Tuesday October 14, 2008
Anwar raps Govt for okaying pricey projects and purchases
Anwar concerned that the government might be in denial
DATUK Seri Anwar Ibrahim wasted no time getting into his role as Opposition Leader when he presented his maiden speech criticising the Government for approving large-scale projects without undergoing proper inspection.
During the debate on Budget 2009, Anwar criticised the Government for allowing Maybank to implement the purchase into PT Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII), saying that Maybank was paying 4.2 times the book value compared with the actual price.
Giving his views: Anwar giving a press conference at Parliament building in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Seated with him are DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang (left) and PAS secretary-general Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar. “The cost purchase of RM4.26bil, at nearly five times its book value, is being made during the worsening economic situation,” he said.
“Maybank had paid RM8bil for a bank which cost RM4.7bil last time. No financial analyst made a positive comment on the purchase.”
It was reported that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had said Maybank’s decision to acquire BII was made prior to the global financial crisis and thus it could not back out from its agreement now.
Najib added that the acquisition was a commercial decision solely made by Maybank and that the Government was not involved.
On another issue, Anwar questioned why Najib, who was recently appointed Finance Minister replacing Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had made a speedy approval for Telekom Malaysia Bhd over the sale of the RM11.3bil high-speed broadband project.
“The money could have been used properly during these trying times,” he added.
Anwar also slammed Najib, the former Defence Minister, for approving the purchase of 12 helicopters, which cost RM2.3bil from Eurocopter, for the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the Government should not be using public funds to bail out Singaporean company Temasek Holdings from its untenable position in BII.
“We shouldn’t be helping out an Indonesian bank or a Singaporean firm. Temasek must really be desperate if they were willing to give a 15% discount of over RM760mil after an agreement was signed for Maybank to buy over for some RM8bil,” he told reporters in the Parliament lobby here yesterday.
Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee rejected the request by Pakatan Rakyat MPs that a new Budget be tabled, saying that any move to bring up such a request should be decided at the committee stage, not during the second reading of Budget 2009.
S. Sivarasa (PKR-Subang), who tabled the motion, sought an explanation from the Finance Minister on several issues, including the global financial crisis and why the Budget supposedly did not reflect the current economic situation.
Anwar also called on the Dewan to postpone the ongoing debate on the Budget on claims that the country’s economy was being mismanaged.
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