Where's the rest of SRC International's RM3.81b? Pua asks Putrajaya

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — The Finance Ministry’s explanation that SRC International had only invested US$60 million (RM216 million) in a Mongolian energy company continues to raise question over the remainder of the RM4 billion loan the government subsidiary had taken from the Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP), DAP’s Tony Pua said.

Noting that the RM216 million is just a small fraction of the RM4 billion loan, the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said the ministry’s explanation, which was given in a written parliamentary reply from last week, only debunks the previous impression that a bulk of SRC International’s investments were placed in the energy company, Gobi Coal & Energy Ltd (GCE).

Pua also pointed out that London Stock Exchange listed company Origo Partners Limited, which is another one of GCE’s shareholders, had in June 2014 valued its 14 per cent stake in GCE at only US$13.4 million.

This, he said, means that SRC International’s investment, which was for a 9 per cent stake in GCE, should only be worth some US$8.6 million today, representing a significant 85.6 per cent drop in the value of investment or a loss of US$51.4 million for the firm.

“The reply by the ministry raises another crucial question as the GCE investment valued at RM31 million today, represents only 0.8 per cent of the RM3.81 billion of SRC International’s ‘investment portfolio outside Malaysia’.

“The question hence arises, where did the rest of SRC International’s RM3.81 billion go?” Pua asked in a statement here.

The Finance Ministry drew fire from opposition lawmakers in April for its “vague” reply to a question on a RM3.8 billion loaned from KWAP for SRC International Sdn Bhd, whose former parent company was the debt-laden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

In a written reply to PKR MP Rafizi Ramli, the ministry did not specify how RM3.8 billion out of the RM4 billion loaned in 2011 from the civil service retirement fund was spent except that it had been invested in Indonesia, Mongolia and “some other countries”.

Pua had earlier alleged that SRC International, a company founded in 2011 as a 1MDB’s subsidiary, was removed from 1MDB’s books and parked directly under the Ministry of Finance in 2012.

In March, Rafizi declared that he will file a civil suit against KWAP for its allegedly “careless” approval of a government-guaranteed RM4 billion loan to SRC International.

No closer to a satisfactory explanation today, Pua demanded for more answers from the Finance Ministry over how SRC International had spent the remainder of its loan from KWAP, saying it was necessary for the government to prove that it was not trying to hide a multi-billion ringgit scandal.

“The failure to be transparent will only further erode the confidence of ordinary Malaysians in our public institutions and the Najib administration,” he said.