KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 9 — Prasarana Malaysia has named Norlia Noah as acting president and group chief executive officer (CEO), replacing Muhammad Nizam Alias who was suspended previously.

According to Utusan Malaysia, Prasarana chairman Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman said Norlia was suited to the role as she has been with Prasarana since 2004.

"Norlia is no stranger to Prasarana Group. Since 2004, she held plenty of key positions such as LRT3 project director, head of rail capital expenditure and chief technical officer before being appointed as group COO last year,” he said.

Tajuddin said that Norlia’s appointment was effective from February 23.

He also said several new members have been appointed to Prasarana’s board of directors.

They are former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioners Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed and Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali, and Transport Ministry secretary-general Datuk Isham Ishak.

Prior to his appointment, Abu Kassim was director-general of the National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption, while Mustafar headed the National Financial Crime Centre.

Both Abu Kassim and Mustafar were appointed to their positions effective February 15.

Tajuddin also confirmed that Prasarana has terminated the services of Nizam, who was previously suspended and served with a show-cause letter over allegations of misconduct and insubordination.

"We considered the matter fairly and did not decide at a whim. The issue arose in late November last year, it’s been three months and in that period we have paid his wages as usual,” he said.

In January, Tajuddin said Muhammad Nizam was placed on garden leave pending an inquiry into allegations of misconduct and insubordination. The two men’s relationship had reportedly been strained from the start of the Umno lawmaker’s appointment as chairman.

Prasarana was reported to have been in dispute with MRCB-George Kent, the main contractor for the LRT3 project.

Tajuddin later said that as Prasarana owns the LRT3 project, it had the right to be in the know of MRCB-George Kent’s choice of subcontractors.

The LRT3 project began in August 2015 with an initial budget of RM10 billion to serve two million people along the Bandar Utama-Johan Setia route, but costs of the project have tripled to a RM31.65 billion.