PAC to conduct proceedings on national immigration control system project, says Mas Ermieyati

KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will call a hearing in relation to the procurement and development of the national immigration control system (SKIN).

PAC chairman Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said the committee saw a need to conduct a proceeding following the High Court’s order for the government to pay Prestariang SKIN Sdn Bhd (PSKIN) a sum of RM231.55 million for unilaterally terminating SKIN in January 2019.

“PAC will commence with a proceeding by calling witnesses from the Home Ministry, Immigration Department, Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu), Cybersecurity, and related vendors including SKIN.

“The date of the proceeding commencement will be set later, and the terms of reference (TOR) will be given to the Home Ministry and Immigration Department to get their documents sorted,” Mas told a press conference at the Parliament building here today.

PSKIN secured a 15-year concession on August 9, 2017 to design, deliver, continuously maintain and provide scheduled upgrades for a new and much-improved immigration and border control system for the Immigration Department of Malaysia.

This would have replaced the existing Malaysian Immigration System (MyIMMS) which was built in the 1990s.

Under the concession agreement, PSKIN was to receive approximately RM3.5 billion over the 15-year concession period, subject to the entire capital expenditure being privately funded by PSKIN.

However, in November 2018, then-home minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the Pakatan Harapan administration would terminate SKIN, which was being developed for the country’s border control.

Meanwhile, committee member PKR Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin said PAC has managed to conduct a record-breaking number of proceedings this Parliament sitting.

“PAC has also managed to help the government save some money; for instance, preventing it from a lawsuit in relation to the non-functional ventilator units.

“After the proceedings were held, the government managed to solve this amicably, obtaining a refund of RM16.8 million, and avoided lawsuits,” he said.

Last October, PAC tabled a report in Parliament revealing the procurement of unusable ventilators via WhatsApp, expiry of vaccines and over purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE).

A total of 104 out of 136 ventilators supplied by Pharmaniaga Logistics Sdn Bhd to the Health Ministry in May 2020 at a cost of RM24.1 million ended up being unusable.