Rahman today criticised the PKR secretary-general for “wrongly and knowingly misleading the people” in his insistence that MRLSB is owned by two individuals, instead of the Malaysian Government.
MRLSB is leading the joint project between Malaysia and China for the RM55 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project.
Rahman proceeded to explain that the matter of dual ownership was merely to ease MRLSB’s beginnings after which their shares were transferred to Ministry of Finance Inc (MOF Inc) and the Federal Lands Commissioner (FLC).
“For the ease of initial incorporation of MRLSB, both the ministry’s officials, namely Dr Yusof Ismail and Ahmad Suhaimi Endut, had been nominated to be the first directors and subscribers for the shares.
“Subsequently, the said shares have been transferred to Minister of Finance (Incorporated) and Federal Lands Commissioner on Oct 12, 2016,” Rahman said in a statement tonight.
Rahman noted that in the current Companies Act 1965, a company is not required to submit to the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) for registration any transfer of its shares.
This means that any changes to the company’s ownership will not be reflected in the SSM system until the yearly annual return is lodged.
“That explains why the search report with SSM by YB Rafizi is still showing the two officials as the shareholders of MRL when in fact the current shareholders are MOF and FLC,” Rahman said.
“If only YB Rafizi had done his homework before hurling accusations, he would not be seen as someone desperate to score political brownie points at the expense of his own credibility.”