The company Hannan Corporation Sdn Bhd (HCSB) has denied the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) allegation of double-billing the government in the amount of RM55 million for prawn farms.

It urged the PAC to clear its name, and the government to help ensure the success of its prawn farming projects.

The company also denied the claim that it lacked the relevant experience to run its two prawn farms in Kerian, Perak, for which it received government funding.

In a statement today, HCSB’s board of directors explained that the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) and the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) are funding different components of its program.

“Although the NCIA funding is originally understood as a loan and the NKEA funding is a government grant, the agreements that have been signed clearly shows that the funding is for different components.

“Only one component - the entry road - was found to have been funded by NCIA and the NKEA, which was discovered in early-2016. Upon being alerted, HCSB wrote to the Department of Fisheries (DOF) to deduct the NKEA portion that was double-billed, which was RM541,695.

“No reply was received from the DOF on that matter,” it said...