Reject Umno bid to bail out Utusan, cabinet urged

Right-thinking ministers in the cabinet must voice their opposition to the abuse of taxpayers' monies to bail out the Umno-owned dailyUtusan Malaysia, said DAP MP Tony Pua. 

Pua said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also the finance minister as well as the president of Umno, must be chastised for acting clearly in conflict of interest.

Echoing the view of fellow DAP MP Teo Nie Ching, Pua also called on the Securities Commission to act independently and without undue interference from the Finance Ministry to exempt Umno from conducting a mandatory general offer to buy out minority shareholders of Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd.  

"Based on current regulations, if Umno's stake in the company increases beyond two percent, it must make an offer to buy out other shareholders in the company.  

"Given Umno's undertaking to subscribe to the rights offer, Umno will increase its stake to at least 53.1 percent and hence trigger the mandatory general offer.

"Therefore, it is all the more important for the Securities Commission to protect the integrity of our financial markets. It must not only act fairly, but also be seen to act fairly to all investors and Malaysians," Pua added in a statement.

'Rights issue confirms Utusan in dire straits'

Pua said the rights issue by Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd to raise approximately RM40 million confirmed that the newspaper was in dire financial straits, and Umno was willing to abuse government funds to bailout the company

"On Nov 12, Utusan Melayu announced to Bursa Malaysia that it will be raising approximately RM40 million via a rights issue to its shareholders.  It's 49.8 percent shareholder, Umno has agreed to underwrite any unsubscribed rights offer.

"The real reason why the Umno-led government has been repeatedly calling for government-linked companies (GLCs) to advertise aggressively in Utusan is now exposed," he said. 

Pua also recounted that on Sept 13, Najib (left) had called upon government departments and GLCs to spend more advertising money on Utusan because the paper "has never backed down in defending our race".

"Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan followed up by announcing last week that he has written to instruct the chairpersons and chief executives of GLCs to advertise more in the Malay daily.

"Utusan's urging to raise funds and the Umno ministers' plea for more advertisements by government agencies and companies proves that Utusan is in dire financial straits," he said.  

"The company is now laden with RM195 million in debt as of October 2013, made losses of RM15.8 million for the financial year 2012. The losses continue to rise as in the first quarter of this year alone, the losses have amounted to RM8.8 million," Pua added.