Feeding burung Kanari out of protected birdcage

The closet resemblance to a burung Kanari, a gagak hitam

The exact dates are forgotten but the incident remains vivid in my memory. It was in 1997. The same week the newspaper reported Renong UEM Group defaulted on their loans was the same week my previous business defaulted on our bankers.

Till to-date, this blogger will never forgive Anwar and any of them in cohort including Nor Yakcop for destroying and continue to destroy what was built for many decades.

The currency attack of 1997/98 was unjustified. There was no basis for Malaysia to be punished by the currency hedge fund traders. The economy was fine and any negative indicators were at initial manageable stage. Malaysia was wrecked by Soros and Anwar was in co-hort.

Nor Yakcop had his hand in the action too!

Yesterday, NST reported an interview with Tan Sri Halim Saad, a once arrogant enfant terible among Daim-trained corporate boys to reveal:

If I was not forced out, and were given a free hand to manage the group, I would have been able to take advantage of the subsequent improvement in the economic conditions to list PLUS, realise the full potential of the Nusajaya land bank and grow the overall assets and business of the Renong/UEM Group.

Seeing the mess Nor Yakcop had made with among others are these companies and assets, Halim is right. For a coverage of the mess that Kanari made, read Bigdogdotcom here.

Is the interview about feeding burung Kanari out of his protected birdcage? Does he has the genetalia to rumble with baby-faced Halim? We certainly like to see the world's biggest loser in financial history come out fighting!

It is time he fall. No help from Kalimullah to spin on the Malaysian Insiders will stop.

The Crisis

The widespread loan defaults and bankruptcies from that era was partly a result of a new IMF-instructed policies abruptly imposed by the then Finance Minister cum CIA hatchetman, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

He recategorise bad loans by shortening the unserviced period for loans from 6 to 3 months to cause business failures and defaults. All for his political agenda to kill off those he alleged are UMNO and Dr Mahathir's financial backers.

But he killed us, the small struggling entrepreneurs along. All for just his hunger and quest for power!

Incidently, the 50 dalil book surfaced and stupid Anwar made a police report, thus the need for Investigating Officer, the just retired IGP Tan Sri Musa Hasan to investigate. That led to many other revelations. Consequently, there was the revalation of his homosexuality, first sodomy case, sacking and Reformasi.

Say what you may, Dr Mahathir was ready to pave the way for Anwar to fill in the living quarter at the PM official residence. He does not need rooms for six children. All his kids are married off.

Anwar's crony and the current Minister in charge of EPU, Tan Sri Mohamad Nor Yakcop was invited back to Government to lend his expertise in foreign exchange to concoct the Selective Currency Control. Eventually, Nor Yakcop - who the widely circulating legend in Penang claims is an India-born mamak carrying a red IC but suddenly had his birth certificate Bumiputerised - got himself a role in Government.

The Squeeze

He seemed determined to destroy the few budding Malay corporate players for Anwar. It was then that he helped ease passage for Kalimullah and Zarinah's Azizan to take a piece of Anwar crony's late Tan Sri Loy MBf empire.

Coupled with the policy to redefine bad loans, Anwar imposed a requirement that 25% of outstanding loans given out by Banks is to be repaid immediately. Failing which, all loans would be considered as default. That immediately squeezed the cashflow of many companies, particularly small ones like ours.

It was just impossible to cough out cash to pay immediately 25% of our outstanding loan. Suppliers, customers, debtors and creditors got into cashflow problem instataneously from the abrupt decline in the economy arising from the ultra sharp decline of Ringgit.

It is established now that Anwar was in cohort with George Soros, the rouge hedge fund trader, George Soros to attack the Ringgit despite a stable and manageable Malaysian economy.

Senator Ezam Mohd Nor, Lokman Adam, and a few former PKR stalwats had revealed that Azmin and Wan Azizah met George Soros to seek money for PKR. [Search for it in AIDC.]

Yes, Anwar sabotaged the economy in order to be Prime Minister. Even an offer from Anwar to compensate RM1.5 million for my lost wealth will ever change my view that Anwar was a stooge of the American intel to sabotage Malaysia.

After Anwar was kicked and the Reformasi period commenced, eventually Nor Yakcop got himself a role to play to clean up corporate debris.

