Johari: Arul Kanda removed from Bandar Malaysia
“Apart from the removal of Arul Kanda(filepic) as the chairman of Bandar Malaysia, 1MDB’s board and the PMO will continue to manage the issues in respect to Bandar Malaysia directly with the parties concerned,” Johari said in a statement yesterday.
PETALING JAYA: The president of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) Arul Kanda Kandasamy has been removed as chairman of Bandar Malaysia and was not involved in the recent settlement agreement between the financially troubled fund and International Petroleum Investment Corp (IPIC).
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said that the settlement agreement entered with IPIC recently was handled directly by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the board of 1MDB.
He also said the dispute with the joint venture (JV) of Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corp (M) Sdn Bhd (CREC) with regards to Bandar Malaysia would be handled directly by PMO and the board of 1MDB.
“Apart from the removal of Arul Kanda as the chairman of Bandar Malaysia, 1MDB’s board and the PMO will continue to manage the issues in respect to Bandar Malaysia directly with the parties concerned,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Johari issued the statement in response to a recent report that stated that the Budiman Committee that was set up in 2015 to oversee the asset and debt rationalisation of 1MDB was no longer handling matters on Bandar Malaysia, following the cancellation of an agreement with IWH-CREC last week.
Johari and Arul were members of the Budiman Committee.
Johari said any report which stated that members of the Budiman Committee have been relieved of their duties was simply erroneous and maliciously misleading.
He said that the Budiman Committee was set up by the Cabinet in 2015 to oversee the rationalisation exercise taken by 1MDB and had already completed its task and no longer had any functions.
Johari became affiliated to the committee after he was appointed as the Deputy Finance Minister in July 2015.
Johari said that the committee in its rationalisation exercise of 1MDB was able to dispose the power assets to China General Nuclear Power Group from China and had reactivated the development of the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX).
The committee also concluded the international bidding exercise in respect to the development of Bandar Malaysia and pursued the arbitration between IPIC and 1MDB to resolve the dispute over the payment of US$3.5bil between the two entities.
“All of these four assignments have been completed and the Budiman Committee no longer had any functions to execute since then. In fact, there has been no meeting of the Budiman Committee for the past six months,” he said.
The dispute in relation to Bandar Malaysia only came to light on May 3 when TRX City Sdn Bhd, an entity controlled by the Ministry of Finance Inc (MoF), cancelled a share sale agreement (SSA) entered into with IWH-CREC to be the master developer of 486 acres in Bandar Malaysia.
The JV was to hold 60%, with the MoF holding the rest. The MoF stated that the agreement had lapsed after IWH-CREC failed to meet the payment obligations outlined in the SSA despite repeated extensions.
IWH is disputing the cancellation of the agreement, while the MoF has stated that it would proceed with calling for a fresh tender to develop Bandar Malaysia.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/05/12/johari-arul-removed-from-bandar-malaysia/#V0WjPfPGyVEiC1WG.99
