KUALA LUMPUR (May 21): Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has failed to disclose to Parliament the present value of the shares that are being held by SRC International Sdn Bhd in the controversial mining company in Mongolia.
SRC is a former subsidiary of the allegedly debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
"The total investments in SRC International Sdn Bhd in Gobi Coal & Energy Company Ltd (GCE) in Mongolia is totalling US$60 million which represents a 9% share holding in GCE," Najib told Parliament in a written reply to MP Tony Pua.
Najib who is also the Prime Minister and chairman of 1MDB's board of advisers, however, did not disclose the present value of shares that are being held by SRC in GCE.
Apart from SRC's total investment and percentage of shares held by SRC in GCE, Pua had also posed a question to Najib on the present value of those shares which are being taken into account in the latest financial statement of SRC.
SRC is no longer a subsidiary of 1MDB and was de-merged from the government-linked strategic development company in February 2012.
Dealings of SRC came into the limelight ever since reports claiming that it had taken a RM4 billion loan in 2011 from the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) to purchase GCE.
To recap, Pua sounded the alarm on dealings involving SRC that he claims can potentially turn into another financial scandal like 1MDB.
SRC took a loan from KWAP which was disbursed in two tranches in August 2011 and March 2012. But the company was placed directly under the Finance Ministry before the end of March 2012.
In March, 2015, Pua had highlighted to the media that despite the size of the loan taken by SRC from KWAP, SRC's financial accounts were last filed for the year ending March 2012.
He then said that the latest financial statement on SRC showed that it made a loss of RM164.4 million and has total liabilities amounting to RM4.34 billion.
Pua have also in the past called on the Auditor-General to investigate SRC together with the current special audit for 1MDB.