Colin Skellet, the chief executive of Britain's Wessex Water who is being investigated over an alleged million-pound bribe by Malaysia's YTL Power, told a Malaysian Sunday newspaper he had been assured of YTL's support in clearing up the matter.

Skellet, 57, told the New Sunday Times he was telephoned soon after his release on police bail after his arrest last Thursday by YTL director Yeoh Seok Hong who pledged his support.

He said there was nothing shady about the payment, which was made after YTL Power bought Wessex Water in May for 1.24 billion pounds (RM7.16 billion) from scandal-plagued US company Enron.

"I had indicated to YTL Power soon after it purchased Wessex Water in May of my intention to quit the board after 30 years in the water business to either retire or venture into a new business," Skllet told the paper in a telephone interview.

"But it (YTL) wanted to retain me to help with its other investments in Europe and Malaysia." Skellet said about 910,000 pounds (RM5.26 million), after Malaysian taxes, had been deposited in his London bank account as an upfront payment for five years consultancy to tie him to Wessex.

He said he was amazed by the allegation that the payment was made to influence the purchase of Wessex Water by YTL Power as he only found out about the purchase from the chief executive of Azurix, Enron's water subsidiary, two days after the deal was done.

"It was no secret payment into a secret bank account; everything was transparent, an absolutely straight-forward thing."

Meeting next week

He said he had given a copy of the agreement between him and YTL Power to the police and was confident that he would be exonerated. Skellet said the Wessex Water board members would also be informed of the agreement at a meeting next week.

He told the paper the second man arrested and released on police bail in connection with the case, Michael Bushnall, had worked for YTL Power during the purchase of Wessex, but was not connected to the consultancy agreement.

"The actual negotiations for the consultancy agreement were between Yeoh and myself."

In a statement released in Malaysia on Friday, YTL Power denied it knew of any illegal payments made to Skellett.

"YTL Power has no knowledge of any illegal payment and has offered the police its full cooperation in relation to the investigation," the company said.

Police given agreement

In a statement on its website on Friday, Wessex Water said neither Skellet nor any other Wessex Water directors had been involved in the decision to sell to YTL.

"He has indicated that confusion has arisen over a subsequent agreement with YTL which explains the financial transaction for retaining his services over the next five years," it said. It also said Skellett had provided police with a copy of the agreement, and that it was "pleased that matters seem to be resolving themselves and hopes Colin will be back in the office shortly."

Press reports in London on Friday said the deal had raised eyebrows in financial circles at the time because YTL Power had beaten three consortiums to buy Wessex, including one led by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) which had earlier been named as the preferred bidder.

The Financial Times , quoting people close to the deal, reported that YTL's offer had been only slightly higher than that of the RBS consortium, but it had been chosen because it was thought to be a quicker and less complex proposal.

The RBS consortium is understood to have been concerned that Wessex might have liabilities relating to the bankruptcy of Enron last year and had wanted to seek assurances from Azurix, Enron's water subsidiary, that it would not be liable, the paper added. YTL Power also beat Italy's Enel SpA, Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings and Germany's Westdeutsche Landesbank to buy Wessex Water. AFP