(June 10): Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been asked if he was aware of rice firm Bernas channelling around RM700 million of its profits to a parent company owned by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary.

PKR's Alor Star MP Gooi Hsiao Leung said in a statement today that such channelling of funds would not be possible if Bernas was kept as a public listed company.

Syed Mokhtar's firm Tradewinds took Bernas private in March last year.

"The question on everyone’s mind now is whether the plan to raid Bernas of its cash was conceived right from the beginning when plans to de-list Bernas were announced to facilitate Syed Mohktar’s takeover of Bernas," Gooi said.

He said it was unacceptable for Bernas, which enjoys monopoly of the rice industry in Malaysia and has government protection mechanisms, to channel its profit to companies owned by Syed Mokhtar.

"Question is whether the government is complicit with the latest revelation of Bernas channelling huge funds to Syed Mohktar’s companies – considering that the government has a ‘golden share’ and board representation in Bernas," he added.

"The agriculture minister must immediately answer if he is aware of the channelling of huge advances from Bernas to Syed Mohktar’s group of companies," he said.

Bernas was de-listed with the government's support in 2014 with the promise that it would be re-listed after a restructuring exercise.

Despite Ismail Sabri's claims that Syed Mokhtar had privately made the undertaking to re-list the company, Bernas has not officially confirmed any re-listing plans to Bursa Malaysia.

To date, no timeline has been given on Bernas’s restructuring exercise. – The Malaysian Insider