MB: Johor loses slice of Bandar Malaysia pie, but it's no financial loss

Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin believes that the botched Bandar Malaysia deal was a loss for the state, but this does not involve direct financial losses.

He told the Johor legislative assembly today that state investment arm Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor Sdn Bhd (KPRJ) did not inject any funds into the deal.

KPRJ has an interest in Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH), which together with China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC), was part of a consortium which attempted to buy a 60 percent stake in Bandar Malaysia.

On May 3, the Finance Ministry, which owns Bandar Malaysia, said the deal with the IWH-CREC consortium had been called off due to purported unfulfilled payment obligations.

Following this, Skudai assemblyperson Dr Boo Cheng Hau filed an emergency motion to seek a debate on the potential impact of the botched deal on Johor and whether KPRJ got back what it paid in deposit.

In his winding-up speech, as today was the last day of the assembly sitting, Khaled said KPRJ had no monetary exposure in the botched deal as all costs were borne by IWH-CREC.

"Therefore, the issue of RM1.78 billion (fund) and RM178 million deposits linked to KPRJ is inaccurate and completely false," he said.

Khaled also said there were no losses incurred by IWH as the initial deal had stipulated that any deposits paid would be returned if the cancellation was due to failure to fulfill any agreed terms.

"In fact, the deposit payment has been returned to IWH-CREC on May 9. Therefore there is no issue of any (financial) loss to IWH, KPRJ or the state government due to cancellation of the project," he said.

In late 2015, IWH-CREC had entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Bandar Malaysia as part of Putrajaya's plan rescue debt-ridden 1MDB, the original owners of Bandar Malaysia. - Mkini