In Malaysia, who decides the sweetheart deals?

By admin-s On Jun 5, 2014

(TMI) – These are the deals that raise more than just eyebrows, that defy logic and beg questions. They are the behind the scenes sweetheart deals by a few financial institutions that reek of political shenanigans.

These are the deals that make you wonder about the men in the street who get hounded by thugs and car repossessors over small sums while those who take unimaginably large loans get better treatment.

First was the 2012 Valentine Day out-of-court settlement between state unpaid loans manager Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd and Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli over the tycoon’s RM589 million in unpaid loans.

This Valentine’s Day, Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim also confirmed that he reached an out-of-court settlement with Bank Islam Malaysia over a RM66.67 million loan that apparently is a fraction of the original sum.

Then there is the tale of carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan and his interest-free 10-year repayment for a RM32 million loan from Bank Rakyat which was revealed the bank’s former chairman Tan Sri Sabbaruddin Chik last week.

The first question is, who could have given the okay for such deals? Surely, not some small politician or mid-level bank manager. Who would dare approve such deals?

It has to be someone high up, very high up in Putrajaya who decides that some people can take their sweet time to pay back the principal sum without interest, perhaps even just a token sum.

Yet, no one bats an eyelid over such deals. It is untenable that all the regulators have kept silent over such settlements by these financial institutions. Why are these people treated with kid gloves? What is the finance minister doing about this?

Fact is, nothing that Tajudin, Khalid or Deepak ever did entitled them to such special treatment from the financial institutions. Some, if not all, took a haircut from the settlement deals.

Why? Can the management of these institutions explain this? After all, some of these institutions are funded by public money.

And of the three individuals, the most troubling is that involving Khalid. Why?

Because he is politician from the opposition bench, someone who talks about transparency and good governance in the administration of his Selangor state, Malaysia’s wealthiest and most-industrialised state.

And yet none of his party members, let alone his lawyer, knew that he was going to be a beneficiary of this sweetheart that saw a potential RM70 million shredded to about RM10 million and to be paid in instalments.