UMNO will take over management of Putrade Property Management Sdn Bhd following Yahya Abdul Jalil’s resignation from its board of directors in March, sources told The Malaysian Insight.

Putrade manages the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) building, which houses the Umno headquarters, private offices and convention facilities that are an important cash cow for the former ruling party, which is struggling to stay financially afloat after losing federal power last year.

According to insiders, the Umno leadership will select a new Putrade chairman from among the current batch of party leaders.

“We expect the appointment of a new Putrade chairman soon,” said one source.

The Putrade chairmanship was left vacant after former prime minister Najib Razak’s political secretary, Alies Anor Abdul, resigned last September. Kuala Selangor MP Irmohizam Ibrahim is the only director left in Putrade.

Umno previously tasked Yahya with restructuring Putrade’s operations when the party encountered cash-flow problems following Barisan Nasional’s defeat in the 14th general election.

Yahya, appointed to Putrade last October, was tasked with improving the party’s cash flow by restructuring the event management companies coordinating government functions in the PWTC building.

However, his appointment raised concerns among members that Umno was planning to offload its assets to the Urusan Gerbang Perdana director.

Yahya has denied planning to buy over the Umno assets, saying he was only helping the party manage its assets based on his experience as a director at Urusan Advanced Maintenance Precision Management Sdn Bhd.

“I was not in Putrade as a representative of Gerbang Perdana, but as an individual in PWTC,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Besides PWTC, Putrade also manages the Umno training facility, Institut Memperkasa Ummah (Ilmu), in Janda Baik.

Under Yahya, Putrade turned Ilmu into a recreational facility to generate additional income for the party.

Yahya, however, courted controversy after inviting DAP’s Ketari assemblyman, Young Syefura Othman, to the facility. The Ilmu academy is in Bentong, where her state seat is located.

“Following that incident, Yahya resigned from Putrade. He was trying to help improve Umno’s finances, but inviting a DAP politician to Ilmu was unacceptable to many members,” said a source.

Established for Umno to conduct party training, activities at Ilmu have quietened down following GE14. – July 7, 2019.