KUALA LUMPUR: Former education minister Dr Maszlee Malik has information that could facilitate further investigations into 1BestariNet, says the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.
He said a team of investigators had met Maszlee last week to gather information and documents.
"I instructed my officers to meet with Maszlee because we believe he has information that could help our investigations.
"Among the things we are looking at include issues related to service, data and procurement," he said at Sri Pentas, Bandar Utama, near here on Monday.
He said the officers also questioned Maszlee on why he opposed the extension of the contract.
"There are other things that I can't reveal, but that's more or less the scope of what we asked him about," he said.
When asked if there were any documents submitted by Maszlee to the MACC during the meeting, Azam confirmed that some had been submitted, but refused to reveal the details.
"So far there have been no arrests and we need to investigate further.
"In this case, as I mentioned before, one of the areas or sectors that we have identified is about the data service provided to 8,000 schools.
"We have identified certain schools and areas where we believe that data was not supplied, but claims had been made," he said.
Azam added that if this was true, then it meant that an offence had been committed, which was making a false claim.
"If it's true (there are false claims), we want to see (conduct an investigation). We can't make assumptions.
"But this is one of the most important matters that my investigating officers are looking at," he said.
When asked if the MACC had identified the schools that made the false claims, Azam said the matter was being investigated and that further checks would be conducted in the near future.
"We have to look at the infrastructure and data that has been provided at that time, whether it is right or not.
"We will not go to 8,000 schools, but we will take certain samples and go to certain regions to investigate and identify the problem," he said.
It was reported that MACC had not ruled out summoning more political leaders following its meeting with Maszlee as part of its ongoing investigation into the 1BestariNet project.
Azam was quoted saying that he would leave it to the investigating officer to determine who would be called regarding the RM4 billion project.
Earlier this month, MACC launched an investigation into a payment claim related to the Education Ministry's 1BestariNet service tender, valued at RM4 billion, which was awarded to YTL Communications Sdn Bhd in 2011.
Sources disclosed that MACC officers had raided a government office and the YTL Communications Sdn Bhd office in Kuala Lumpur.
An MACC source said the investigation revolved around claims involving false details related to RM2.7 billion in payments and other criminal elements under the MACC Act 2009.