In a recent interview circulated via internet by malaysiakini.com, Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan asked what is wrong in helping Khairy Jamaluddin to obtain RM9.2 million loan to purchase ECM Libra shares.
I gave a simple reaction as follows (see malaysiakini's VOX POPULI column).
"I read with much interest the reasons given by my friend Datuk Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan as to why ECM Libra Avenue provided loans to Khairy Jamaluddin to purchase its shares.
As a friend, I would like to ask Kali to help me. Will he? Of course not, because I am not the son-in-law of the prime minister. I am of no use to Kali and his friends. This is a fact.
Yes, Kali was lucky to be assisted by "someone" to be what he is today. I am fully aware of his background. I knew Kali since he was a teenager in Kelawai, Penang. I knew him when he was a member of the India-based Tabligh missionary movement. I knew him when he started his journalism career with the local daily in Penang.
With such a background, will Kali help me to purchase ECM Libra Avenue shares, say worth RM9 million? Definitely no, and sadly I will not be laughing all the way to the bank."
Reaction of IBNU HAKEEM: Kalimullah is again playing the spin game. He is not answering the question about the valuation of ECM Libra versus the value of Avenue Capital at the point of the merger, takeover, or whatever you want to call it.
What about the RM360 million worth of goodwill? This is a huge amount of goodwill valuation. How does he justify this amount of "goodwill" value?
Also as a shareholder of ECM Libra, Kalimullah had already made plans to merge with Avenue Capital - a company owned by the Ministry of Finance, or MOF. Therefore bringing in Khairy as a shareholder was not just helping any young man with a leg up in life. This was a young man whose father-in-law was the head of MOF, whose assets Kalimullah was after.
As a journalist, Kalimullah must be familiar with the concept of "conflict of interest"? Is this situation of him giving a RM9.2 million loan to Khairy to buy a stake in his company ECM Libra, which was already planning to take over Avenue Capital, exempted from his understanding of "conflict of interest"?
HL TOO commented: The very fact that Kalimullah is unable to understand what is wrong with helping Khairy is an eloquent testimony to what is wrong with this country and its culture of corruption.
KUDA RANGGI - You can take a horse to (the) water but you can't make it drink.
4 comments:
Sdr Banihashim a.k.a Syed Imran, apologies, is this the Syed Imran formerly of Bernama?
How did Mr Kalimullah acquire so much wealth to be a director of ECM Libra? I didn't know journalists get paid so much money. Does he come from a wealthy Penang family?
Sdr AKJ, maaf kerana terlalai. Ya benar. Kerja orang pencen yang dok gian nak menulis tapi tak dapat tempat.
Satria Asia,
to my knowledge, his family used to trade in clothings (jeans, shirts, blouses) and textiles "imported" from Betong, South Thailand via Kroh to Penang.
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