Datasonic down 8.24% after hitting 51.5 sen high

PETALING JAYA: Shares of Datasonic Group Bhd rebounded as much as 6.2% in early trade but trended lower again on heavy selling pressure.

At 10.58am, the stock was trading at 47 sen with 67.99 million shares done, being the second most actively traded counter.

Last Friday, Datasonic denied allegations of gratifying former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for passport related jobs. 

It also denied making any payments to Ahmad Zahid, who claimed trial for graft charges on Friday, clarifying that it instead bagged passport related jobs by way of open tender.

Ahmad Zahid was accused of receiving a RM5 million cheque from a director of Datasonic in relation to the supply of 12.5 million chips for the Malaysian passports and had subsequently received another cheque amounting to RM1 million during his stint as Home Minister.

Datasonic explained that its unit Datasonic Technologies Sdn Bhd (DTSB) had secured the five-year contract to supply passport polycarbobate datapages and printing system based on per passport produced through an open tender in April 2012.

“DTSB was awarded for the supply of 12.5 million chips on 15 December 2015 based on value proposition of enhanced chips security (to put the chips bonded into the polycarbonate datapage instead of at the back of passport cover) and 15% lower pricing as compared to the previous vendor that provided a total saving of RM56.25 million to the government over a period of five years,” it added.