The 1Malaysia Email Project does not involve public funds, confirmed local IT player Tricubes Bhd which is set to roll out the RM50 million venture in July.

Tricubes acknowledged in a statement, though, that the project is run under the ambit of the Malaysia Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit, which is the appointed government facilitator.

NONE “While we are currently unable to reveal all the details of our business model for the 1Malaysia Email project, as a company listed on Bursa Malaysia, Tricubes has underlined key strategies to ensure commercial viability including advertising and future e-services transactions,” said CEO Khairun Zainal Mokhtar (left) .

“Private testing is already under way as we prepare towards system readiness.”

The project will offer centralised e-government services such as online notifications and digital bill statements from government agencies.

Every Malaysian above the age of 18 will be entitled to an official email account to communicate with the government.

The company also said it aims to develop and adopt value-added communication services for business, household and government use.

Khairun had told reporters yesterday - after the project was announced by premier Najib Abdul Razak - that it will not duplicate services provided by existing government online portals like MyEG which focus on online payments.

This was despite a Tricubes handout on the project listing ‘bill checking and payment’ as one of its functions.

Founded in 1997 and listed on the ACE market in 2004, Tricubes was involved in the nationwide deployment of the MyKad system.

Financial status not addressed

The statement came on the heels of a public uproar over the perceived waste of public funds and questions over the company’s financial status.

The company failed to address concerns that it may not be able to internally fund the project as it has been issued a Guidance Note 3 by Bursa Malaysia to restructure is debts.

Last NONE night, both Najib and Mampu had sent out tweets denying that public funds will be involved.

Still, objections to the project continue to grow. A page set up on social networking site Facebook mere hours after the announcement, has gathered over 22,000 fans to date.