‘Horrifying and concerning’: DNB’s dealings a mystery when I became minister, says Fahmi

KUALA LUMPUR: No one knew what was going on with the Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) when the unity government first took over, says Fahmi Fadzil.

The Communications Minister said that when he assumed the then role of communications and digital minister in December 2022, neither his ministry nor the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) knew about DNB’s operations at the time.

“It was horrifying and concerning,” he said when winding up Budget 2025 debates for the Communications Ministry at the committee level on Wednesday (Nov 27).

“Even the then deputy Treasury secretary-general, who is now the secretary-general, did not have any visibility of what happened in DNB.

“This is despite DNB being a company under the Minister of Finance Incorporated,” he said.

Fahmi was responding to Hassan Abdul Karim (PH-Pasir Gudang), who had asked about claims that the previous Perikatan Nasional coalition, led by then-prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, allocated RM16.5bil of taxpayer money for the first 5G network rollout through DNB.

Fahmi said he could not explain DNB further as it was now under the Digital Ministry’s purview.

“I cannot overstep my ministerial functions. But when it was under me, that is what happened,” he said while saying that Hassan should address his questions to the Digital Minister.

During the Cabinet reshuffle in December 2023, the Communications and Digital Ministry was split into the separate ministries.

Hassan had asked if the claim of RM16.5bil allocation was true, how much has been utilised so far and whether the total spent was audited by the Auditor-General.

“Does the minister also agree that the Auditor-General’s report on this should be put up for debates in Parliament?” he said.

He also asked whether the 14th Parliament approved the RM16.5bil allegedly spent.

“Was it approved by the previous Cabinet when Parliament was suspended for six months?” he asked.

Hassan also questioned potential misconduct and whether the previous government engaged in unconstitutional and imprudent actions, constituting a serious financial scandal.

“If there is merit, I appeal for the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to look into this,” he said.

DNB was established in 2021 and operated the first 5G network in the country.

On Nov 1 this year however, the MCMC announced that the second 5G network in Malaysia would be implemented by U Mobile after it conducted a detailed technical and commercial evaluation to select the MNO for the project.