Wee said he was perplexed by Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali’s explanation that although the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc) owned shares in the company, the minister was not one of the new directors.

“We don’t want the finance minister to only be able to read the annual report of Khazanah at the end of the year.

“If you do not sit on the board, it will be hard to answer on what is going on (in Khazanah).

“I don’t want a situation where he does not know how to answer (questions) because he is not a Khazanah board member,” Wee told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

On Monday, the Prime Minister’s Department announced the appointment of five board members: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as chairman and Azmin, former Petronas CEO and president Mohd Hassan Marican, former Bank Negara Malaysia deputy governor Dr Sukhdave Singh and former Securities Commission executive director of market development Goh Ching Yin as directors.

The five filled the vacancies left by the nine previous board members who resigned after Mahathir openly criticised the company for deviating from its original purpose.

Wee also said Khazanah was formed through MOF Inc, a body pursuant to the Ministry of Finance (Incorporation) Act 1957.

He said it was only rational that Lim be appointed a board member as the act fell under his ministry’s jurisdiction.

“What’s wrong with placing the finance minister there? I do not want for him not to be there when revenue is collected through strategic investments,” he said, adding that this would be awkward.

“Hopefully this will become a reality because we want the finance minister to be involved in the process of making strategic investment decisions in the board which will be chaired by the prime minister.”