Saarani bin Mohamad

Key record

1. 1999Won N16 Lenggong for UMNO/BN with 6,427 votes (majority 2,441); MLA for Lenggong until March 2004E6N18
2. 2004Contested N4 Kota Tampan for UMNO/BN, 5,071 votes (majority 2,677); has been the Kota Tampan MLA since March 2004E5N21
3. 2004-2018Member of the Perak State Executive Council in BN administrations, March 2004–March 2008 and February 2009–May 2018N20
4. 2018-2020Leader of the Opposition of Perak, August 2018 to March 2020N19
5. 2020Held the office of Menteri Besar of Perak from 2020; also served briefly in a Perak PN executive council, March–December 2020N23N20
6. 2022Sworn in as the 15th Menteri Besar of Perak on 21 November 2022 after the state assembly was dissolved; the assembly passed an anti-hopping law he cited as securing his governmentN14N11
7. 2022-11Re-elected N4 Kota Tampan with 5,468 votes (majority 1,237)E1
8. 2024Launched Central Medicare Sdn Bhd in Teluk Intan on 27 May 2024; confirmed by two outlets as both Perak Menteri Besar and Perak UMNO chiefN15N17
9. 2026Perak-to-Penang raw water project: a 40-year bulk water supply agreement by Khazanah Air Perak via Prasarana Air dan Irigasi Perak with first delivery targeted from Q1 2032; terms in final alignment for state executive council approval; the 10 July 2026 signing date passed with no new date fixedN3N4N6
10. 2026-10Reported that 95 projects were approved for Perak under Rolling Plan 2 of the 13th Malaysia Plan with a RM2.938 billion ceiling and RM150.5 million for 2027; activated the state Disaster Control Centre from 18 October 2026N34N32

Risk profile

How much due-diligence attention each area needs — not a finding of wrongdoing.

• PEP exposureHigh

  Heads the Perak state government as Menteri Besar and is also the state UMNO chief, giving him authority over state executive council decisions, budget allocations and party endorsement.

• Political influence & networksMedium

  Records document a cross-state water supply arrangement with Penang, a stated strategic-partnership posture with Penang and Kedah, and a Penang industrial base being courted for relocation to his state.

• Public procurement interfaceMedium

  His state approved 95 projects under the 13th Malaysia Plan (RM2.938bn ceiling, RM150.5m for 2027) and is developing the RM700m Kerian Industrial City, a large award and approval pipeline not documented in these records.

• Corporate / GLC exposureMedium

  He launched Central Medicare Sdn Bhd in 2024 and the Perak water project runs through state-linked entities (Khazanah Air Perak, Prasarana Air dan Irigasi Perak) under a 40-year agreement.

• Litigation historyOpen

  No court, arbitration or case records for him or the state entities appear in the record set, so litigation history is untested.

• Regulatory / criminal findingsOpen

  No MACC, police, auditor or regulator findings are recorded either way; no integrity check was run on the record set.

• Financial transparencyOpen

  Records give aggregate funding figures (RM2.938bn, RM150.5m, RM700m GDV) but no asset declarations, company shareholdings, beneficial ownership or credit information.

• Media & reputationLow

  Coverage in the records is dominated by neutral official statements; the only friction reported is the postponed Penang water signing and the undisclosed tariff.

Key roles & positions

• MLA for N16 Lenggong, November 1999 – March 2004N18E6
• MLA for N4 Kota Tampan since March 2004 (wins 2004, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022)N21E5E4E3E2E1
• Perak State Executive Council member, March 2004 – March 2008 and February 2009 – May 2018 (BN), and March – December 2020 (PN)N20
• Leader of the Opposition of Perak, August 2018 – March 2020N19
• Menteri Besar of Perak from 2020; sworn in as 15th Menteri Besar on 21 November 2022N23N14N9
• Perak UMNO chief (as reported May 2024)N17

Networks & connections

• Khazanah Air Perak and its subsidiary Prasarana Air dan Irigasi Perak, the state-linked entities holding the 40-year Bulk Water Supply Agreement to supply PenangN3
• Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang (Penang's water authority), counterparty to the bulk water supply agreementN3
• Penang and Kedah, framed by him as strategic partners rather than competitors for PerakN10
• Penang-based investors in Batu Kawan, targeted for relocation of factory operations to Perak's Kerian Industrial CityN30N29
• PPBM, whose Simpang Pulai candidate he pledged Umno support for in 2021 and whom he urged not to contest seats won by UMNON12N13
• Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah, where the student food aid programme began as a 2022 pilot with 200 studentsN27

