TNB announced, in a statement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, that senior independent non-executive director Abd Manaf Hashim and independent non-executive director Sakthivel Alagappan had ceased to be members of TNB’s board of directors.

The duo said they did not want to seek re-election as independent non-executive directors prior to the commencement of the group’s AGM yesterday.

Abd Manaf is a member of Umno while Sakthivel is secretary-general of MIC.

TNB chairman Leo Moggie was quoted by The Malaysian Reserve (TMR) as saying: “When we issued the notice of AGM, there were four names seeking re-election, but at the AGM (yesterday), two of those individuals decided not to offer themselves for re-election.

“This is presumably because they feel that they might be linked in terms of political alignment. So, they themselves have already decided not to offer themselves for appointment.”

He said the two vacated positions would be filled “when the time comes” by qualified and professional people.

On the future direction of TNB, Leo said it would follow the policy of the government of the day.

“TNB, as a government-linked company (GLC), is sensitive to the policy of the government of the day,” TMR quoted him as saying.

“As noted by the new government, there will be a clearer distinction between professional and political (interests). GLCs are expected to be professional in what they do. TNB will be professional in what we do,” Leo assured.

Meanwhile, TMR quoted company CFO Fazlur Rahman Zainuddin as saying TNB’s power reserve margin was expected to remain sustainable at around 30% for the foreseeable future.

He said TNB had new plants in the pipeline, including the Jimah East Power plant in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, due to come online in mid-2019.

The coal-fired power plant will increase TNB’s contribution to Malaysia’s generation capacity to 53.2% from 51.8% currently.

Shares of TNB closed eight sen lower at RM15.92 yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM90.28 billion.