The Wrecking

On hind sight, many now realised that Nor Yakcop was using Danaharta and Danamodal to sabotage the created of Malay corporate players. He was carrying out Anwar Ibrahim's vengeance against corporate players he deemed as standing in his way to amass his own wealth and war chest.

At the same time Tan Sri Azman Yahya was selling out companies, properties and assets at fire sale price to his and Nor Yakcop's cronies, Nor Yakcop was going after these corporate players.

Before moving on further, these Malay corporate players may have arrived by less than desirous ways and means at the expense of other talented, capable and deserving Bumiputeras, but any moral judgement is not complete without taking into account the "national service" insisted upon them by then Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir.

The Chinese hongs had neither of that nor need to plow back to carryout projects deemed necessary for the nation. Not to be misconstrued as racist, their were just feeding their pork bellies.

The Indiscretions

Coming back, there is an outstanding lawsuit by Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli against Government with Nor Yakcop and others including Siti Nurhaliza's penyanggak proxy husband, Dato K among the defendents.

What happened was Tajuddin sold his stake in MAS and the proceed was fully paid into Naluri. He then proposed for a capital reduction and some special payment to shareholders. For him, the cash was to be used to pay for other commitments with Banks in Celcom and his other business outfits.

By his sole discetion, Nor Yakcop blocked the exercise and Tajuddin lost both Naluri and Celcom.

He did the same thing to Renong UEM. See what happend to Renong and UEM today.

Nor Yakcop idiotic fascination with know-nothing-about-running-business Con-sultan brought consultant Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, who till today can't turnaround convincingly MAS, Proton, and UEM.

Yesterday NST reported an interview with Tan Sri Halim Saad. He has now come out of the woodwork to feed - father of Ka-na-ri if not "real" owner of Palace contractor, Kejuruteraan Kanari - Nor Yakcop out of his protected birdcage at Putrajaya.

Supreme Council of UMNO should wake up from their slumber to read. UMNO's President, Dato Najib; Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin; and Treasurer Dato Husni Hanadzlah shoudl notice and act.

Tan Sri Halim Saad Speaks Up: Gross Injustice Done to Me

If I was not forced out, and were given a free hand to manage the group, I would have been able to take advantage of the subsequent improvement in the economic conditions to list PLUS, realise the full potential of the Nusajaya land bank and grow the overall assets and business of the Renong/UEM Group.

Q: Some of the strongest criticisms against you have been on the purchase by UEM of Renong shares after the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the following put and call option attached to the sale.

A: There have been certain false statements made against me relating to my put and call option on the Renong shares purchased earlier by UEM. Some went on to say that the subsequent cancellation of the put option by UEM was a bailout of me. I feel the need to correct the misstatements made and shed light on the actual events that took place at the time.

Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, UEM undertook the purchase of a 32.6 per cent interest in Renong Bhd (its parent company) in the open market. These shares were not purchased from me or parties related to me.

To appease the minority shareholders, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, then the Minister of Finance and I agreed that I buy the shares for RM3.2 billion from UEM by way of a put option, although I was under no obligation to do so. I also had to pay a deposit of RM100 million.

At the UEM Extraordinary Meeting held on February 14, 1998 to ratify the acquisition of the 32.6 per cent interest in Renong, 85 per cent of UEM shareholders voted in favour.

Q: What steps did you take to fulfil the put option?

A: Going forward, I had the option of honouring the put option amounting to RM3.2 billion or making a general offer (GO) for all of UEM, which would have made UEM wholly owned by me and the put option would have extinguished by itself. The GO would have been undertaken at a price which would have been fair and satisfactory to all shareholders of UEM.

A Singapore-based investment bank was willing to fund the GO or put option. In view of the introduction of capital controls in September 1998, I sought the assurance of Bank Negara that the money required to fund the exercise could be brought in and taken out of the country at a later date.

Later, at a meeting with Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, who was then the Economic Adviser to the government, he said: “In no uncertain terms are you to continue with your proposed GO (to take over UEM or Renong) or proceed with the put option (placed on you by UEM).”

This and subsequent actions by the government forced me to sell off the group to Khazanah Nasional. A takeover by the government or Khazanah would not have succeeded if I had not given my support. I did confirm my support by way of a letter.

Q: You consequently left the Renong and UEM board late in 2001 following the takeover of Renong/UEM by Khazanah Nasional. Do you think that the takeover was necessary?

