Azmin’s DEIG got a RM500m loan? Save Our Selangor!
Rakyat Marhaen
Barely a year after Mohamed Azmin Ali was appointed the Selangor Menteri Besar, he is already in hot soup both politically and administratively. Following the virtually official breakup of Pakatan Rakyat as declared by DAP’s supremo Lim Guang Eng in June 2015, the fate of the Selangor government, which comprises PAS, DAP and PKR, has been in limbo.
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/pakatan-is-no-more-dap-declares
Some political pundits view Selangor as not a Pakatan Rakyat government but an Azmin government. It sounds grand and glorious, doesn’t it? But the real situation is far from it. One can feel the animosity or at least the strain between the DAP and PAS EXCOs whenever they are seated at the same table.
For illustration, a PAS EXCO was recently told that his days are numbered by his DAP colleague at a state function. To appease PAS, he openly welcomed PAS to the new Pakatan Rakyat 2.0, only to be rebuffed later by Guan Eng and Gerakan Harapan Baru (GHB), a splinter group from PAS that has recently formed a new political party, Parti Amanah Negara (PAN). Azmin is definitely feeling the heat and the increasingly vociferous denunciation against the establishment of Darul Ehsan Investment Group (DEIG) has added fuel to the fire.
The DEIG fiasco cornered Azmin and put him on the defensive, as seen at the recent Dewan Negeri Selangor sitting where he took pot-shots (but clearly missing the target) at the opposition with independent ADUN and former Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as his favourite target. Azmin may have thought he was savvy enough to turn the table around by declaring to the Dewan that there is nothing shady about DEIG, to the extent of claiming it has not even commenced operations. “All the allegations are not true, DEIG has not started operations. There are no transactions, no assets and no activities yet,” he said as reported in the media.
But that attempt to win the war of perception by twisting facts on the dodgy DEIG proved to be not an easy walk in the park for Azmin. Despite his claims of no activity, he cannot deny that DEIG had already advertised a Request For Proposal (RFP) as published in The Edge Weekly. Not to make light of allegations of the controversial zakat distribution worth RM5 million through the PKR machinery instead of via Lembaga Zakat Selangor, MACC is seriously investigating into the matter and was even rumoured to have conducted a raid on DEIG’s premises last Friday. Azmin’s attempt to pooh-pooh the accusations fell flat because it is mind-boggling for an entity claimed to have no operations to pay zakat!
Another evidence that Azmin has in fact lied in the Dewan regarding the status of DEIG is the RM2 million that he himself revealed as the amount spent by MBI to lavishly renovate the 14th Floor of the SUK2 building to house DEIG’s 20-odd staff, some of whom were transferred from MBI. It is beyond belief that one would spend so much of taxpayers’ money for the corporate office of a yet-to-start entity! A sign that the fervent heat is burning them up, all the signage bearing “DEIG” at the premises has recently been removed and replaced with that bearing “MBI”.
And now a new allegation has come forth – far more serious than the previous ones. Talks within the banking industry are rife that DEIG has requested loan proposals from three banks to raise more than RM500 million for working capital. Any reasonably educated person would understand requesting a loan from a bank would amount to an “activity”, no? What’s more interesting, it is learned that one of the banks has already issued an offer letter to DEIG. Accepting an offer for a loan would then amount to another “activity”, no?
If this is true, it would mean that Azmin is not the only one lying to the people of Selangor. The entire board of directors of DEIG including the state secretary and the state finance officer may have to take responsibility, too. Most probably, the only way a RM2 company such as DEIG could be richer by a half billion ringgit is by leveraging on the state’s precious land as collateral. Clearly, the Select Committee on Agencies, Statutory Bodies and State Subsidiaries (JP-Abas) must take a bold step to get a confirmation whether a RM450 million loan facility was granted to DEIG. But will JP-Abas be bold enough? Can you bet your bottom dollar it won’t?
http://m.malaysiakini.com/news/311397
