PETALING JAYA, July 4 ― Puncak Niaga’s inordinate pay for its outgoing executive chairman came under further scrutiny today, after a DAP lawmaker noted Tan Sri Rozali Ismail was getting nearly five times the pay of Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s (TNB) chief executive despite generating just 6 per cent of the latter firm’s revenue.
The bumper 2012 pay package for Rozali totalling RM33.4 million — around four times more than what he took home in 2011— and which included a RM20 million gratuity had yesterday come under fire from Klang MP Charles Santiago, who alleged the Selangor Umno treasurer was rewarded despite his “incompetence”.
“As a comparison, the remuneration package of the chief executive officer of Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), the country’s biggest utility is only RM7 million. For the financial year 2012, TNB recorded revenue of RM35.85 billion compared to only RM2.5 billion of Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd,” Pua said in a statement.
The PJ Utara MP noted that the pay package was awarded to Rozali despite “the fact that Puncak Niaga is heavily laden with billions of ringgit of debt, and had to be bailed out by the government repeatedly in the last few years.”
Pua added that the “golden handshake” was insult to injury to Selangor ratepayers given the level of service delivered by the water utility firm.
“For the Selangor residents, the excessive remuneration package for Tan Sri Rozali is rubbing salt on the people’s wounds as Syabas has failed to consistently provide quality water supply and services to its consumers particularly over the past two years.
“Syabas has admitted that it has received a staggering 4,186 complaint calls daily since the start of the year as a result of constant water disruption, usually relating to poor pipe and reservoir maintenance.”
Pua echoed Santiago’s call yesterday for the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) to investigate Puncak Niaga’s “shocking” RM20 million gratuity payment to its Umno-linked executive chairman.
Santiago yesterday said the commission needed to determine if public funds were being used to reward the politically-connected Puncak Niaga chairman or being misused to “bail out” the firm.
He also pointed out that chairman of Puncak Niaga’s remuneration committee, Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak, was also an Umno member who sits on the international affairs bureau of the Umno supreme council, while former MCA secretary-general Dr Ting Chew Peh was also on the same committee.
Pua suggested the Selangor government take Rozali’s “windfall” into account for its proposed acquisition of the state’s water utility.
“The Selangor state government must deduct all inapppropriate and ‘unapproved’ expenses, such as this RM33.4 million ‘durian runtuh’ for Tan Sri Rozali Ismail by these concessionaires from the proposed acquisition cost of these companies.
“Cronies of Barisan Nasional must not profit unfairly beyond what they have already earned to date, at the expense of the rakyat, especially under Pakatan Rakyat’s watch.”
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