Pempena probe has Azalina fuming

By FLORENCE A. SAMY

KUALA LUMPUR: The nonchalant attitude of those being questioned over the Pempena Group of Companies controversy has irked the Tourism Minister.

Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said is also mulling over whether to shut down the subsidiary.

“I have been told the immediate standard response we have been getting is that it is the Government’s money and ‘why should we care’ statements as if it is the Govern ment’s obligation to invest with them,” she said.

“It is so disgusting when nobody cares. How can you not care when it comes to the people’s money?”

The companies are being called in by the Pempena Sdn Bhd management to explain what happened to the investments, many of which gave no returns, Azalina said.

Lashing out at the poor investments, she said the ministry was bent on recovering the money even if it meant selling shares of companies which were not making profits or closing them down.

“Pempena should close down if it cannot invest properly. If it fails, it fails. Then we pick up the pieces and carry on,” she said.

Azalina said it was the companies’ duty to return the investments if they failed to give the profits as promised.

On Nov 3, Azalina said in Parliament that Pempena was involved in dubious deals and had made bad decisions on investments.

The ministry appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to audit Pempena and found that only a few of the 24 companies showed profits. The audit firm has since wrapped up its report.

“One or two companies do not even exist. Why wasn’t a due diligence report done? You do not invest millions of ringgit without calling for such a report,” Azalina said.

Investigations by the Pempena management are expected to be wrapped up at the end of this week and stern action would taken against the perpetrators, she added.

Source: The Star 20.11.2008