Mahathir’s new battleground: TNB
Mahathir is not giving up in spite of losing every battle over the past 20 months. He wants to show the PM that he still has some bite left in him. And he is doing this by asking Syed Mokhtar to use TNB to defy and challenge the government, even fight the case in court if necessary. And Syed Mokhtar’s Gurkha in this whole exercise is Che Khalib, the ‘mafia boss’ of the TNB mafia.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
According to Forbes, Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary is worth about RM7 billion. That makes him far richer than Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who is holding (supposedly merely as trustee) Umno’s assets worth an estimated RM1-2 billion under proxies, nominees, cronies and family members, such as his sons. And one of Mahathir’s many proxies, of course, is Syed Mokhtar himself.
Hence, if we want to calculate their wealth, we need to combine Syed Mohktar’s wealth with that of Mahathir’s (or what is supposed to be Umno’s wealth in Mahathir’s name) and the sum total which Syed Mokhtar and Mahathir jointly own would be RM8-9 billion.
But that RM8-9 billion is only the combined wealth of Syed Mokhtar and Mahathir. When you add the wealth of another Mahathir crony cum proxy, Ananda Krishnan, which is estimated to be about RM30 billion, then the tag-team of Mahathir, Syed Mokhtar and Ananda comes close to RM40 billion.
Mahathir may not have invented the term crony-capitalism, but he has certainly given a new meaning to the term.
But Syed Mokhtar will soon catch up with Ananda because the former is rapidly buying up state assets like there is no tomorrow. He is like a shark that swallows anything in his path. At the rate he is going this will prove the theory that 3% of the people own more than half the wealth while 10% own 90% of the wealth.
That is the direct result of crony-capitalism, the religion of those who pray to money.
Syed Mokhtar’s MMC Corp., which has interests in power plants, plantations, defence suppliers, a rail network and a broadcasting platform, is adding a fourth port to his portfolio. Syed Mokhtar also relisted Southeast Asia’s largest independent power producer (IPP), Malakoff Corp., in May 2016, plus he holds a near-monopoly on the distribution of rice in the country and benefited greatly from the removal of price controls on sugar.
Anyway, that is not the story today (I just wanted to be my normal cheong hei self). The story today is about how, after failing to use 1MDB to oust Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, Mahathir is now shifting the battleground to TNB.
Mahathir wants to show Najib that he still has power and still calls the shots. And that is why Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has been told to defy the Energy Commission and the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water. Basically, Mahathir wants to embarrass Najib with an “in-your-face”.
This Utusan Malaysia report tells the story:
Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) sedang mengkaji untuk memulakan proses perundangan bagi membatalkan arahan Suruhanjaya Tenaga dan Kementerian Tenaga, Teknologi Hijau dan Air untuk meneruskan Perjanjian Pembelian Tenaga (PPA) dengan YTL Power International Bhd (YTL Power).
Menurut kenyataan syarikat utiliti itu kepada Bursa Malaysia, tindakan itu dibuat sebelum kes tersebut dibawa ke mahkamah tinggi.
Jelas syarikat itu, ia berkaitan arahan Suruhanjaya Tenaga kepada TNB pada 7 April lalu supaya menghapuskan syarat-syarat baharu yang mahu diperkenalkan di dalam PPA yang akan ditandatangani YTL Power.
TNB mahu membatalkan arahan tersebut yang hadir seminggu selepas menteri memberikan arahan kepada suruhanjaya itu pada 1 April lalu mengenai PPA. TNB juga mahu membatalkan arahan menteri berhubung perkara yang sama.
Di dalam PPA itu, TNB akan membeli bekalan tenaga elektrik daripada YTL Power Generation yang dimiliki oleh YTL Power International melalui stesen janakuasa berkapasiti 800 megawat (mW) di Paka, Terengganu.
“Syarikat akan terus memberi perkembangan terkini berhubung perkara ini dan sebarang keputusan yang dicapai hasil kajian perundangan ini,” jelas TNB dalam maklumannya itu.
Pada tahun lalu, YTL Power telah dianugerahkan lanjutan kontrak pembekalan selama dua tahun untuk menjual tenaga kepada TNB menerusi satu PPA. Bagaimanapun, PPA tersebut masih belum ditandatangani ekoran berlakunya pertikaian tanah antara TNB dan YTL Power.
Tanah di Paka tersebut adalah milik TNB tetapi disewakan kepada YTL mengikut PPA yang telah ditandatangani sebelum itu. TNB bagaimanapun dilaporkan enggan meneruskan PPA selagi YTL Power tidak mahu mengadakan perjanjian sewa tanah (LLA) yang baharu.
“Selain kos perundangan dan pengurusan, proses undang-undang ini tidak akan menjejaskan kewangan dan operasi syarikat,” jelas TNB.
