Najib and Azmin trade barbs over Khazanah’s RM6bil loss

PETALING JAYA: A public tiff on social media has erupted between former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Economics Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali over the RM6bil loss recently reported by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

It all started with a Facebook posting by Najib on Tuesday (March 5), where he claimed that Khazanah Nasional Bhd had never suffered losses during his premiership and when he was its chairperson.

"In the 10 years I was PM and chairperson of the company, Khazanah never suffered losses," he said.

He added that during his tenure as prime minister, the net asset value of Khazanah went up RM82.3bil (224%) from RM33.7bil at the end of 2008 to RM116bil at the end of 2017.

He pointed out that since Pakatan Harapan took over, the value of Khazanah Nasional Bhd had dipped by RM25bil to RM91bil.

"RM25bil isn't a small amount. It can pay nearly all 1MDB debts or half of the ECRL cost, which is RM55bil.

"It's okay, the RM91bil left in Khazanah is still a big amount. There are still many national assets that can be sold. Sell again when it's cheap," he said.

Najib's remarks appeared to have irked Azmin, who landed a series of sarcastic remarks on Twitter on Tuesday (March 5).

"Trouble these days is some politicos, often failed ministers, babble first and check later. End up meludah ke langit, terkena muka sendiri (spitting in the sky and hitting yourself on the face)," he said.

Selepas nilai aset bersih Khazanah jatuh RM25 bilion pada tahun lepas, Azmin Ali menyeru Rakyat Malaysia untuk lupakan isu ini sahaja.

Dia kata kita tidak patut tuding jari lagi.https://t.co/QZX3XkeIoi pic.twitter.com/lmfTM5pynQ — Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) March 6, 2019

According to Azmin, the losses incurred by Khazanah was caused by a review of its assets and investments made before the Pakatan government took over last May.

He pointed out that Khazanah-owned Malaysia Airlines suffering the heaviest loss of RM3bil, attributing this to the failure to implement its turnaround plan.

"Investments made over the last few years into the airline before Pakatan took over have to be impaired. Tell me about impaired reasoning!" he said.

Azmin, reiterating that Khazanah's losses were caused by "impairments" on investments made prior to May 9, 2018, said the blame game over the issue must stop.

"Forget the blame game. Every cloud has a silver lining.

"Look at 2018 as a clean-up of the problem assets behind the portfolio. Having taken these measures, I dare say that Khazanah will return to profitability in 2019," he said.

Najib subsequently slammed Azmin for downplaying the issue in a Facebook posting on Wednesday (March 6).

"I can try to forget about it. But, I'm not sure if Malaysians can easily forget about the dip of RM25bil in Khazanah's value, the loss of RM6.3bil, which is the first to be reported since 2004, or after the assets sold after Pakatan took over," he said.

The former finance minister subsequently questioned Azmin on his decision on forcing the sovereign wealth fund to pay a dividend of RM1.5bil to the government after it announced its staggering losses.

Khazanah last announced a dividend payout of more than RM1bil in 2017 when its investment value stood at RM115.6bil, the first time in three years.