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KUALA LUMPUR – A contentious deal involving the takeover of a Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s (TM) subsidiary that manages Kuala Lumpur Tower has gotten the attention of the Communications and Digital Ministry.
In a statement today, its minister Fahmi Fadzil said he is taking seriously the issue of Menara Kuala Lumpur Sdn Bhd’s (MKLSB) full acquisition by a relatively unknown firm named Hydroshoppe Sdn Bhd, and is closely monitoring the matter.
According to him, he was given a detailed briefing on the concession regarding the management of KL Tower by his ministry on December 14, less than two weeks after he took office.
He will be given another full briefing regarding the matter by TM next Tuesday.
“I am made to understand that the KL Tower management’s concession given to MKLSB is currently in its third interim phase until December 31, 2022 (sic).
“The ministry is closely monitoring the issue and is prepared to provide its full cooperation to authorities that are investigating the matter.”
Fahmi’s statement follows social media postings by several users highlighting the controversial deal by TM to transfer full ownership of the KL Tower concession to Hydroshoppe on October 31, when Tan Sri Annuar Musa was the communications and multimedia minister.
A Twitter user, @FreeMsian, questioned why TM would sell off all of its 10 million shares in MKLSB, which he described as a cash cow – when KL Tower was making a hefty RM66 million annual revenue and recorded RM25 million net profit in 2019.
He also noted how Hydroshoppe was once close to being struck off by the Companies Commission of Malaysia for not filing their records on a timely basis before it was “a new life by TM“.
The user pointed out that no public announcement was made on the ownership transfer and questioned if the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission will now investigate the case.
There has been growing speculation that Annuar or his proxies may have been involved in the deal considering it took place during his time in the government.
However, Annuar was quoted by Malaysiakini as saying earlier today that his former ministry or the government had never taken part in any such deal, which he noted only involved a public-listed company, namely TM.
“Nothing to do with the communications minister. Go ask TM...if the company was making RM25 million in profit, why didn’t they want to keep it and sell it off,” he had said.
“TM was not under the communications minister’s purview...it is a public listed company.” – The Vibes, December 27, 2022