A: I left the Renong/UEM Board on October 3, 2001. Among the reasons put forward by the authorities for the Khazanah takeover of Renong/UEM Group were to prevent a systemic risk to the banking system in Malaysia and to enable a sustained restructuring of the group. This statement was in my opinion unjustified for the following reasons:

1) Renong/UEM was not in a situation where it required a bailout. There was never any bailout. Some writers and analysts have got it wrong. The bonds issued by PLUS/UEM/Renong in 1999 were A-rated and were adequately secured by the group’s internal assets and PLUS (Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan Berhad) cash-flows. Furthermore, they were only due for redemption in mid-2006 and the rating was never downgraded. As such, there was no question of a systemic risk to the banking system in Malaysia.

2) The Renong/UEM Group was fully restructured by mid-2001, except for Putra (running light rail transit line), which was a standalone debt, and the group’s prized assets were PLUS, the Nusajaya land-bank and Time DotCom.

3) Most of the debts were project financing and infrastructure-based, where it is common to have a debt-to-equity ratio of 80:20.

During my tenure, the Group companies paid all their debts in full (principal and interest), without being granted any haircuts. Taking into account the size of the group and the extent of its borrowings, no other company listed in Bursa Malaysia can boast of a similar track record.

4) Nine months after I left Renong/UEM, PLUS was listed on the then KLSE (Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange), thereby proving that PLUS was ready for listing during my tenure. I had not rushed it because we had up to the year 2006 when the PLUS bonds were due for redemption and we would have gotten better valuation for the shares.

5) As part of Time DotCom’s restructuring, Singtel (the Singapore-based telecommunication service provider) offered RM2.1 billion for a 20 per cent interest in Time DotCom and 108.2 million shares in Time Engineering Bhd.

Singtel valued Time DotCom at around RM8 billion. Moreover, Singtel would have brought value in terms of expertise and skills to grow the business of Time DotCom. At the last minute, I was stopped from proceeding with the Singtel deal and because of time constraints I was forced to accept the less attractive alternative.

Based on the facts I have mentioned, it is clear that I have always had the intention and the ability to honour the call and put option, or alternatively undertake the GO for UEM. Furthermore, despite the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the Renong/UEM group was substantially restructured at the time of my forced departure.

In summary, a gross injustice has been done to me especially when I was denied or stopped from making the payment of RM3.2 billion for the UEM put option/GO and proceeding with Singtel on the RM2.1 billion deal, both of which would have substantially reduced the Group debt of some RM20 billion, most of which were project-related anyway.

Some other companies, like the Lion Group/Amsteel (with RM15 billion in group assets), whose RM10.2 billion debt was mainly neither project-related nor cash flow-based, were not touched and instead given preferential treatment, like exemption from burdensome import duties and granted Approved Permits.

If I was not forced out, and were given a free hand to manage the group, I would have been able to take advantage of the subsequent improvement in the economic conditions to list PLUS, realise the full potential of the Nusajaya land bank and grow the overall assets and business of the Renong/UEM Group.

Source: NSTP September 2nd, 2010

The time for Kanari to sing

Let's hear what black canary, Kanari have to sing?

Cina senang-senang saja dilepas dan dibantu. Bila Melayu, sentiasa bertegas dan sedia dianiaya?

I sense more is gonna spilled open.

Tajuddin's case could be on the deck. Someone from Nor Yakcop's side must have contacted Salahuddin Ayub and Malaysia Today's Raja Petra to make a big brouhaha on MAS's lawsuit against Tajuddin.

Even how informative they are revealing, both of them know nuts on the technicality and legality of the case. For one thing, MAS's Legal Department have been over the years having a tough time trying to make a case out of it.

Son of former Minister yang dulu banyak lansi, Tan Sri Hamid Osman, Dr Wafi was only interested in feeding his crony to change the already capable lawyers handling the lawsuit with crony's lawfirm but outsourced to others to makan in between the comparatively bloated fees. Do you read MACC?

God help MAS!

The late Tan Sri Azizan took the Petronas reject with a doctorate in shipping law to handle MAS's aviation law issues. He survived by being a compulsive delegators!

The cheapskate is a Jakun and known to abuse staff discounted tickets to regularly bring his whole family for holidays during his business trips.

For these issues, my selective support for Tajuddin and Halim against Nor Yakcop and MAS!!!