Khazanah's funds are public funds, says MD

Khazanah Nasional Bhd Managing Director Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said the strategic investment's funds are public funds.

“Yes, it is. At the end of the day, the assets are for the country.

“Because Khazanah's main role on the commercial side is to grow that fund and assets for the benefit of Malaysians,” he said in response to a question when met at the sidelines of the China Conference in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

On Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's recent statement that Khazanah “is not the government but a company which is free to do business”, Shahril said Khazanah has both commercial and strategic objectives.

“The commercial front of Khazanah behaves very much like a private investor looking at long term sustainable returns. On the strategic side we help the government in terms of development and capacity building.

“Khazanah is a bit of a unique animal - performs two functions – one, basically being commercial investment for the nation's wealth and the other being developmental,” he added.

By nature, Shahril said, Khazanah is a private company which has been incorporated by the government.

“Khazanah is a private company. It just happens to be owned by the government. It is the manager for the funds entrusted to Khazanah.

“But the way we manage the funds, like I mentioned earlier, we have two clear focus – commercial and strategic portfolios,” he added.

Mahathir had made the remark with regard to the third national car project following the announcement that Siltera, which is fully owned by Khazanah, is one of the firms shortlisted for the project.

This courted flak from critics, who noted the government's previous pledge that public funds would not be used for the project mooted by Mahathir.

Meanwhile, Shahril also commented on the proposal to divest Khazanah's assets in order for Putrajaya manage the national debt inherited from the previous administration.

Pointing out that it is not a “firesale”, he said: “What we are doing is a natural process like any fund manager - restructuring our portfolio and that happens all the time.”

“If you look at whether it is Tabung Haji, PNB (Pemodalan Nasional Bhd), EPF (Employees Provident Fund), Khazanah - we do tend to sell assets and buy new assets at the same time.

“It's just part of the normal process of how we manage Khazanah,” he added.

Pressed further on whether this is a special exercise to assist the government, he said: “Not really, it's part of our normal portfolio restructuring. What you call the 'churn'.”

Earlier today, former premier Najib Abdul Razak expressed concern about the move to sell government land and assets.

He reiterated his stand that the national debt is not at RM1 trillion as repeatedly claimed by Pakatan Harapan leaders, and blamed the government's financial conundrum on its populist measures. - Mkini