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In a retort to the Pekan MP, Rafizi had said bailing out Sapura would only benefit a handful of elites, and that it was unfair to spend billions on the firm at a time when businesses and employees across the country were facing tough times.
But Najib said Rafizi’s view was narrow-minded as he failed to see the effect it would have on the economic supply chain and the opportunity there was to build the nation’s wealth.
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He said letting Petronas take over ownership and give soft loans to Sapura would allow the oil and gas firm to continue fulfilling its contracts while banks would have the confidence to resume financial facilities to the company.
“Once it has recovered, Sapura’s value will return to its previous level, which is 10 times more than currently. After that, Petronas can sell some of its shares in Sapura to gain big profits, just as Petronas resold MISC’s shares to make profits in 2019.
“After it has recovered, the government will have a greater amount of funds that can be used to help the people from the rise in Sapura’s value,” he said in a Facebook post today.
He dismissed Rafizi’s claim that bailing out Sapura would only protect a handful of elites, asking if ASB shareholders, Sapura workers, thousands of Bumiputera vendors, or local banks like Maybank and Khazanah Nasional Berhad-owned CIMB were part of this group of elites.
Najib also pointed out that Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s son, Mokhzani, was no longer a substantial shareholder in Sapura, while its founder, Shahril Shamsuddin, only had a 10% share.
“Just because Shahril has a 10% interest in Sapura, is it better for PNB to suffer four times the losses with its 40% interest so that Shahril cannot benefit?
“It’s like saying I’d rather lose RM400 than help someone keep their RM100. So which elite is Rafizi talking about?” he asked.
The government-linked company (GLC) announced a loss of RM8.9 billion last year, which Najib said was the largest for any Malaysian GLC in history.
Najib reiterated that if Sapura were to go bankrupt, some 10.6 million Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) investors would lose up to RM4 billion.
Meanwhile, Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), the Employees Provident Fund and other funds will face indirect losses due to debts of RM10 billion owed to local banks, such as Maybank which is 50% owned by PNB.
He also said nearly 10,000 high-paying jobs would be lost and about 4,500 vendors or suppliers affected “as Malaysia loses a multinational company and the largest petroleum services company in the country’s most important sector”.
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