DAP said that recent events have shown that the 1Malaysia Email project is clearly an attempt to milk money out of a process that should be free.

NONE Its publicity secretary Tony Pua said it was now clear that service provider Tricubes Bhd stands to make tremendous profit from the scheme.

This is because the company will be charging government agencies RM0.50 for every email transaction, contradicting Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's earlier claims that the government won't have to spend any money on the project.

"This will result in millions being spent by each government agency should they be sending just one email to the forecast 15 million users," said Pua in a statement today.

NONE Pua ( left ) said the Najib administration was complicit in this elaborate scheme because it was part of its Economic Transformation Plan and that Malaysia Venture Capital ( Mavcap ), which is wholly owned by the finance ministry, is an investor in Tricubes.

"To add further to the ludicrous confusion, Mavcap immediately made an indirect denial that the investment was meant for the 1Malaysia Email project, but instead is for another subsidiary of Tricubes, Tam Tam Sdn Bhd, which is involved in mobile salesforce automation products."

If banks can do it, why not gov't?

Now that the entire scheme has been exposed, Pua said Najib must no longer adopt his "elegant silence" approach to the controversy and stop the project immediately to prevent government agencies from committing to such "exorbitant" fees.

"Instead, Najib must direct all government agencies interested in providing electronic communications for bills and statements, require citizens to provide their own emails, whether Gmail, Yahoo!Mail, Hotmail or other email providers for such communication.

"By doing so, government agencies will be able to communicate with ordinary Malaysians by sending unlimited email at absolutely no cost .

"If banks and credit card companies can do it today, there's absolutely no reason why government agencies are unable to do the same," he said.

Pua added that the 1Malaysia email scheme was proof that the government was not serious about reforms and instead exposed "sheer incompetence or vested interest" in government departments.

PM claims its 'free'

Public condemnation of the project broke out immediately after Najib announced the establishment of the service, leading the premier to state on a Twitter post that the RM50 million project would be borne by private companies.

NONE "Let me clarify that the 1Malaysia Email is a private sector project. No public money is involved, and it's entirely voluntary," said Najib ( left).

But the announcement on Mavcap's involvement with Tricubes and the fact that Tricubes is charging RM0.50 have thrown severe doubts on Najib's claim.

Under the scheme, Malaysians aged 18 and above will each be assigned a unique email account to receive statements, bills and notices, which Najib claims allows direct and secure communication  with the government.

Critics also point out that Tricubes was a financially troubled company, leading the company to later admit that the 1Malaysia Email project was a " lifeline " .