PETROLIAM Nasional Bhd (Petronas) chairman Mohd Sidek Hassan and director Mohd Omar Mustapha are due to resign soon, The Edge Markets reported.

Sidek, who has been Petronas chairman since July 1, 2012, also chaired the previous government’s Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Bank Negara Malaysia’s foreign exchange losses in the 1990s.

Critics had said the haste and manner in which the RCI was conducted appeared to show that it was set up to pin the losses on Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was prime minister during the time.

Both Sidek and 47-year-old Omar, who has been a non-executive director since September 2009, were brought in to Petronas about the same time as former president and chief executive officer Mohd Hassan Marican left the national oil company in February 2010.

Hassan went on to become deputy chairman of Sembcorp Marine Ltd in 2011 and subsequently became its chairman in 2014 until now. He is a member of the Council of Eminent Persons.

The possible departures of Sidek and Omar also raises the question of whether Hassan will return to Petronas, said The Edge. – June 6, 2018.