A PROPER forensic accounting needs to be done before a decision can be made on whether or not cash strapped oil and gas service provider Sapura Energy Bhd is deserving of a bailout, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said today.

The PKR president faced off with former Prime Minister Najib Razak today in a debate that took place at the Malaysia Tourism Centre (MaTic).

“If we want to involve ourselves in this affair, carry out a forensic audit, find out if government intervention is needed or not. Go through the proper process,” Anwar said during the debate.

The debate today is the first time Najib and Anwar have debated publicly. Both had previously held the position of Finance Minister. Anwar was the Finance Minister from March 15, 1991 to September 2, 1998, during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s premiership, when both were still in Umno and Barisan Nasional was in power.

Najib was named as Finance Minister from September 23, 2008 to May 9, 2018. He held the post while Abdullah Badawi was the prime minister. Subsequently when Najib took over as prime minister, he held on to the portfolio.

While the two were debating, boos and claps could be heard from the crowd depending on who was speaking.

Najib had earlier suggested that the company needed to be bailed out because it involved thousands of employees, vendors and most importantly that the company belonged to the people.

“Why does Sapura need to be saved? Because it is owned by the people. The decision was made by Pakatan Harapan in 2019 for Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) to take over. If it was not owned by PNB, I wouldn’t be interested in debating,” Najib said.

He said that at its peak, Sapura was the second largest oil and gas services provider in the world.

The company, Najib said, only started failing when crude oil prices fell drastically.

The Pekan MP reiterated his assertion that in order to bail out Sapura, not a single cent needs to be forked out by the government.

“We can use Petronas to take over Sapura as the company has the expertise.

“Petronas can guarantee that Sapura will fulfil all its obligations as well as provide the cash strapped company with working capital.

“Once it recovers, Petronas can sell it for a profit,” Najib said.

This model has been used by the US government to bail out American International Group (AIG) as well as Citigroup, he said.

Anwar retorted by asking Najib whose money did he think Petronas was using.

“Not only will we be spending sens but billions by using Petronas to bailout this company.

“We should not bail this company, and companies like Serba Dinamik and let wrongdoers go free,” he said.

Anwar added that just because Sapura was a Bumiputera-owned company is not reason enough to save it.

In attendance were several Umno leaders including Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, its secretary-general Ahmad Maslan, supreme council member Puad Zakarshi and Noh Omar, to name a few.

In Anwar’s corner, Pandan lawmaker Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was seated in the front row, along with DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil and Taiping MP Nga Kor MIng to name a few.

There were 400 people in attendance in Matic.

Sapura Energy posted a net loss of RM6.61 billion in its fourth quarter ending January 2022 compared to a loss of RM216.03 million for the same period last year.

This is largely due to impairment on goodwill worth RM3.29 billion and impairment on property, plant and equipment worth RM2.1 billion.

For the full year ending January 31, the group recorded a net loss of RM8.9 billion, ts highest ever, while its annual revenue fell by 22.84% to RM4.13 billion from RM5.35 billion.

The company is currently undertaking a massive debt restructuring exercise involving banks, vendors and contractors. – May 13, 2022.