This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on January 12, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani (pic) declined to comment on allegations that the Minister of Finance Inc (MoF Inc)  had bought a 51% stake in Mulia Property Development Sdn Bhd — the developer of The Exchange 106 at the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) in Kuala Lumpur — but promised to look into the matter.

“I don’t [have] the details for you, I will get the details later,” Johari said when asked by reporters yesterday if the acquisition took place.

The Edge Malaysia weekly, citing an unnamed executive familiar with the matter, reported in its  Jan 8 to Jan 14 issue that the controlling stake was said to have been acquired by MKD Signature Sdn Bhd from Mulia International Ltd, a part of Indonesian conglomerate Mulia Group, about two to three months ago.

The weekly wrote it was unknown how much was paid for the 51% stake in the company, but that it learnt a debt facility from HSBC Bank had been taken for the acquisition.

A filing on MKD Signature, a RM2 company, shows its directors are officials from the MoF. It has an unsatisfied RM2 billion charge created on Sept 15, 2017, from HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd.

Meanwhile, the company is wholly-owned by Sentuhan Budiman Sdn Bhd, whose directors and shareholders are also MoF officials.

Johari also declined to comment on the recent land deal between Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the government.

The deal will see the central bank acquire a 55.79-acre (22ha)  land  contiguous to the bank’s Sasana Kijang complex, for RM2 billion or RM823 per sq ft from the government, to relocate the Global Islamic Finance University and the International Shari’ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance, and will be used for future development of education and training facilities, focusing on enhancing the technical capabilities of talents in the financial services industry.

“Bank Negara already made an announcement, what more you want to ask me? You check with Bank Negara’s announcement,” he said and walked away. He was speaking to reporters at the launch of the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers.

BNM’s announcement, however, does not specify the exact location of the land, except to say it is close to the new Asia School of Business (a collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) complex and the financial industry’s Financial Industry Training Centre, currently under construction.

Some consultants who had spoken to The Edge suspect that the land may in fact be an extension of the popular Lake Gardens here. 

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