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Pua has questions on MoF’s acquisition of Exchange 106

Pua has questions on MoF’s acquisition of Exchange 106

Petaling Jaya Utara MP says news of the transfer of a majority stake to the government proves that 'something extremely fishy' is going on.

pua-exchange

PETALING JAYA: DAP MP Tony Pua today questioned the Minister of Finance’s (MoF) reported acquisition of the Exchange 106 tower, asking if it was a continuation of efforts to bail out 1MDB.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP said the Exchange 106 was initially proof of the fund’s success with the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) project, as it was a wholly-owned foreign investment by Indonesia’s Mulia Group.

However, he added, news of the transfer of a majority stake to the Malaysian government proved that “something extremely fishy” was going on.

“If Mulia Group paid RM665 million

for the land, the question is, how much did the Ministry of Finance pay to acquire the 51% stake in the project?

“The complete lack of transparency over the deal which would involve hundreds of millions of ringgit, possibly to the tune of billions, raises suspicions that it is really another one of the series of continued bailouts of debt-stricken 1MDB,” he said in a statement.

The Exchange 106, located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2018.

The 106-storey superstructure is set to displace the Petronas Twin Towers as the tallest building in Malaysia by some 40 metres.

On Saturday, The Edge weekly said MoF was believed to have acquired a 51% stake in the project’s developer, Mulia Property Development Sdn Bhd.

Citing an unnamed executive, it said the controlling stake was reportedly acquired from Mulia International Ltd several months ago.

This was done through a company called MKD Signature Sdn Bhd, whose directors are MoF deputy secretary (commercial sector) at the government investment companies (GIC) division Rashidah Mohd Sies, GIC division secretary Asri [email protected] and deputy secretary general (investment) Mohmad Isa Hussain, the report said.

Pua asked why it was necessary for the government to use taxpayers’ money to get involved in another mega-property project, especially following the cabinet freeze on high-end commercial and residential projects.

“Why is the Ministry of Finance participating in the aggravation of the property glut in the country?

“Was there for example a secret ‘put option’ in the sale and purchase agreement between Mulia Group and 1MDB, where the latter is obliged to buy back a majority stake from Mulia Group with a higher price at a later date?

“And because 1MDB obviously has no money to buy back the stake from Mulia Group, was the Ministry of Finance forced to step in to bail out 1MDB?”

Pua, who is DAP national publicity secretary, said this would be the second tract of 1MDB’s TRX land bought by MoF companies, as it was previously disclosed in Parliament that Aroma Teraju had purchased a plot of land there in 2015.

He said he had asked several times in Parliament last year for the land area and purchase price of the tract.

“However, my question was repeatedly shot down because the purported confidentiality clause in the purchase agreement was with two companies wholly-owned by MOF.

“Why hide behind the veil of secrecy when the parties involved are entirely owned by the government? Is it because the Ministry of Finance will look utterly stupid for buying back tiny parcels of land back from 1MDB at sums astronomically higher than the RM230 million paid by 1MDB to acquire the 70 acres from the government?”

Adding that the public deserved to know what was being done with their money, Pua urged MoF and 1MDB to confirm and disclose the details of the two land purchases.

Exchange 106 set to be Malaysia’s new tallest building


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