PETALING JAYA: Projek Lintasan Kota Sdn Bhd (Prolintas) says it will give its full cooperation to the relevant authorities after two upper management employees of the company were charged with bribery by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
The highway concessionaire said the two employees in question, Prolintas Group of Companies chief operating officer Rostam Shahrif Tami and project manager Zairulnizam Rohani, were affiliated with one of its subsidiaries.
In a statement Monday (Jan 27), it said the subsidiary in question was Turnpike Synergy Sdn Bhd, which was the company in charge of the construction of the Sungai Besi - Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway (SUKE).
“Prolintas reiterates that it has a zero-tolerance policy with regard to breaches of integrity and governance and shall take all necessary action to address this matter and to protect the interests of the company
“Prolintas takes these charges seriously and has been cooperating throughout the on-going investigation by the MACC. We will continue to extend our utmost support and cooperation to the relevant authorities in this matter,” it said in the statement.
Prolintas noted that Rostam and Zairulnizam have been put on leave of absence on July 9 and July 16, 2024, respectively.
It added that it would take all necessary immediate steps to ensure the robustness of its internal processes are in accordance with governance best practices.
Meanwhile, Prolintas Managers Sdn Bhd, the trustee-manager for Prolintas Infra Business Trust (PIBT), also clarified that Zairulnizam and Rostam were affiliated with Turnpike Synergy, which was unrelated to its operations, as the SUKE project in not part of PIBT.
"Our focus remains on managing the highways under PIBT with zero tolerance for any breaches of integrity at every level of our organisation.
We will continue to provide our services in accordance with the highest standards of corporate governance," Polintas Managers said in a statement Monday.
Zairulnizam was charged on Jan 23 with three counts of accepting RM50,000 in bribes in exchange for assisting a company to secure a highway construction project.
He pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court in Johor Baru to accepting the bribes, which were supposedly transferred online in three transactions of RM10,000, RM30,000 and RM10,000 by an individual on separate dates in December 2023.
Rostam, meanwhile, also pleaded not guilty after he was charged with accepting a bribe of RM70,000 linked to a highway project at the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
He had allegedly received the bribe from a representative of Satunas Technologies Sdn Bhd as an inducement to award a work project for SUKE to the company which was committed in April 2023.
