Scomi has denied it received government projects through the influence of one of its major stakeholders, the son of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The chief executive of the Scomi Group, Shah Hakim Zain (right), said the company, whose main business is oilfield services, competed in tenders for all its projects and did not win all of them.

"We tender for everything ... It's an open book tender process and in every tender, generally and obviously the cheapest guy wins," Shah told reporters after a tour of a Scomi research and training centre.

Abdullah, who is struggling with allegations of nepotism from ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad, this month vowed to apologise to Malaysians if his son Kamaluddin, who owns a 17.2 percent stake in Scomi, was found receiving business favours.

Abdullah also ordered a report on Scomi's activities after accusations the group had received a bunch of government projects, and last week declared Scomi had not seen preferential treatment.

Shah dismissed questions over Kamaluddin's business clout, adding the premier's son had a hands-off approach to the company the men jointly took over in 2000, and which last year saw a net profit of RM172.9 million.

"Kamal is not involved in the day-to-day management of the business," Shah said.

Kamaluddin not a liability

The chief executive also insisted Kamaluddin was not a liability to the business.

"He's by no means a liability," he said. "As far as we are concerned, there is nothing negative."

Shah, in a bid to hose down speculation over Scomi's business ties, released information he said was in the group's report to Abdullah.

It shows Scomi sharing tendered projects from three government-linked companies with other unnamed companies.

In a rare move for a Malaysian company, Shah also detailed Scomi's revenue sources showing the portion of revenue from government agency projects had shrunk from 44 percent in 2003 to 11 percent in the first half of 2006.

Scomi Group, which was listed in Malaysian's bourse in 2003, has a market capitalisation of RM1 billion.

The group has 4,000 employees worldwide, 1,000 of whom are in Malaysia and operates in 35 countries.

Shah said he expected revenue for 2006 to be around RM400 million, driven by its oil field services.