DAP: Nazri abusing his power

Nazri has no power to order GLCs to stop suing ex-MAS boss
Tajuddin Ramli, the DAP said.

PETALING JAYA: The DAP has attacked Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz for ordering government-linked companies (GLCs) to cease suing a former Malaysia Airlines (MAS) executive chairman Tajuddin Ramli.

PJ Utara MP Tony Pua ticked off Nazri for using his influence as a minister to let Tajuddin off the hook.

“Such an instruction from a minister’s office, especially one with no authority of the various GLCs including MAS, Telekom and Prokhas (formerly Danaharta) is… highly improper and at worst an illegal and corrupt practice,” he said in a press statement.

He said that this move allowed Tajuddin to get away with billions of ringgit in debt, withou having to suffer any consequences.

According to a Malaysian Insider report, Nazri said that he had issued a directive for all GLCs aggrieved by Tajuddin to withdraw their suits earlier this month.

Denying that it was a bailout, the minister said that the move was an attempt to reach a “win-win” situation between Tajuddin and the various GLCs.

Quoting Nazri, Pua said: “…the finance ministry has agreed to settle all civil claims against Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli and others to be withdrawn immediately in view of the fact that the government and the finance ministry have agreed that the said cases will be settled out of court.”

Complete mockery

This reasoning did not sit well with Pua. GLCs, he said, had their own board of directors to deal with problems, adding that Nazri had no right to be giving instructions to them.

“His directive to these GLCs made a complete mockery of corporate governance in these companies, and will only turn away local and foreign investors,” Pua said.

He said that Nazri could be investigated under Section 2(1) of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance.

He said that the minister’s action could be seen as a “corrupt practice”, and used then-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim as an example.

“It is exactly the same law used to find Anwar guilty of alleged abuse of power in 1999, when he was sentenced to jail for six years.”

“Anwar, while holding the post of deputy prime minister and finance minister, was alleged to have ‘committed corrupt practice’ by giving directives to two police officers,” Pua said.

He also said that the government in 2001 bailed out Tajuddin with RM1.792 billion for the acquisition of MAS at RM8 per share despite a market price of only RM3.62 per share at the time.

In 2002, MAS lodged a police report against Tajuddin for allegedly causing the company to suffer losses of more than RM8 billion.