Shahril to step down from other board posts to focus on Khazanah

New Khazanah Nasional managing director also responds to questions raised over his position in Gabungan Kasturi, a company linked to Ultra Kirana which is involved in the recruitment of foreign workers.

Shahril Ridza Ridzuan. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Khazanah Nasional managing director Shahril Ridza Ridzuan says he is stepping down as the director of several boards to concentrate on running the sovereign wealth fund.

Speaking to FMT, Shahril who reports for duty on Aug 20, also cleared the air on questions raised over his position as a director in Gabungan Kasturi.

Former Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong had previously urged Shahril to explain the “questionable visa processing scheme” provided by Ultra Kirana, of which Gabungan Kasturi is a shareholder.

“Gabungan Kasturi is owned by Amanahraya Berhad, the holding company of Media Prima. I serve as a nominee director but will be stepping down shortly due to my new position.

“I’m also a government nominee director on a few other boards, including IJN Holdings, but will step down to concentrate on Khazanah Nasional.”

He said he believed Gabungan Kasturi had disposed of its investments in Ultra Kirana and that it was no longer a shareholder.

There are four processes which foreign workers intending to come to Malaysia need to go through in their source countries, namely biometric checking, health screening, receiving and handling of a worker’s passport for calling visa (OSC), and system and data entry for calling visa (VLN).

It is understood that the service provider for biometric checking is S5 Sdn Bhd, for health screening it is Bestinet and for the VLN it is Ultra Kirana. As for the OSC, the service provider differs according to the source country.

Wee had urged the government to reveal the details of other service providers and how much they were allowed to charge for their respective services, after Nepali authorities put a stop to their citizens coming to Malaysia to work following complaints over the tight immigration rules imposed on potential migrant workers.

Shahril, the former Employees Provident Fund (EPF) CEO, was appointed as Khazanah’s new managing director after Azman Mokhtar resigned along with eight other directors.

Shahril was widely expected to take over from Azman, whose resignation came weeks after Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad criticised Khazanah for deviating from its original purpose of helping Bumiputeras.

Shahril, 48, was managing director of Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB) prior to joining EPF.

He is presently a non-executive board member of Media Prima Bhd, Malaysia Building Society Bhd, Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd, MRCB and IJN Holdings Sdn Bhd. -FMT