“We are trying to change Khazanah to concentrate on certain issues, most of which I know.
“I was the one who started Khazanah. We want to keep it going in the right direction,” he said when asked about an audio clip in which a voice resembling that of PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim made a reference to his decision to helm Khazanah.
The voice in the recording stated: “He (Mahathir) appointed himself as Khazanah’s chairman. What’s this? The people lose, Khazanah loses.”
Mahathir responded that there was nothing wrong with him chairing Khazanah.
“I am not going to be the CEO. I’m not going to get a RM7 million pay,” said Mahathir.
On Monday, Mahathir named himself as Khazanah chairman and Mohamed Azmin Ali, who is the economic affairs minister, as a director.
Besides Azmin, the other directors are former Petronas president Mohd Hassan Marican, former Bank Negara deputy governor Sukhdave Singh and former Securities Commission executive director Goh Ching Yin.
The announcements came following the recent resignations of Khazanah’s nine directors, including its managing director Azman Mokhtar and executive committee chairman Nor Md Yusof.
Good chance to win in Sungai Kandis
On the Sungai Kandis by-election this Saturday, Mahathir said Pakatan Harapan has a good chance of winning.
Asked on the delay in paying salaries to press secretaries and political secretaries, some for the past three months, he said he would have to check the reasons but said there were processes to go through.
“Certain things need to be signed. Bureaucratic procedures take time; we will do it.”