Anwar demands answers on ex-Petronas CEO’s resignation

Updated 3 years ago · Published on 2 Jul 2020 1:15PM · 2 Comments

Former Petronas CEO Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin says hiking royalty payments could cost the company up to RM7 billion a year. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, July 2, 2020.

PUTRAJAYA must explain if its interference in Petronas, which resulted in the resignation of the national oil company’s CEO Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin last month, said Anwar Ibrahim.

The PKR president also asked if the resignation is connected to the Perikatan Nasional government pressuring Petronas to give concessions to Sarawak because of political reasons.

“As the company responsible for overseeing the country’s wealth and revenues, the people are clearly wondering what the real plan was behind the resignation. This must be explained and detailed by Petronas.

“Is there any government involvement (in Wan Zulkiflee’s resignation)?” he said in a statement today. 

Wan Zulkiflee allegedly stepped down because he disagreed with Putrajaya’s plan to pay Sarawak RM2 billion in oil and gas sales tax.

A source close to Wan Zulkiflee told Reuters that he could not agree to the deal and resigned in protest.

“Wan Zulkiflee resigned because of principles… that he is not agreeable to the Sarawak deal. 

“The new government is open to giving more to the states that produce oil,” said the source close to the government.

Anwar said after serving for nearly four decades in Petronas, the resignation prompted many questions.

“Global rating agency S&P Global Ratings also recently re-evaluated the outlook for Malaysia and Petronas from stable to negative.

“What the body is concerned about is the government interference in Petronas. It also called for clarification on the payments made to Sarawak.”

Instability in Petronas has negatively impacted on the economy and international investors, Anwar said.

“The opposition demands a thorough explanation of the issue.

“Petronas’ failure to resolve these questions will lead to distrust that will worsen the current situation.”

Sarawak had been demanding that the federal government pay its dues over the state’s oil and gas resources, with the sales tax being one of the ways of forcing Putrajaya to pay up.

Petronas, however, maintained that it has the sole rights to all oil and gas resources nationwide, including Sarawak, and brought the dispute to the courts.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is also reportedly open to giving Sabah and Sarawak more royalty payments for their oil and gas resources, key demands of both Bornean states.

Wan Zulkiflee previously said hiking royalty payments is not feasible and could cost the company up to RM7 billion a year. – July 2, 2020.

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Comments

  • A man of integrity would leave with grace and humility, their conscious is clear and they can sleep well at night. Man of such stature is hardly to come by nowadays unlike men of, twisted tongue, dishonest and full of craps can be easily spotted in the Malaysian parliament and among them are a band of thieves. The two states across the south China Sea has always wanted to leave. The two states have been barking for this and that like a small child playing kite at times they released the strings and at times they pull the strings, to the two states stop barking like a dog and be a man to hold a referendum while to Pak Din if you got the guts, approved it without any hesitation.

    To DSAI, we the RAKYAT wants to see and challenge you and all those politicians who claims to be there for the RAKYAT, can you people bring to the floor of the Parliament, mooted the idea to stop party hopping and come up with a proper law to it. We are the laughing stock in the world right now a sitting PM got caught millions in his personal account and gets scot free while the other is that we had frogs in the Parliament so much so why hold an election which has no effect.

    Posted 3 years ago by Teruna Kelana · Reply

  • Anwar, where were you the last 14 days? Only now do you come out to comment on this issue? There are serious questions about your lembik leadership of the opposition. If you are not up to the task of policing the acts of the PN govt, then let someone younger takeover.

    Posted 3 years ago by SK G · Reply