Bagaimanapun jelasnya, jika syarikat gagal di dalam tindakan undang-undangnya TNB berisiko untuk dikenakan denda sehingga RM200,000 kerana tidak mengikut arahan Suruhanjaya Tenaga.
Pada 2015, kerajaan melalui Suruhanjaya Tenaga telah mengadakan bidaan kompetitif untuk melanjutkan PPA bagi penjana tenaga bebas (IPP) generasi pertama.
Tiga IPP telah memenuhi syarat ditetapkan suruhanjaya itu dan berjaya dalam bidaan berkenaan iaitu Port Dickson Power Bhd. (PD Power), Kuala Langat Power Plant Sdn. Bhd. dan YTL Power Generation Sdn. Bhd.
Mahathir needs a catalyst in which to trigger a conflict. I mean even a bomb needs a detonator. So Mahathir is using the YTL case as that trigger to detonate a conflict (just like how they used the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria to trigger WWI). Syed Mokhtar’s hit man or assassin is Che Khalib Mohamad Noh. And this is what Bloomberg has to say about him.
(Bloomberg) – Che Khalib bin Mohamad Noh has been a Group Managing Director of MMC Corporation Bhd since 1 July 2013.
Che Khalib served as the Group Managing Director of Malakoff Corporation Berhad (Malakoff) since 1 July 2013 until 8 December 2014 and served as the Chief Operating Officer of Finance Strategy and Planning at DRB-HICOM Berhad since 16 July 2012.
Che Khalib served as the Chief Executive Officer of Tenaga Nasional Berhad from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2012 and served as its President until 30 June 2012. He also served as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of KUB Malaysia Berhad and as Head of Civil Engineering at Johor Port Berhad.
Che Khalib serves as Chairman of the Board of Johor Port Berhad, Penang Port Sdn Bhd and Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd since 1 January 2015. He has been a Non-Independent and Non-Executive Director at Gas Malaysia Berhad since 1 July 2013 and serves as a Director of MMC Engineering Group Berhad, Lambang Optima Sdn Bhd, UEM World Berhad and Maika Holdings Berhad.
He has been a Director of Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd. since 2 July 2013 and as Director of Kapar Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd and an Executive Director of MMC Corporation Bhd since 1 July 2013.
Those are just a few of the many directorships and chairmanships that Che Khalib holds in various companies, most which are linked to Syed Mokhtar.
Word has been sent to the TNB insiders and the management, who Syed Mokhtar bought off through Che Khalib, that the Energy Commission and the Ministry must be defied and frustrated every step of the way at all costs. And the way they are doing this is by throwing a spanner in the YTL IPP extension — because this will trigger a conflict for sure.
Needless to say, crippling a rival IPP will be beneficial to Malakoff — the country’s largest IPP — owned and controlled by Syed Mokhtar. So Mahathir can kill two birds with one stone — trigger a conflict and make money at the same time.
In fact, YTL makes a good catalyst for this sabotage exercise because they have refused to support the Anti-Najib Campaign (ANC) and also refuses to contribute to the RM2 billion-fund to oust Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. And for that YTL must be brought to its knees unless it relents and contributes at least RM200 million to the fund.
It will be very interesting to see how this will play out because TNB is going to go to court to try to break the agreement with YTL in spite of the Commission’s and the Ministry’s instructions. TNB has always considered itself an independent body and has always resented what it considers government or political interference.
Even in terms of who should head TNB it must always be an insider promoted from the ranks and not someone who TNB would consider an outsider. This time TNB is going all out and is defying the government. TNB has more or less indicated that it stands with Mahathir and his ANC and supports the effort to oust Najib.
Mahathir hopes that Najib will lose face in the TNB versus the government battle if it ends up in court. Not even the Minister or the Cabinet can tell TNB what to do and the message they want to send to the Prime Minister’s office is: stay the hell out of TNB unless you want open warfare.
Already, TNB is shaping up to be a sort of proxy-war between Mahathir and Najib.
What is Najib’s move going to be? Is he going to put his tail between his legs and allow TNB to slap him in the face or is he going to show TNB that there can only be one Prime Minister in Malaysia?
Over to you, Najib! Let’s see what stuff you are made of. Mahathir has already said Najib is gutless. Is Najib going to prove Mahathir wrong by showing TNB who is in charge of running Malaysia?
I suppose YTL can always make peace with TNB by ‘donating’ RM200 million to Mahathir’s ANC, or maybe even RM300 million. And then Mahathir can call off his dogs in TNB. In the meantime let’s see how this legal battle that TNB is going to launch against the government is going to unfold in court.
This next episode is probably going to be called ‘Dari 1MDB ke TNB, perjuangan yang tak habis-habis’.
