The Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) said the state government had yet to clarify why an additional concessionaire had been roped in.
State-owned Rantaian Mesra Sdn Bhd was announced as the project’s concessionaire on July 9, and was supposed to oversee the project along with local councils.
But on July 15, a Bursa filing reported that Selmax Sdn Bhd had also secured a long-term concession from several councils.
C4 also criticised the state government for classifying the documents related to the privatised parking system under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), saying this was unwarranted.
It said parking concessions were not a matter of national security, but one that directly impacted millions of people in the state and involved substantial streams of public revenue.
“Shielding them behind secrecy laws erodes public trust and runs counter to the principles of open government that the state has long claimed to champion,” it said in a statement.
C4 also said the Selangor government should clarify how the concession was awarded and whether proper safeguards were in place, noting the controversy sparked by the appointment of a firm linked to a federal minister’s husband to run a public transport service in the state.
Various parties had raised concerns of preferential treatment and conflict of interest last year in the selection of Asia Mobility Technologies Sdn Bhd as one of two firms to run a nine-month proof of concept for a demand-responsive transit project.
Asia Mobiliti is headed by M Ramachandran, the husband of youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh.
C4 said the current concession should be reset, with the state reopening the tender to ensure a credible and accountable process.
“The process of appointing Selmax has been insufficiently thorough at mitigating corruption risks and adhering to standards of public disclosure,” it said.
C4 also urged the federal government to reform the OSA to curb broad discretionary powers and align it with the proposed Freedom of Information Bill.
Last month, PKR’s Lee Chean Chung called on the Selangor government to clarify why documents related to the project were classified as national secrets, supposedly because their disclosure could “seriously endanger national security or defence”.