Speaking to FMT, Wee said Tourism Malaysia chairman Siew Ka Wai had not addressed the questions raised by him in his blog post on the matter.
Although Siew had spoken of a report by Deloitte Singapore, he added, to his knowledge the report had never been completed.
“The documents reproduced in my blog clearly show that some procedures were all done on one day, April 4, which normally would take days, if not weeks or months.”
He was referring to his claim of a “Speedy Gonzales” contract between Tourism Malaysia and a local company identified as Geeko Technology which he alleged had acted as a go-between for Tourism Malaysia and Tencent Holdings in China.
He said Tourism Malaysia had wanted to promote the country on Tencent’s social media platforms through Geeko Technology.
Wee told FMT that Under Procurement Regulation 7.15 (2.1.2), all companies dealing with government departments had to be registered with the finance ministry before any business could be conducted.
But in the case of Geeko Technology, he added, the agreement had been signed and sealed on April 4, two days before registration was done on April 6.
“It was a case of putting the cart before the horse.”
The former Wangsa Maju MP also asked how a contract involving RM99.693 million could have been settled in just one day, questioning the haste in which the deal had been sealed.
Likewise, he said, the RM11 million payment by Tourism Malaysia to Geeko Technology had been made on May 6, three days before the 14th general election.
Why use a third party?
Wee also had questions over why Tourism Malaysia’s collaboration with Tencent, China’s largest internet and digital corporation, was done through a third party.
“In all their press statements and functions, they have never been transparent about this matter.
“They have also talked about the collaboration being between Tourism Malaysia and Tencent Group. This is not the case. The collaboration was done through a middleman, or ‘Special Purpose Vehicle’, Geeko Tech.
“If it is a tourism ministry project, why can’t they deal directly with Tencent Group? Instead, they have chosen to draw agreements through a third-party company.”
Wee said another suspicious matter was the amount of the deal, which was just shy of RM100 million. According to regulations, he said, any agreement that touches RM100 million and above must be dealt with via an open tender.
“In this case, it isn’t,” he added.
Wee also called on Siew to explain the identity of a shareholder named Elizabeth Ken Tzu Ying.
“From a letter I highlighted in my blog, this Elizabeth Ken holds one share unit in Geeko Tech Sdn Bhd. She isn’t even a director.
“But she seems to be very powerful as she signed off all of Geeko Tech’s official documents with Tourism Malaysia.”
In his reply to Wee yesterday, Siew had said Geeko Technology was the local partner chosen by Tencent to implement the project in Malaysia.
He said Tourism Malaysia stood by its actions and insisted that these were done in accordance with proper procedures, with full transparency and accountability.
“We welcome any authority to check and verify his claims,” Siew said, adding that such allegations be stopped and withdrawn immediately so as not to jeopardise the Smart Tourism project.
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