Dr Mahathir accuses Khazanah of making ‘funny’ investments

Kamles Kumar Kamles Kumar Updated 7 years ago · Published on 6 Jul 2018 1:20PM · 3 Comments

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says today Khazanah has lost sight of its original purpose. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Kamal Ariffin, July 6, 2018.

KHAZANAH Nasional Bhd made “funny” business decisions, which made it lose sight of its original mission, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

Khazanah was making unsound investments instead of contributing to the Bumiputera economy, the prime minister said. 

“It is quite obvious they are doing all kinds of funny things like buying houses and taking over companies.

“Khazanah was initially formed to buy up shares allocated to Bumiputeras because Bumiputeras, when they buy, they sell immediately to others,” Dr Mahathir said in a press conference at Perdana Leadership Foundation.

“To stop them (Bumiputeras) from doing that, we formed Khazanah. Now, they seem to be taking up all shares, all on their own, whether they are meant for Bumiputeras or not.

“So, maybe it should go back to its original purpose,” he said.

As at December 2017, Khazanah had realisable asset value (RAV) of RM157.2 billion while its net worth adjusted (NWA) was RM115.6 billion.

In its election manifesto, Pakatan Harapan, which Dr Mahathir leads, pledged to make government-linked companies a key component in increasing Bumiputera participation in the stock market.

The PH administration is reviewing all the shares Khazanah owns with a view towards re-orientating the fund to its original function – to hold equity on behalf of Bumiputeras.

“We will categorise (the shares) into ones that are profitable, ones that are possibly profitable and ones that are losing.

“We need to get rid of some of these companies to reduce their number and, to a certain extent, go back to (Khazanah’s) original intention of holding the shares allocated for Bumiputeras until such a time as they can buy them,” Dr Mahathir had said in an interview with Investzine. – July 6, 2018.

Sign up or sign in here to comment.

Comments

  • Khazanah (and EPF and even BNM) were used to buy up shares of your cronies to probe up prices when they were in difficulties (in the name of Bumi participation). Petronas was used to rescue you son ..... No wonder Khazanah make losses during your time. Do you want a repeat of "your funny" investments?

    Posted 7 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply

  • You just confirmed Bumi NOT achieving 30% corporate equity was a BIG lie (started by you)!!

    Posted 7 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply

  • Yeah, get rid of shares of Alibaba, Ant Financial, Grab, ....... and buy shares of loss making Bumi/cronies companies ....... and see what happens!

    Posted 7 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply