Billions in Capital Expenditure at Stake
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Headline Billions in capital expenditure at stake MediaTitle The Star Date 18 Apr 2020 Language English Circulation 175,986 Readership 527,958 Section Star BizWeek Page No 11 ArticleSize 495 cm² Journalist M.SHANMUGAM PR Value RM 75,022 Key government-linked entities and their capital spending Billions in capital Petronas The biggest driver of the domestic oil and gas industry with its spending of an average of RM25bil per annum. The national oil expenditure at stake and gas company was thrust into controversy when Tun Zaki Azmi was appointed to the board when he was still the legal By M.SHANMUGAM adviser to Umno. Zaki resigned in 2007 when he was made In 2009, the appointment of Datuk Chief Justice. In 2009, Datuk Omar Mustapha Ong, who used to be former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib's aide, was Omar Mustapha Ong to the board drew appointed amidst opposition from the-then Petronas top brass. THE capital expenditure (capex) of some controversy not because he was an Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) of active politician, but due to him being an Tenaga Its operating cost for 2019 was RM43.6bil of which RM10.6bil RM25bil per annum is easily more than aide of the then serving Prime Minister, Nasional was for fuel purchase and RM13.6bil was forked out to IPPs. the budget of most ministries in the fed- Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Transmission and distribution expenses were a whopping eral government. Probably, only the Apart from Felda, statutory bodies RM8.3bil. It used to have the late Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis as Prime Minister's Department gets a big- such as Mara and Felcra had active pol- executive chairman followed by Datuk Dr Awang Adek who ger allocation. iticians heading their boards during the held a non-executive role. Tenaga Nasional Bhd's spending on Barisan Nasional administration. transmission and distribution comes It was one form of the prime minister Telekom Capital expenditure approved and contracted was RM3.3bil up to RM8bil per annum, while or the minister in charge of the statuto- Malaysia and RM2.9bil in 2018 and 2017, respectively. Politically linked Telekom Malaysia Bhd's capex is ry body to reward their supporters. appointments include Tan Sri Shazalli Ramly, who was made the another RM3bil. These statutory bodies have large CEO under the Najib administration. Now, Datuk Seri Mahadzir Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara), the annual budgets, much bigger than most Khalid, an active politician, has been tipped to be chairman. entity that has been set up to help bumi- ministries. putras better themselves, gets some They are mandated to carry out Felda Felda spends between RM1.5bil and RM2bil per annum for various RM5bil in grants from the government, development programmes. programmes for settlers. Based on reports, it only has RM400mil in of which 40% goes towards education Most of the spending draws little its kitty. It used to have active politicians - Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad and training purposes. scrutiny and demands for accountabili- and Tan Sri Shahrir Samad - as chairmen. Among the controversial deals Felda undertook are paying a premium of 300% for a 37% The reason why the appointment of ty are feeble. stake in PT Eagle High Plantations for US$505mil (RM2.3bil) in active politicians on the boards of stat- For instance, when Mara first started 2017. Tan Sri Peter Sondakh, an ally of Najib, controls Eagle High. It utory bodies or government-linked the Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) also invested RM5bil under Felda Investment Corp that did not companies is frowned upon is because project, the idea was to have only four yield the desired returns. of concerns of abuse in these compa- such centres of education located in nies. Kota Baru, Kulim, Seremban and FGV After listing in 2012, it had a cash pile of RM5.7bil. The money These entities spend billions annually Kuantan. Holdings was used to purchase plantations that the new management, on their capex and the fear is that if poli- The idea was to have a centre in an Bhd headed by Datuk Wira Azhar Abdul Hamid, had to write down ticians are allowed to run the show, the urban area to house and school stu- substantially in 2018. Previously, Isa was the chairman of FGVs money will not be well spent. dents from rural areas. It was designed board that comprised several active politicians. Its annual These companies and statutory bodies to give these students a quality educa- capital expenditure is just above RMlbil, based on its latest hand out big contracts. tion and exposure. annual report. The margins can easily be inflated to However, the number of MRSM cen- the detriment of the company an its tres proliferated to 54. It is more than Felcra Another plantation skewed group, Felcra, needs an estimated stakeholders. what is required. RM300mil per annum and is bogged down by a huge property In cases where the companies or statu- The reason is that each MRSM centre project that it has to fund. Under a new management headed tory bodies are cash-rich, reckless invest- generates contracts worth millions. The by Mohd Nazrul Izam Mansor, Felcra hopes to be self sufficient. ments tend to happen. Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, an active Umno politician used construction cost is a few hundred mil- to be the chairman and is facing corruption charges that Money is ploughed into assets such as lion. allegedly took place when he was in office. In April 2019, the equities, property, plantations and even Other contracts up for grabs include government had to inject RM6.23bil into Felcra after alleged unit trusts at inflated values. supplying food to these fully residential mismanagement by the previous administration. The classic case of how the cash pile in schools and providing them with laun- Felda and FGV Holdings Bhd dwindled dry and cleaning services. It was set up to specifically help the bumiputras and receives just five years after listing is well docu- Very few political appointments in grants amounting to billions from the government annually to mented. government-linked organisations have run its activities. Based on the 2017 annual report, it received Felda had RM6bil in its kitty post-list- resulted in favourable outcomes. more than RM5bil from the government of which RM2bil went ing in 2012, while FGV had raised Usually, the financial resources of the for education purposes. Under BN's rule, MARA had active RM4.5bil. The boards of both compa- organisation are not well managed, the politicians as chairmen. They included Tan Sri Annuar Musa, the nies were helmed by an active politi- entities enter into unfavourable con- current Federal Territories Minister who was suspended in cian. tracts or go into investments that do not January 2017 and replaced by Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin. By 2017, both Felda and FGV needed a yield results. MARA used to be hit by allegations of mismanagement complete revamp and restructuring. When the tide goes down, the short including the purchase of equities of listed companies and The cash pile had been spent on assets comings show up and some needs to be properties at inflated prices. that were not yielding the desired rescued. returns. After the change in government in Lembaga The pilgrim fund needed a government rescue of RM10.3bil to FGV made big provisions and chalked 2018, the financial distress and mis- Tabung Haji stay afloat as its liabilities outstripped its assets. According to a up losses the following year. forensic report, the fund had been paying dividends from management in the likes of Lembaga deposits and not from returns from investments in 2016 and Felda's money went into investments Tabung Haji (TH), Felda and Felcra 2017. It had non-performing assets of RM9.3bil that the that did not yield returns and it was short came to light. TH and Felcra needed government took over in December 2019. It included over- of the RM1.5bil needed annually to carry capital injections. valued equities, properties including a piece of land in Bandar out programmes for the settlers. The government injected RM6.23bil Tun Razak and one unlisted plantation. Tan Sri Abdul Azeez Fortunately, in the case of Petronas, into Felcra, while TH needed to be res- Abdul Rahim, an active politician close to Najib, headed Tabung there are no active politicians appointed cued with a special government fund Haji from 2013 until the change in government in May 2018. to the board. taking over RM10.3bil of over-valued He is facing charges of corruption and money laundering. The closest was Tun Zaki Azmi, who assets whose market value had dropped was appointed when he was still legal significantly compared to the market adviser to Umno. He resigned in 2007. price. VALUATOR Company(Brand) Mention Tone ROI 100 days (100 days) 1 0 RM 0 Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (Dato Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji 1 0 RM 0 Barisan Nasional (BN) (Barisan Nasional (BN)) 2 0 RM 0 CIMB Investment Bank Berhad (CIMB - Banking & Finance Industry) 1 0 RM 0 Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) (Industry News - 1 0 RM 0 Consumer Behaviour News (Consumer Behaviour News) 2 0 RM 0 Current Affairs - MOFA (Petronas - MOFA) 6 0 RM 0 Eastern & Oriental Berhad - Industry News (Eastern & Oriental 6 0 RM 0 Eastern & Oriental Berhad - Industry News (Eastern & Oriental 2 0 RM 0 Education Industry- SEGi University (Education Industry- SEGi 4 0 RM 0 Federal Land Development Authority (Federal Land Development 10 0 RM 0 Felcra Bhd (Felcra Bhd) 7 0 RM 0 Felda Global Ventures Holdings Berhad (FGV) (Felda Global Ventures 5 0 RM 0 Lembaga Tabung Haji (Lembaga Tabung Haji) 6 0 RM 0 Mah Sing Group