Corporate / GLC roles

• Launched Central Medicare Sdn Bhd in Teluk Intan on 27 May 2024; no registry or shareholding details are in the recordsN15
• State-linked water supply chain serving his administration: Khazanah Air Perak through subsidiary Prasarana Air dan Irigasi Perak, as the 40-year bulk water supplier to PenangN3
• Kerian Industrial City (KIC) and KIGIP development — 287-acre site with about RM700m gross development value and nearly 12,000 expected jobs, plus a planned new main intake substationN29N28

Key findings

• ✓He is the Menteri Besar of Perak, sworn in as the 15th Menteri Besar on 21 November 2022, a post he had held before the assembly was dissolved, and he is also Perak UMNO chiefN9N14N17
• ✓Six consecutive UMNO/BN state election victories between 1999 and 2022 (Lenggong 1999; Kota Tampan 2004–2022), majorities from 1,237 to 2,677 votesE6E5E4E3E2E1
• ✓Perak is in the final stage of aligning the raw water supply agreement terms with Penang, and the agreement is to be brought to the state executive council (MMK) for consideration and approval before being finalisedN4
• ✓Khazanah Air Perak, through subsidiary Prasarana Air dan Irigasi Perak, holds a Bulk Water Supply Agreement with Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang covering a 40-year operating period, with first treated-water delivery targeted from Q1 2032N3
• ✓The original 10 July 2026 signing date passed with no new date fixed; the Penang government requested postponement, and he stated the postponement was a business-to-business matter between Khazanah Air Perak and Penang's water management, not politicalN6N7
• ✓The water tariff discussed for Penang has not been announced and could only be announced once the agreement is signedN5
• ✓Perak's raw water request from Penang for 700 million litres of treated water a day was reported as subject to meeting domestic user demand first, with any sale dependent on an agreementN1
• ✓Perak approved 95 projects and programmes under Rolling Plan 2 of the 13th Malaysia Plan with a RM2.938 billion ceiling and an allocation of RM150.5 million for 2027; Budget 2027 gave attention to the Automotive Hi-Tech Valley and Lumut Maritime Industrial City, with seven of ten state priority projects approvedN34N35

Red flags / areas of concern

• !Key commercial terms of the raw water agreement with Penang — tariff, volume, exclusivity and liability — are undisclosed pending signature, and no new signing date has been setN5N6
• !Large state-linked water supply obligation running 40 years under a state GLC, with no beneficial-ownership, tender or contract-award documentation in the recordsN3
• !Company he personally launched (Central Medicare Sdn Bhd) has no registry-level information on directors, shareholders or funding in the recordsN15
• !RM2.938bn of approved Rolling Plan 2 projects, RM150.5m of 2027 allocation and the RM700m Kerian Industrial City / new intake substation represent a procurement pipeline with no award or tender detail in the recordsN34N35N28N29
• !Residual unresolved complaints (186 of 1,015) and a benefit-entitlement filter for student assistance are policy matters reported without underlying audit or case recordsN2N26

Mitigating factors

• ◆No allegation, charge, conviction or reported legal case against him appears anywhere in the record setN4N7
• ◆The Penang water agreement is documented as going through formal state executive council (MMK) approval before finalisation rather than being unilaterally concludedN4
• ◆The supply arrangement is a formal 40-year bulk water agreement with a named state-linked entity and a stated delivery timeline, not an informal arrangement reported in the recordsN3
• ◆He publicly attributed the delayed signing to a business-to-business matter between two organisations rather than a political decisionN7
• ◆Electoral record shows six consecutive uncontested-past victories with no recorded electoral irregularity in the results providedE1E2E3E4E5E6

Recommended next steps

1. 1Run SSM e-Search (including profile-viewer) on Central Medicare Sdn Bhd and on any Perak state-linked entities named in the records, to confirm directors, shareholders and beneficial ownership.
2. 2Obtain the full raw water agreement and Penang's Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang board/committee papers, together with Perak MMK (state executive council) minutes, to review tariff, volumes, exclusivity and the 40-year term.
3. 3Search MACC (including the "Semak Pegawai"/ officer check and press releases) and the Malaysian judiciary's e-Court Malaysia records in his name and in the names of the state GLC entities involved.
4. 4Review Auditor-General's reports on Perak state financial management and Perak's audited financial statements, plus MOF's 13th Malaysia Plan Rolling Plan 2 award list and Budget 2027 allocations, for the RM2.938bn and RM150.5m figures cited.
5. 5Obtain his asset declaration filed with MACC, the Perak state's conflict-of-interest register, and SPR candidate asset declarations for Kota Tampan (2018, 2022) and Umno Perak's branch accounts.
6. 6Check Invest Perak/MIDA records and tender notices for Kerian Industrial City tenancy awards and the new KIC/KIGIP main intake substation, to compare award practice with the state pipeline described in the records.