The Three Gurus Are Suffering From Wilful Blindness!

AsiaMoney report 12 April, 2022 entitled “BigPay: A capital idea for AirAsia pioneer” by Eric Ellis.

“People wouldn’t have to give up their child away or their dog to get a mortgage can now get a loan in less than 3 minute based on information that is more relevant to them than all the financial information, said Tony Fernandes.

“Fernandes is hoping that BigPay and its 200-strong team will prove the tonic that restores group finances. BigPay‘s mission, he say, “is to become a leading challenger bank across Southeast Asia. We have established ourselves in Malaysia as one of the leading provides of digital banking services, and we want to expand our product sets, along with the growing model to new markets”.

“Other investors in BigPay include Malaysian government’s Malaysian Industrial Development Finance and IKhlas Capital, the private equity house controlled by regional luminaries such as CIMB’s former boss, Nazir Razak, and Indonesian businessman – politician Gita Wirjawan“.

The above quotes taken from the article with specific reference to AirAsia and its Fintech arm called BigPay. For the full article read HERE.

Tony Fernandes had painted a very rosy picture of BigPay in the said AsiaMoney report. For a start in its financial report filed with SSM /Companies Commission of Malaysia showed BigPay’s accumulated losses is RM59.062. The said report is reproduced below.

“Get Loan Quick Schemes / Microloans”

In a nutshell, Fintech in general is all about “Get Loan Quick Scheme” or “Buy Now Pay Later Schemes” in a matter of a few minutes as declared by Tony Fernandes of PN17 AirAsia in the above AsiaMoney’s article.

It must be noted that in Malaysia there are no laws to regulate such schemes! It was only recently that BNM, SC and MoF are discussing to put in place the “Consumer Credit Act“.

Yours truly is supportive of any “Get Loan Quick Schemes” made available to the public as long as public interests are protected at all time. Surely, Malaysians do not want to see the “Sublime Mortgage Bubble Burst” under the guise of “Get Mortgage Quick Scheme” like in America where many Americans and financial institutions like Lehman Brothers had gone burst, HERE.

Malaysians had the unfortunate experience of witnessing the burst of the infamous “Get Rich Quick Scheme / Skim Cepat Kaya” and the miseries suffered by many Rakyat, who had lost their lifesavings and burdened with debts. B40 and students are very vulnerable to such schemes and easily fall for such “Get Loan Quick Schemes”, “Skim Cepat Kaya” or “Buy Now Pay Later” in order to make quick profits, acquire things, which are not necessities or finance their lifestyles and thereafter burden with debts. The authorities especially Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Security Commission (SC) and Ministry of Finance (MoF) do not seem to learn from history. It is sad for our nation!

As the saying goes, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”! We must not allow the “little napoleons” in BNM, SC and MoF to put Malaysians to untold miseries! The Rakyat pay for their salaries and perks to look after our wellbeing and not to put our nation/Rakyat in miseries and despairs.

Good Governance In BNM, SC & MoF Must Prevail

We must insist on proper governance in its approvals power for any form of licence relating to “Get Loan Quick Schemes” or “Buy Now Pay Later” and/or selecting companies for the five Digital Banking Licences based on qualifications as enshrined in BNM’s SOP and not other “special relationship”. Good governance dictates that the Governor of BNM, Tan Sri Nor Shamsiah Binti Mohd Yunus, will stand up for BNM as our central bank and ultimately the Rakyat.

With the above backdrop, we shall discuss further the issue of good governance in BNM, SC and MoF, more appropriately the best un-elected Minister of Finance of all times, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, in wanting to dish out Digital Banking Licences and endorsement of Fintech/Microloans at will. Let’s hope that common sense shall prevail in BNM, SC and MoF at the end of the day. Let’s have the laws to control the schemes first before anything else!

BigPay, The Related Company Or Subsidiary Of AirAsia Group

BigPay is a related company or subsidiary to PN17 AirAsia (AA). It has been reported in the media and as announced by AA’s supremo, Tony Fernandes, that BigPay and its partners, MIDF and Ikhlas Capital,which is controlled by none other than the joker and former boss of CIMB, Nazir Razak, had applied for Digital Banking Licence from BNM.

Executives 1 & 2 Of PN17 AirAsia Were Featured In the Massive International Airbus Bribery Scandals – Airbus Paid RM200 Million To Both

In late January 2020, the UK Serious Fraud Office had brought several corruption charges against Airbus for paying many hundred of million ringgit of BRIBES to many airline heads namely Sri Lanka Air, Garuda and Airasia/AirAsia X. Airbus had admitted to the bribery scandals involving the said airlines and UK Crown Court had imposed a fine of £3.5 billion, HERE.

Count No: 1 In The Written judgment of The UK Crown Court on The Bribery Scandals

Of course Malaysia’s 2 criminals or conmen of PN17 AirAsia top of the list in the Airbus bribery scandals. Should we be proud of 2 criminals / conmen for putting Malaysia in the world map for the said bribery scandal?

