Khairy was also unhappy with the way managing director Azman Mokhtar was treated.
The Umno member said in a statement that viral images of the sendoff Azman received from his colleagues yesterday showed a leader who was much respected and appreciated.
Khairy regretted that “for more than two months, the managing director of our nation’s sovereign wealth fund was denied the opportunity to even meet and brief the prime minister”.
It resulted in the Khazanah board not being able to convene its meetings, he said.
“The message was simple: We want you out but we are not going to get our hands dirty since there are no real grounds for your dismissal. The Khazanah board understood the message. And being the responsible individuals they are, they offered their resignations en bloc.
“A new board was then appointed and subsequently announced by the prime minister’s office. This in itself is odd. Khazanah is almost entirely owned by the Ministry of Finance Inc. Any board appointments must be signed off and announced by the minister of finance, not the prime minister. But this was not done, even though the Pakatan Harapan government has promised not to concentrate too much power in the prime minister’s office.”
He said the government’s public relations strategy had been to focus on the few losses during Azman’s tenure, from the investment in UBS to a company selling lingerie on-line.
“This is designed to embarrass and deflect from the real numbers that we should be concerned with: Khazanah’s realisable asset value grew from RM65 billion in 2004 to RM157 billion at the end of 2017. Its net worth adjusted (which takes out liabilities and dividends paid to the government) was RM47 billion in 2004.
“At the end of last year it was RM115.6 billion. That is Azman’s legacy. Not the smaller losses that have been highlighted to smear his tenure and reputation.”
Khairy said another legacy of Azman was succession planning and that he had readied two deputies to take over in May, when his contract was scheduled to end.
“I hope the two deputy MDs will be among those considered to take over to ensure continuity in executing Khazanah’s mandate as the nation’s sovereign wealth fund.”
Saying there was a need to guard against any attempt to replace Khazanah with the “crony capitalism of 1990s Malaysia Inc,” Khairy added: “The opposition will be monitoring the government’s next moves very closely.”