Projek terhad dorong ahli niaga Cina guna syarikat Bumiputera

Metrasys Sdn Bhd's director, Lian Tian Chuan, admitted in the High Court that Nepturis Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned Bumiputera company, was not reporting its true ownership of the firm to the Malaysian Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM). The director, 54, testified that he and his wife were the sole shareholders of Metrasys, having injected capital into Nepturis, which is handled by co-shareholder Rizman Akum Khan and Aliza Malek.

When confronted by Muhyiddin Yassin's lawyer, Amer Hamzah Arshad, Lian agreed that Metrasys, a non-Bumiputera-owned company, could not apply for government projects reserved for Bumiputera-owned firms. Amer asked if Nepturis was used to secure projects intended exclusively for Bumiputera-owned companies, to which Lian confirmed.

He admitted that the true ownership of Nepturis was not reported to the SSM and agreed with Amer's assertion that the government would be unaware of his involvement in Nepturis. During a re-examination, Deputy Prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin questioned Lian about why Metrasys never applied for government projects, and Lian responded that the opportunities for non-Bumiputera-owned firms were extremely limited, while Bumiputera-owned companies had numerous opportunities.

Lian added that he had no intention of deceiving the Ministry of Finance by using Nepturis. When asked why he did not convert Metrasys into a Bumiputera-owned company and place Rizman and Aliza as shareholders, Lian stated that he wanted to maintain sole ownership of Metrasys and his wife. Before this, Lian had testified in December 2020 when he asked former Deputy Chief Minister Adam Radlan Adam Muhammad for assistance in securing contracts under the Jan Wibawa scheme introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic to help Bumiputera-owned contractors.

Adam later accused him of disclosing information about Jan Wibawa to secure an IPD Klang Utara contract and obtaining a letter of intent from Muhyiddin to support the Nepturis tender application. On January 12, 2022, Nepturis was awarded a RM141 million contract to build the IPD Klang Utara. A month later, Lian admitted contributing RM1 million to the Bersatu party.

Muhyiddin, 79, faced seven charges related to the Jan Wibawa program, including four counts of using his position to solicit a RM225.3 million bribe from Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis, Mamfor Sdn Bhd, Azman Yusoff, and KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd. He was also charged with three counts of converting corrupt funds involving RM200 million allegedly received from Bukhary Equity and deposited in his accounts at AmBank and CIMB Bank. The trial continued before Judge Noor Ruwena Nurdin the following day.