From Count No 1, it was clear that the bribes of RM200 mil was paid by Airbus to the 2 criminals / conmen known as AirAsia’s executives 1 & 2 where both of them were rewarded for order of 180 aircraft! Such bribes should have been handed over to AirAsia and AirAsia X for the benefits of their respective shareholders! But they kept for the bribes for themselves for their Sport team. This was how the 2 criminals / conmen had treated the rakyat / investing public! Surely, this was a serious issue for SC to probe but it was not to be as can seen later.

Indonesian Authorities Prosecuted & Jailed Garuda’s Former CEO, Emirsyah Satar

Soon after the UK Crown Court’s judgement, Indonesian authority prosecuted the former CEO of Garuda, Emirsyah Satar, and he was found guilty of accepting bribes totally about RM5 million ($1.4 million) only from Rolls Royce for order of aircraft. He was prosecuted in Indonesia and sentenced to 8 years jail, HERE. Unlike in Malaysia, these two criminals / conmen PN17 AirAsia’s executives 1 and 2 who received RM200 million from Airbus for order of aircraft and they are still running amok in our corporate scene and/or condoned and/or protected!

The Opposite Happened For Malaysian SC – Cover-UP?

When this bribery scandals broke out internationally, Bursa Malaysia was the first to launch an investigation into the said Airbus bribery scandals into the said 2 criminals of AA. SC followed suit and instructed Bursa Malaysia to stop the investigations as it was also investigating it, HERE.

After More Than Two Years – SC Is Still Sleeping On Investigations

More than 2 years have elapsed, SC under the watch of Datuk Syed Zaid Albar has not announced the result of its investigation into the said Airbus Bribery Scandals involving the said 2 criminals / conmen from AA. SC’s silence on this investigation is deafening! The shameless Syed Zaid Albar until this day dares not even to announce that its investigation is still on-going because he knew SC and himself will be laughing stock! Indonesia took a few months to prosecute the the former CEO of Garuda and put him in jail for 8 years in a matter of a few months. Whereas after more than 2 years all is well with the said 2 criminals / conmen. Please read HERE.

For full details of the UK Crown’s Written Judgement, read HERE.

We can only hope that by now these three fintech Gurus and/or their respective Tingkat 4 advisors are now appraised of the above Count No 1 against the two criminal / conman known as executives 1 and 2 of PN17 AirAsia in the said UK Crown Court’s Written Judgement and act accordingly.

If the three fintech Gurus are still not convince about the background facts and chose to wear blinkers in the evaluation of the status or qualifications of the applicants for Digital Banking Licence, please read further.

The Sole Shareholder of BigPay Is A Foreign Company, Big Pay Pte Ltd!

On 30.12.2005, TPAAY Asia Sdn Bhd was incorporated. On 4.4.2017 it subsequently changed its name to BigPay Malaysia Sdn Bhd (BigPay). Its current directors are Datuk Kamarudin Meranun (executive chairman of AirAsia Group Bhd), Ms Aireen Omar (as CEO of AirAsia). According to the SSM search as at 14.3.2022, BigPay’s financial statement showed that it had a recorded losses to the tune of RM59,062,000.00! BigPay is a loss making company. It must be noted that BigPay’s sole shareholder is a foreign company, Big Pay Pte Ltd (with no company registration number) holding 393,000,154 shares. We can only guess that it is a Singapore based company.

If it interest to know, kamarudin Meranun is also a known expert in “insider trading“! But he was fine RM3.5 million by SC for share tradings during the height of the scandalous “MAS – AirAsia Shares Swap / SUAP”!

Big Pay Later Sdn Bhd (BigPay Later) was incorporated on 20.7.2020. Its current directors are Ms Aireen Omar and Mr Omar-Slaim Dhanani, a Singaporean with its residential address at 65 Tiong Poh Road, unit 01-26, 160065 Singapore. Its sole shareholder is also a foreign company, BigPay Pte Ltd (with no company registration number) holding 2,00,000 shares.

The common directors in both BigPay and BigPay Later are Ms Aireen Omar, who is a household name in AirAsia and president of AirAsia Digital (formerly known as RedBeat Ventures), and Mr Omar-Slaim Dhanani, a Singaporean. The common shareholder of both companies is a foreign company Big Pay Pte Ltd.

As at this date there is no financial statement of BigPay Later Sdn Bhd filed with SSM.

It is unclear whether BNM has a policy that any company applying for Banking Licences of any kind must be 100% Malaysian owned or at least 50%. BNM seems to be very secretive about the qualification of the 29 applicants for Digital Banking Licence. Be that as it may, lets hope that BNM Governor will not allow herself to be led by the nose by the Tingkat 4 high ranking officers and/or the power that be

Yours truly hopes that the BNM Governor Tan Sri Nor Shamsiah and SC chairman Syed Zaid Albar will now be appraised of the above facts mainly AA is under PN17 and the 2 criminals / conman known as executives 1 and 2 of AA and AAX were embroiled in the Airbus bribery scandals. If not, both will be laughing stocks and more importantly they will bring BNM and SC into disrepute!

To be continued.

Stay Tuned – Next Change Part 3 (The joker Nazir Razak’s connection!).