Carpetman Jaikishan gives RM767,000 from penny stock sale to charity

By Shannon Teoh

December 23, 2011

Jaikishan told reporters he was donating the gains to seven different charities. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — Carpet and property dealer Deepak Jaikishan, who gained infamy after being linked to the murder scandal of Altantuya Shaariibuu, denied today any wrongdoing in his rapid entrance and exit of Envair Holding Bhd, which netted him RM767,000 in the process.

Jaikishan, who was accused of silencing a key witness in the gruesome 2006 murder of the Mongolian woman, told reporters he was donating the gains made from the transaction to seven different charities to clear his name.

“We don’t need this kind of money. We don’t need to profit wrongly. It will look very bad for me,” he said, when asked if he was donating the money to dispel speculation of insider trading or manipulation.

The Carpet Raya Sdn Bhd director sold six million shares of the loss-making air and water filter manufacturer less than two weeks after buying them, or the equivalent of a 5.06 per cent stake.

He built up the stake up to December 2, when Envair stood at 22 sen per share and sold his holding on the open market 12 days later when it traded at between 34.5 sen and 38 sen.

Chinese national Zhang LiYing also sold his 9.11 per cent stake in Envair on the same day, two months after acquiring it.

They followed the exit of another Chinese national, Jiang Chuan Yi, who disposed of his 6.75 per cent holding in Envair less than a month after acquiring it on November 1.

Jaikishan had earlier said he would not dispose of his stake as he aimed to be part of the company board following its deal to enter the oil and gas sector by supplying two million barrels of light crude oil monthly for 60 months to China-based An Hong Shenzhen.

“I sold my stake because I could not get the shareholding I wanted so we (my family) could sit on the board.

“Negotiations with the principal shareholder failed because they asked for more than 30 sen but the highest I was willing to pay was 25 sen,” the 39-year-old businessman said.

He also said he did not know the two Chinese nationals, adding that “I don’t even know if they are male or female.”

Envair was last traded today at 24.5 sen.

Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam had alleged in late 2009 that Jaikishan and Mohammad Nazim Razak, the younger brother of Datuk Seri Najib Razak, had forced him to withdraw his first sworn testimony linking the prime minister to the murder of Shaariibuu.

Abdul Razak Baginda, a defence analyst said to be close to Najib, was acquitted in the trial which finally found two police officers guilty of murdering Shaariibuu, whose body was blown up with explosives.