Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has denied knowledge of a US$1.5 mil (RM6.5 mil) deal with Israeli firm Senpai Technologies Ltd to surveil the movements of Pakatan Harapan (PH).
“I was not the home minister at that time and I never ordered or asked SB on what to purchase, They (SB) decided themselves. Is it my job to assess and find software to buy?” Najib said in a Facebook posting today.
Earlier today, tech news site Calcalist said Najib’s government had signed the deal in April 2018 with Senpai Technologies to spy on PH.
The report noted that the pressure felt by Najib’s party from the May 2018 elections saw the deal inked to acquire a system that allowed the party to gather information and analyse data on civilian activity.
The system was meant to be used by the Special Branch to keep tabs on political activists on the side of the opposition, with the deal coined “Project Magnum.” And this was offered in two phases.
“Since Israel and Malaysia have no official diplomatic relations, the deal was signed through a Cypriot conduit company called Kohai Corp Ltd, founded by two Senpai shareholders for the sole purpose of serving as a front for such deals,” said the report.
It was further noted that Najib’s plans for Senpai’s system were not kept secret from the company and its use for “political investigations” is specifically mentioned in internal email correspondence.
“During the purchase of Phase 1, if it really happened, that did not involve the Prime Minister’s Department. In April 2018, the government had already been dissolved and we were busy with the GE14 campaign,” Najib said.
A year after the elections, following Najib’s defeat, Senpai Technologies was due to sign a new contract with the Special Branch that required adjusting the goals of the original contract, according to correspondence obtained by Calcalist.
“The client got the documents and we are waiting for his response,” Senpai co-founder and head of sales Roy Shloman said, referring to “Magnum” in an email sent to fellow co-founders Guy David, Omri Raiter, and Eric Banoun on June 10, 2019.
In fact, the change was due to the need for the system to shift from political investigations towards criminal-terror investigations, with Senpai having planned a visit to meet up, answer questions, and offer “tips and tricks to maximise the system.”
For Malaysia’s phase two agreements, Banoun had counted US$300,000 to US$400,000 from the Special Branch, between US$2 mil and US$2.5 mil from the Prime Minister’s Office, between US$800,000 and US$2.2 mil from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, and a similar sum from the police.
Najib then trained his guns on his successor, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, and former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Latheefa Koya.
“Ask the ‘boss’ of the Prime Minister’s Office (PM7) and also the SPRM chief a year after GE14 too,” he said. – May 29, 2020
