I am prepared to be investigated over Bank Rakyat’s loan to businessman, says minister

A defiant Datuk Seri Hasan Malek (pic) has challenged anyone to prove that he had committed a wrongdoing by persuading Bank Rakyat to give controversial businessman Deepak Jaishikin a sweetheart deal which involved an interest-free RM32 million loan.

Despite the deal being unprecedented, the Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism minister, who had earlier refused to answer questions on the loan, told The Malaysian Insider that "everything was done above board".

Hasan was accused of giving Deepak a deal where the carpet dealer could pay off the loan, without interest, and through post-dated cheques for the next 10 years.

"I am ready to face the opposition if they claim (there were) any wrongdoings. Everything in that matter was done according to government policies,law and regulations," Hasan shot back at the Malaysian Insider after attending the ministry's monthly gathering and its enforcement agency day celebration in Putrajaya yesterday.

Opposition lawmakers are demanding that Putrajaya and Bank Negara explain how Deepak was given such a deal.

Hasan was initially reluctant to discuss the matter as he said former Bank Rakyat chairman Tan Sri Sabbaruddin Chik and the bank had issued statements on the issue.

"They have made statements, including a latest statement by Tan Sri (Sabbaruddin). There is nothing more for me to comment," he said.

But when pressed further, the minister said that everything was above board and declined further comment.

Sabaruddin had blown the lid off the loan deal when he said that his tenure as the chairman of Bank Rakyat was not extended after he and the bank's board of directors rejected Deepak's proposed method of repayment.

He had told The Malaysian Insider that the board had initially rejected the compromise offered by Deepak to settle his outstanding debt.

He had said that Deepak had then sought the assistance of Hasan, who had allegedly told the bank: "I can sack all of you".

According to Sabbaruddin, after the decision was made, Hasan was dissatisfied and refused to sign the letter extending his tenure as Bank Rakyat chairman, although Bank Negara had agreed to extend the contract.

Bank Rakyat comes under the jurisdiction of Hasan's ministry.

Sabbaruddin had also showed The Malaysian Insider a letter signed by Hasan instructing Bank Rakyat to proceed according to the terms of the compromise offered by Deepak to settle the outstanding loan.

The incident reached boiling point when Bank Rakyat managing director Mustafa Razak was instructed to raise the issue before the board of directors.

The board was instructed to agree with the method of repayment in March.

PAS MP Datuk Mahfuz Omar had said Putrajaya must reply to allegations that Hasan had ordered the bank to give Deepak an exceptional deal.

Mahfuz, who is Pokok Sena MP, wanted the Najib administration to come clean on whether special treatment was accorded to the businessman because he supposedly had information on the shady dealings of high-level Malaysian politicians.

Mahfuz had said the loan restructuring agreement also set a bad precedent for the bank's corporate governance as it showed politicians getting involved in the institution's operations instead of it being run by professionals on the bank's board of directors.

His Pakatan Rakyat counterpart Lim Lip Eng, who is the DAP Segambut MP, had also called on Bank Negara to immediately start a probe on the claim made by Sabbaruddin.