Maslan is going to get egg on his face again, warns Pua

Tony Pua cautions Ahmad Maslan against being “too clever” and making promises that 1MBD will return to profitability by March 2015.

PETALING JAYA: Cautioning against taking too optimistic a view over 1MDB’s performance in the coming financial year, DAP National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua said if the sovereign fund registered a loss again, it would be like egg on the deputy finance minister’s face.

In a statement, Pua, who is also MP for Petaling Jaya Utara said, “The Deputy Finance Minister should hence not try to be too clever by giving promises that 1MDB will return to profitability for the next financial year end and end up with more eggs on the face.”

Pua was referring to Ahmad Maslan’s apparent over confidence that 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) would return to profitability in the financial year 2015 despite it putting in a dismal performance in years past.

Cautioning against Maslan’s boasting, Pua said, “He should not be making promises of 1MDB’s profitability for the financial year ending March 2015 when he has no power to assure Malaysians of 1MDB’s ability to achieve profitability.”

Pua also argued that the only reason 1MDB had registered profits from 2011 to 2013, was because of the “revaluation of properties which were sold to 1MDB by the Federal Government at heavily discounted prices.”

He warned that without the government swooping in to help, 1MDB would continue to run in the red as its profits were still unable to offset its “monster debt” of RM42 billion as was evidenced by the heavy losses it suffered in the last financial year.

He explained, “For the most recent financial year, 1MDB made a loss of RM665 million despite a revaluation of RM897 million.”

Pua also accused Ahmad Maslan of trying to sugar-coat 1MDB’s “appalling performance” by focussing on its corporate social responsibility projects, of which RM382 million was spent.

He said, “The money spent on CSR did not come from the cash profits generated by the company, but instead are raised from the massive debt incurred by 1MDB which are substantively guaranteed by the Federal Government.”

Pua said Ahmad Maslan had better “diligently study” the IMDB financial report first before making overblown claims that 1MBD would put in a respectable performance in the coming year.