This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on October 8, 2018
KUALA LUMPUR: Putrajaya has announced new appointments at two government-linked companies, namely Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and Perbadanan Nasional Bhd (PNS).
PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia (PwC Malaysia) partner Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz has been named as Petronas group chief financial officer (CFO).
He will replace Datuk Manharlal Ratilal, better known as Datuk George Ratilal, effective Oct 15, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.
A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, Taufik, 44, serves as the oil and gas leader at PwC Malaysia.
He was previously group CFO for SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd (now Sapura Energy Bhd) from Dec 2012 to Jan 2015, and served as Tanjong plc CFO prior to that. Earlier, he served Petronas from 2000 until 2012 in various positions including in internal audit, corporate planning, business development and finance, ultimately serving as its head of strategic planning.
Concurrently, Tengku Muhammad Taufik will also be appointed to Petronas’ board of directors alongside two new board appointments namely Finance Ministry deputy treasury secretary-general Datuk Siti Zauyah Md Desa and Economic Affairs Ministry macroeconomy director Zakiah Jaafar.
Tengku Muhammad Taufik’s appointment as Petronas CFO could mark Ratilal’s exit from the national oil company, having served there for 15 years since 2003.
Prior to joining Petronas, Ratilal, 58, was attached with RHB Sakura Merchant Bankers Bhd for 18 years, concentrating on corporate finance where he was involved in advisory work in mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt capital markets.
From 1997 to 2002, he served as the managing director of RHB Investment Bank Bhd. Ratilal also sits on the board of MISC Bhd, KLCC Property Holdings Bhd and Cagamas Holdings Bhd.
Separately, PMO also announced the appointment of Datuk Dzulkifli Fadzilah as the new PNS chairman — also effective Oct 15.
Dzulkifli was previously the chief executive officer of Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Bhd for seven years from 2011 to 2017. He is also a committee member under Bank Negara Malaysia’s small loan resolution scheme, which was introduced by the central bank in 2005.
He holds an accounting degree from the California State University and masters in finance from Golden Gate University, San Francisco.
Dzulkifli will take over the chairmanship from Datuk Seri Syed Ali Syed Abbas Al-Habshee, who has served as PNS chairman since June 2015. He is also Umno Cheras division chief.
PNS, which is a unit under the finance ministry, has a mandate to “develop the franchise industry while increasing the number of franchise entrepreneurs” according to its official website.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced the deferment of the appointment of lawyer Datuk Syed Zaid Albar as chairman of Securities Commission Malaysia to Nov 1, from Oct 15 as announced by the PMO previously.
Concurrently, the retirement date of outgoing SC chairman Tan Sri Ranjit Ajit Singh will also be changed to Oct 31, from Oct 15. “This has been agreed to by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad,” said Guan Eng in a statement.
Syed Zaid brings with him 38 years of experience in the legal profession. He was admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 1980. He later served in Skrine & Co before establishing his own legal firm Albar & Partners.