by Maclean Patrick,
Wong Choon Mei
Nazir Abdul Razak has been a busy man these past few months.
The youngest son of the second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak and the brother
of the current Prime Minister Najib Razak, Nazir is the go-to man-of-the-hour
when it comes to business deals.
Nazir may now be in the shadow of his famous dad and elder
brother, but he is no slouch. No one can say is he a self-made banker as he
never had to rise from the ranks, but still, his knowledge of the financial
world and his management vision is envied by many top professional bankers in
the country and few would begrudge his many titles and awards.
In 2006, Nazir was named one of Asia’s 50 most influential
figures of the past decade by FinanceAsia. He was also named "Best Top
Executive in Malaysia" by Asiamoney for two consecutive years, in 2009 and
2010. He had joined the corporate advisory unit of the Commerce International
Merchant Bankers Berhad in 1999, and is currently the managing director and
chief executive of CIMB Group, one of the largest financial services providers
in Malaysia.
Nazir’s influence on the Malaysian economic landscape cannot
be ignored, whether on its own or in connection to his brother. Upon assuming
the premiership, Najib’s first move was to increase the service charge for
credit card holders. This prompted many of his critics to accuse him of
benefiting his younger brother and other banking fat cats on whom the
corruption-tainted PM was seen eager to cozy up to. And it is safe to say that
Nazir would surely be one of Najib’s unofficial advisers when it comes to money
matters in Malaysia.
MAS-AirAsia
In the past weeks, Umno blogs have been heavy with criticism
over the recent share swap between MAS and Air-Asia. But it was truly an Umno
family affair, with the disgruntlement only about who got more and who got less
out of the deal. But the person who brokered the swap was none other than Nazir
Razak.
His group acted as adviser to the highly controversial deal a
month ago, when Khazanah Holdings Bhd traded of 20.5% of Malaysia Airlines’
shares for 10% of AirAsia and agreed to buy another 10% AirAsia X’s shares for
an ‘undetermined price’. Given that AirAsia is hugely in debt while the
long-established MAS has many fixed assets, it was seen as an uneven deal and
MAS staff are protesting it. However, in the BN-controlled media, the process
is smartly described as a ‘collaborative agreement’.
The MAS and AirAsia swap raised eyebrows because it does not
make much business sense for a large Government-Linked-Company like MAS to
allow smaller AirAsia to take on the lead role and lion’s share of the goodies.
In its crudest terms, the share swap between MAS and AirAsia was a company
take-over, with AirAsia assuming the commanding voice in what is in principle a
national asset.
While AirAsia is also Malaysian and its chief Tony Fernandes
well-thought of, such generosity from the federal government or to be precise
the Finance ministry, of which Najib is in charge, is certainly questionable.
Yet, Najib allowed this to happen, ignoring the fact that taxpayers have pumped
in billions upon billions through the years to save the ailing MAS. Not only
that, he even commanded all other GLCs to stop legal action against former
chairman Tajudin Ramli, who is well-known to be a crony of ex-premier Mahathir
Mohamad and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin.
As for Nazir, how much did he gain from brokering this deal?
The information is obviously confidential, but it emboldened him to venture
into his next ‘collaborative agreement’ - Sime Darby acquiring a 30% stake in
E&O for RM766 million.
Sime-E&O
The Sime Darby- E&O deal already reeks of impropriety
when one considers the fact that E&O chairman, Azizan Abdul Rahman, is the
husband of Zarinah Anwar, the head of financial industry regulator Security
Commission. Azizan also has ties to Umno-linked businessman Kalimullah Hassan,
who has stakes in ECM Libra. And four months ahead of the Sime-E&O deal,
ECM Libra had increased its shares to 5.35% or 41.41 million shares after
mopping up an additional 3.4 million shares in May.
This has of course not gone unnoticed by the financial media.
Even the Umno factions are baying for blood. Did Azizan tell Kalimullah of the
impending move by Sime Darby to buy into E&O? In Umno circles, Kalimullah -
the former head of the NST group - is a staunch supporter of former premier
Abdullah Badawi and his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin.
Yes, Umno politics is complex. It is a huge web of deceit
with flitting loyalties and the recent slew of giant deals are seen to be
nothing less than the Umno elite and their cronies cashing out. And more are on
the way.
As for Nazir Razak, how was he involved and what did he gain
from this second deal? It was Umno blogger Big Dog who first revealed that
Nazir's CIMB was also the adviser to the Sime-E&O transaction. Big Dog also
happens to be among those bloggers believed to be loyal to the Mahathir faction
in Umno and his tidbit was seized upon by his colleagues to highlight Nazir's
role in the deal.
But frankly, as an investment banker, Nazir may only be doing
what he is supposed to - which is to look out for fat-cat deals to broker. It
is what he is extremely highly-paid to do by CIMB shareholders. Whether these
deals were unprincipled and if CIMB should have advised or turned down such
questionable transactions are different issues altogether although if later
proven, then surely they would have to pay the legal price.
Chaos
as Umno does at Titanic
The point is two huge deals rushed through ahead of a looming
13th general election is cause for alarm bells to ring loud and clear. The Umno
elite who have taken advantage of the power they held through the decades to
enrich themselves are cashing out. This is really the Last Grab, so to speak.
And it is telling that the factions within Umno are also taking the opportunity
to use these deals to take pot-shots at each other.
When the MAS-AirAsia was unveiled, the grousing came mostly
from those aligned to the Badawi camp. The Tajudin connection to Daim and
Mahathir and the enormous disadvantage to MAS were pointed out. Now in another
deal that benefits the Badawi camp allegedly through the Kalimullah connection,
bloggers on the other side are busy highlighting the shady aspects of this
transaction, all in the name of being "cruel to be kind" and nation
before faction!
So, Nazir may be disliked for his curt ways but he is not the
real target. For the Sime-E&O, which incidentally also involves tycoons
with links to Daim and Mahathir, the targets are Badawi and Najib.
Scandal-tainted Najib is already on his way out, but it does
not matter if he is helped along the way with a few more body-blows and it
would be perfect if his smart-alec banker brother got slapped as well. Also to
ensure that Mahathir's choice gets a free path to the throne, which is the Umno
presidency, all efforts must also be made to nip in the bud any pretensions from
the Badawi camp to try and revive the sunken fortunes of overambitious
son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin.
In the coming days, revelations of more Najib misdeeds and
those of his clan, Badawi's family and even the Mahathir faction which includes
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will surface. Anwar and Pakatan can take
a break now, their political enemies are already on auto-pilot. Like the
Titanic, pirate-ship Umno is sinking. The 'warlord-ism' and infighting will get
really intense in this last lap.
Casino Classic
Source : MC
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