KUALA LUMPUR: Iris Corp Bhd is seeking legal advice from its lawyers in relation to the termination of the reported RM1.12 billion National Identification Integrated Solutions (NIISe) contract.
In its filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Iris said the Home Affairs Ministry had cancelled its contract for the NIISe with immediate effect.
Iris said its wholly-owned Iris Information Technology Systems Sdn Bhd (IITS), which was appointed as the developer of the new immigration system, had on Monday received a notice of termination dated August 10 from the ministry.
"The termination of the NIISe contract is expected to have an impact on the group's financial performance for the financial year ending March 31, 2024.
"However, the extent of the impact cannot be reliably ascertained at this juncture," it said.
Iris added that the termination is not expected to have any material operational impact to it.
NIISe is the successor to the 20-year-old Malaysian Immigration System or MyIMMs.
It seeks to incorporate biometric technology to enable the adoption of e-Gates at immigration checkpoints.
This followed the termination of the RM3.5 billion Sistem Kawalan Imigresen Nasional (SKIN) project in 2019 by then home minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who was part of the Pakatan Harapan government.
After terminating the contract with Prestariang Bhd, the government reportedly opted for NIISe as it was 66 per cent cheaper.
In February this year, it was reported that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission was investigating the award of a government contract to a former prime minister's son-in-law.
The contract in question was speculated to be for the development of NIISe.
Former prime minister Muhyiddin had since denied allegations linking him to the contract.
He reportedly said he was never involved in the awarding of the NIISe contract to Iris, which he said was done through an open tender.