The Securites Commission (SC) is playing hide and seek and skirting many of the issues I have raised in parliament recently. Instead of coming clean, the SC has resorted to using a mouthpiece to just blab only on the Parkway Holdings Berhad issue. This is most irresponsible of SC and the Chairman YgBhg Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar herself. The SC has a job to do and must take the responsibility seriously.
The SC, first and foremost, must protect the interest of the investing public in the capital market. This will instill confidence in foreign investors which will in turn help our economy to grow by investing in our stock market. Otherwise the country’s economy will suffer and the rakyat will be badly affected.
The reason for these issues to keep surfacing is because Zarinah Anwar as Chairman of SC is maintaining a deafening elegant silence. She probably thinks the issues will go away and the rakyat will forget in time.
Up till now it’s very mischievous of Zarinah Anwar to have a person like the SC’s Ketua Jabatan Hal Ehwal Korporat, Encik Abdul Jalil Hamid, to answer questions about corporate dealings that mostly concern her as Chairman of SC personally and her husband, Dato Azizan Abdul Rahman.
Abdul Jalil so far only offers a weak explanation on the Parkway affair out of the 40 over issues that I have raised in Parliament. Moreover, the explanation offered of the investigation by terror of the four journalists is a canned public relations statement that one usually finds in a textbook. The many issues that I have raised have reached far and wide and the public is not going to rest until there’s full disclosure.
The ECM Libra reverse takeover of Avenue Capital is a classic case in point. It’s like an ikan bilis swallowing a whale! At the time there were no query and general offer. And when the PAC questioned this irregularity in parliament, the Minister of Finance II then, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, only offered this equivalent: “SC okayed it and therefore all is well and above board.” At the time we must remember that Zarinah Anwar was newly appointed as the Chairman of the Securities Commission, and, ECM Libra together with its main personalities are closely connected with the power-that-be then and now.
Is Zarinah Anwar trying to tell us that all is well? She has to personally answer for the ECM Libra transaction, MyEG Services Berhad, Isyoda Berhad, Lityan Berhad, Ekowood Berhad and Tenco Berhad, among others.
If Zarinah Anwar does not personally come clean on these matters she can be assured more questions will be raised in parliamnet in October. Questions that have been directed at her personally and her connection with her husband, Azizan Abdul Rahman, over many of the corporate deals, Zarinah Anwar must take the onus to speak for herself.
I still stand by my statement that unless Zarinah Anwar gives satisfactory answers to the issues including the ECM Libra takeover of Avenue Capital I have raised, she is then deemed unfit to hold the post as Chairman of Securities Commission.
For the issues that I have raised on the above one can go here, here and here for details.
Below is the reproduction of the full report in Utusan Online today.
SC nafi tuduhan Choo Keong
KUALA LUMPUR 16 Julai – Suruhanjaya Sekuriti (SC) menafikan sekeras-kerasnya semua tuduhan palsu yang berunsur fitnah serta berniat jahat yang dibuat oleh Ahli Parlimen Wangsa Maju, Wee Choo Keong di Dewan Rakyat, semalam.
Pada masa yang sama SC turut kesal dengan tindakan akhbar Utusan Malaysia menyiarkan tuduhan-tuduhan itu tanpa mengesahkan terlebih dahulu kebenarannya.
Pada sidang tersebut, Choo Keong mendakwa SC gagal menghalang proses pembelian saham Pantai Holdings Berhad (Pantai) oleh syarikat Parkway Holdings Ltd (Parkway) pada tahun 2005 melalui pembelian saham bernilai RM312 juta bagi membolehkan pengambilalihan Hospital Pantai dibuat.
Ketua Jabatan Hal Ehwal Korporat SC, Abdul Hamid berkata, syarikat Pantai adalah sebuah syarikat awam tersenarai yang tidak dikenakan sekatan dari segi penyertaan ekuiti asing dan sahamnya boleh diniagakan secara bebas di pasaran saham.
”Melainkan jika terdapat perlanggaran dan undang-undang atau peraturan, SC tidak boleh campur tangan di dalam transaksi saham antara seseorang penjual dan pembeli,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan di sini , hari ini.
Menurut Abdul Jalil, dalam melaksanakan tanggungjawab, semua kakitangan SC termasuk Pengerusinya adalah tertakluk kepada kod etika dan tahap urus tadbir yang tinggi.
Katanya, SC mengamalkan proses dan prosedur yang telus dalam menjalankan tugas dan tertakluk kepada audit dan pengawasan bebas.
”Kami sentiasa mengamalkan tahap profesionalisme dan prinsip-prinsip tadbir urus yang tinggi dan kami penuh yakin bahawa kami telah mendukung prinsip-prinsip ini dengan sepenuhnya pada setiap masa,” tegas beliau.
Abdul Jalil turut membuat penjelasan mengenai peranan dan kuasanya di bawah undang-undang iaitu melindungi para pelabur dan menjalankan penguatkuasaan jika berlaku perlanggaran undang-undang sekuriti.
Beliau juga menyentuh kebergantungan badan pengawal selia itu kepada kenyataan dan keterangan daripada pelbagai lapisan masyarakat termasuk wartawan ketika proses siasatan dibuat.
Menurut beliau, sebagaimana pengambilan kenyataan daripada beberapa wartawan baru-baru ini dalam kes Kenmark ia bukanlah satu perkara luar biasa.
”Pihak kami sebelum ini telah mendapat kerjasama yang baik daripada wartawan termasuk mereka yang menjadi saksi pendakwa di mahkamah.
”Kesemua saksi tanpa mengira siapa mereka tertakluk kepada prosedur dan proses sama di bawah undang-undang. Dakwaan bahawa saksi-saksi diugut dan diganggu adalah tidak benar sama sekali,” katanya.
Justeru, kata beliau, pelbagai tuduhan lain yang telah dibuat berkaitan dengan perkara tersebut adalah perbuatan yang tidak bertanggungjawab dan amat melampau.
”Kami berharap Utusan Malaysia tidak akan menyiarkan lagi berita yang merupakan satu penganiayaan seperti ini,” katanya.
I reproduce here the link to the above report published in Utusan Online on 17 July 2010:
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2010&dt=0717&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Muka_Hadapan&pg=mh_05.htm
