By Shannon Teoh
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — The DAP today reiterated calls for Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to withdraw the RM5 billion injection into ValueCap Sdn Bhd as the state investment company must pay off a RM5.1 billion debt by February 2009.
Party publicity chief Tony Pua said Najib, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, was at best giving only a "half-truth" when the minister said "the government has doubled the amount of money to buy undervalued stocks to RM10 billion."
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP told a press conference in Parliament that as RM5.1 billion would have to be released in February, it was a "zero-impact move" — the incoming amount being used to pay off an outstanding debt, thereby leaving ValueCap with the same amount of money to invest.
"It puts at risk the hard-earned retirement savings of ordinary Malaysians," he said of the plan to utilise RM5 billion from the Employees Provident Fund to prop up share prices.The Malaysian Insider had yesterday broken the news that ValueCap still owed the sum in interest-bearing unsecured bonds which were due to mature in February 2006 but was then extended to February 2009.The debt was incurred in March 2003 when ValueCap borrowed the amount from shareholders Khazanah Nasional, Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen and Permodalan Nasional Bhd to invest in the stock market.
"As it has already been extended by three years as allowed in the terms of the bonds, ValueCap is required to return the monies come February," Pua said.
The information, which is readily available from the Companies Commission, also reveals that the interest payable to the shareholders is 3.5 per cent per annum payable every six months.
Pua also called for ValueCap's investments since its inception in 2003 to be disclosed to explain its "inability to repay the initial loans." -- TMI
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