KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 12): The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has included investigations into Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s controversial deals in its schedule for next year.
The privatisation of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd or MAHB (KL:AIRPORT) and unspecified domestic investments by the country’s sovereign wealth fund are among the five new proceedings planned by the bipartisan committee for 2025.
“The proceedings will take place between Feb 3 and March 6,” PAC chairperson Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said during a news conference at the Parliament building on Thursday.
The witnesses to be summoned will be determined at a later date, she added.
Khazanah has been under scrutiny since it announced a joint privatisation of MAHB with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
The deal’s controversy revolves around GIP’s link to asset management giant BlackRock, which has been accused of involvement in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. BlackRock was then in the midst of purchasing GIP and completed the acquisition in October.
The spotlight intensified further when the Ministry of Finance revealed that Khazanah and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) had sold their combined stake in FashionValet in 2023 for just RM3.1 million, after investing RM47 million together in the e-commerce platform in 2018.
On Thursday, Mas Ermieyati said the other three new proceedings on the PAC’s schedule are over Kuala Lumpur’s land development, the impact of private healthcare price increases on public hospitals, and the procurement of electric trains through a RM10.7 billion leasing agreement with China.
The PAC also plans to present six reports and three follow-up action reports to the Dewan Rakyat when Parliament reconvenes next year.
Among the high-profile issues to be presented are the multibillion-ringgit multi-lane free-flow toll system, government-guaranteed commitments related to 1Malaysia Development Bhd, and the procurement of the Foreign Workers Centralized Management System.