BACKROOM discussions are ongoing to bring back Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir as the executive chairman of Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd, nearly a fortnight after his abrupt resignation from the post just as he was putting into action plans to downsize operations at the Umno-owned company, said sources.

Aziz informed Umno he would decide on the matter by mid-January, they said.

However, he is said to have started talks with various parties on how to solve Utusan’s financial woes.

The former Kulim Bandar Baharu MP will meet heads of department at Utusan today on the matter.

“But he appears to be reluctant to come back,” said a source.

Speculation of Aziz’s return comes just as the company, which publishes Utusan Malaysia, failed to pay salaries this month, which should have been made yesterday.

Last week, the company defaulted on the first payment to employees who left the company last month under a voluntary separation scheme.

The first of 12 monthly payments has been postponed to an unspecified date.

Some 700 employees who agreed to leave the Umno mouthpiece under the VSS were affected but Utusan said it had insufficient funds to make the payment.

This was because it had yet to be paid after the sale of company assets.

Aziz resigned from his post on December 13, citing personal business commitments. He accepted the appointment on June 7, two weeks after chairman Mohamad Fatmi Che Salleh resigned along with four directors.

It has been reported that Aziz has now cut short his holidays in Europe to return to discuss Utusan’s financial problems.

Another source told The Malaysian Insight that Aziz’s reappointment has the blessings of acting Umno president Mohamad Hasan. Umno has the largest stake in Utusan at 49.77%.

Meanwhile, a group of Utusan employees has started a petition urging Aziz to return to helm the company. The petition will be handed over to him after his meeting this morning.

Under Aziz’s short watch, Utusan was said to have been more open in its reporting.

It had, for example, criticised former prime minister and Umno president Najib Razak over the 1MDB scandal.

However, such newfound freedom did not sit well among some Umno leaders, resulting in his resignation which came at about the same time when Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s former press secretary, Ibrahim Yahya, was appointed as Utusan Malaysia’s group editor.

But Ibrahim himself resigned within a week just after Zahid handed over his duties in the party to his deputy, Mohamad Hasan.

In an interview with Utusan yesterday, Mohamad said he wanted the daily to stop being an Umno mouthpiece and start reporting on issues affecting the people. – December 31, 2018.