MALAYSIA made it mandatory for heads of government-linked companies (GLC) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) as well as members of the judiciary to declare their assets but in an effort to stem corruption but had never ‘seriously’ extended such ruling on politicians across the board.
The closest it came to that is on July 22 when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) made public a list of asset declaration by 56 out of 70 ministers and deputy ministers (all in caretaker capacity now), of which 48 of them are millionaires with 11 of them owning over RM10 mil worth of assets.
From that, five possess assets over RM15 mil – four of which exceeds RM20 mil, namely (i) deputy minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Dr Jeffrey G Kitingan; (ii) finance minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz; (iii) Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa; and (iv) deputy minister of Federal Territories Datuk Seri Dr Santhara Kumar Ramanaidu.
So when PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli emerged the first Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate to declare his assets publicly ahead of the 15th General Election (GE15), questions abound if the PKR’s quest to make it mandatory for all its candidates to declare their assets is not merely an election ploy but will be accepted by all the candidates with an open heart.
“I am one of the first members of parliament to declare assets in detail (since 2016),” he claimed on his recent Facebook post. “PKR’s Electoral Department Secretariat is currently collecting sworn declarations of assets that will be displayed on the website www.calonkeadilan.org starting tomorrow (today, Nov 3).”
True to the spirit of leadership by example, Rafizi declared that the total value of his net assets as of Oct 31 2022 is estimated at RM18,851,350.
This includes RM1,092,411 in his Employees’ Providence Fund (EPF) account and RM16,737,408 in investments and shares – with RM12,410,000 of them from his stake in his company Invoke Solutions Sdn Bhd.
“The company’s valuation based on the company’s net assets as of Oct 31, 2022 is RM17 mil. The company’s valuation based on the latest issued share price as of Oct 31, 2022 is RM75 mil,” revealed Rafizi in his asset declaration.
“Therefore, the investment declared in this Affidavit is based on holding 73% of the company’s value of RM17 mil.”
He also declared two units of houses as assets worth RM1.65 mil: a double-storey semi-detached, and a condominium unit, both in Bukit Antarabangsa. Additionally, he listed two cars: a Peugeot 3008 SUV bought in 2018 and a Honda Accord sedan bought in 2014 which are now valued at RM70,000 and RM40,000 respectively. – Nov 3, 2022
