The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) issued initial instructions to evaluate contractors under the Jana Ekonomi Pemerkasaan Kontraktor Bumiputera Berwibawa (Jana Wibawa) programme but did not directly decide on contractor awards, Finance Ministry official Datin Rosni Mohd Yusoff told the High Court today in former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s trial [1, 2, 3].
She explained that directives from the PMO were routed via formal memoranda to the Finance Minister’s Office. The Finance Minister then instructed the Government Procurement Division and the Jana Wibawa Contractor Evaluation Committee to carry out evaluations and make recommendations, providing the required administrative authority to act [1, 2].
“As a civil servant, the minute shown or placed on a document constitutes an action... and that is the source of authority [punca kuasa] for me to execute that process,” Datin Rosni said [1]. She affirmed that while evaluation instructions came from the PMO through the Finance Minister’s Office, the final decisions made on contractor selection had no interference from the PMO [1].
The Finance Ministry initially preferred projects under the programme be awarded through open tender, but the PMO insisted on awarding them by direct negotiation or pre-qualification tenders. Direct negotiation involves selecting a single contractor without competitive bidding, while pre-qualification tenders restrict bidding to companies pre-screened for financial and technical criteria [3].
Datin Rosni also referenced a key case involving KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd, which passed initial and financial evaluations but failed the technical capability stage. Despite this, the Contractor Evaluation Committee recommended direct negotiation with KCJ Engineering for a road project in Negri Sembilan and referred the recommendation to the Ministry of Finance [2].
She confirmed that “the instruction that we received from PMO to carry out this project is through the Finance Minister's office. The Finance Minister instructed the procurement division to carry out evaluation,” clarifying the chain of command [3].
The Finance Minister holds the legal authority under government procurement rules to decide whether projects proceed by direct negotiation or pre-qualification. However, the PMO influenced this decision-making process for Jana Wibawa projects [3].
The PMO had initially provided a list of 54 proposed contractors for Jana Wibawa in November 2020. The prosecution is pursuing seven charges related to the programme against former Prime Minister Muhyiddin [2, 3].
Datin Rosni’s testimony today marked a detailed account of the Ministry of Finance’s and PMO’s respective roles in contractor evaluations for Jana Wibawa in the ongoing High Court trial.
