanation, they can lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).”

According to The Edge, HeiTech Padu was awarded a similar contract by JPJ in 2021. The RM36 million contract was only for about 13 months but was extended for four months, and then a year, for RM10 million and RM27 million, respectively.

Earlier this year, HeiTech Padu said it had secured a contract extension worth RM13.1 million for the provision of maintenance services to the Malaysian Immigration System.

It said the 12-month contract extension runs from Feb 18 this year to Feb 17 next year. The company first secured the three-year contract in March 2021. It was worth RM33.9 million and ended on Feb 17, 2024.

HeiTech Padu had also won a RM58.89 million contract from the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) to provide “next-generation network services” for the agency. This was reportedly announced in January.

On March 14, the technology services firm said Farhash had acquired an indirect interest of 15.9% (16.1 million shares) in the company, making him a substantial shareholder of HeiTech Padu.

Farhash previously explained that the shares he held in HeiTech Padu was through Rosetta Partners Sdn Bhd, a private vehicle which he co-owns with Sultan Muhammad V, the Sultan of Kelantan.

He said the shares are also part of an investment strategy that he had adopted with Sultan Muhammad V to help Bumiputera firms.

Farhash is also the chairman and director of several companies, including 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Bhd and Apex Equity Holdings Bhd.