|
NEC denies involvement in Mitsui-Telekom Malaysia kickbacks
By Julian Matthews
Friday, February 18 2000
KUALA LUMPUR--NEC Corp has denied any complicity in kickbacks allegedly proferred by Japanese sogososha Mitsui & Co Ltd to Telekom Malaysia Bhd for a 10-billion yen switchboard contract in 1996.
"Neither NEC Corp nor PERNEC Corp is involved in anyway in these
allegations of kickbacks," said Ken Fukuchi, Senior Manager of the NEC
PR Division when contacted today.
PERNEC is a Malaysian-based
joint-venture between NEC and local investment entities Permodalan
Nasional Bhd (PNB) and Perbadanan Nasional Bhd (PERNAS) that supplies
telephone switching equipment to Telekom Malaysia.
NEC was mentioned in an Asahi Shimbun report last Friday as
part of a syndicate with Mitsui that won the suspect contract, beating
European rivals in the bid to supply 800,000 circuits to the Malaysian
telco.
The Japanese newspaper alleged Mitsui paid about 300 million yen (US$2.8
million) in kickbacks to Telekom Malaysia through a "dummy" company as
an inducement.
The case is under investigation by Malaysian authorities via its
Anti-Corruption Agency.
Both Mitsui and Telekom Malaysia have reportedly denied wrong-doing.
NEC's Fukuchi confirmed the company had not been approached by
Malaysian authorities concerning the matter.
Related stories
| 
|
