Time dotCom: EPF, DAP MPs agree to disagree
Susan LoonePublished: Mar 21, 2001 3:54 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
Opposition members of Parliament today met with senior officers of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to discuss various issues, particularly the fund's partaking of Time dotCom Bhd's unsubscribed shares following the latter's initial public offering (IPO).
DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang, who led the MPs to the meeting at the EPF headquarters at Jalan Raja Laut in Kuala Lumpur, described the one-hour meeting as cordial.
"We agreed to disagree," Lim said, when asked whether he was satisfied with the answers given by EPF chairperson Abdul Halim Ali.
Lim said the panel, which included EPF investment chief Asni Harun and deputy chief executive officer Zabidi Dasuki, also discussed the fund's six percent dividend rate declared for last year, the lowest in 25 years, and the fund's accountability and transparency.
He said that Halim would look into matters of accountability and transparency by first discussing it with the EPF board. He also agreed that the present structure of EPF's Investment Board, established in 1981, needed to be revamped, added Lim.
Lim also said that during the meeting, Halim had stressed that the six percent dividend rate announced recently for last year was not due to imprudent investment.
Short-term loan
Recently, Halim denied that EPF had bought up any unsubscribed portion of the initial public offering (IPO) of Time dotCom Bhd, which opened at RM3.30 on March 12 and closed yesterday at about RM2.00.
Halim clarified that in 1996, EPF had approved a short-term loan of RM500 million at an interest of nine percent to Time Telecommunications Holdings, the telecommunications arm of Time Engineering Bhd.
He said the loan was secured by a corporate guarantee and an undertaking that part of the proceeds of the impending public listing of Time dotCom Bhd were to be assigned to the EPF.
However, he said, the 1997 regional financial crisis affected the repayment schedule on the loan for which the tenure was 12 months or the IPO date, whichever was earlier.
Lim said that although Halim had tried to explain the circumstances for EPF's acquisition of the Time dotCom shares, he could not absolve or extenuate the "colossal misjudgment" of EPF in taking up any portion of the Time dotCom IPO.
Lim was accompanied to today's meeting by MP for Kota Melaka Kerk Kim Hock, MP for Kepong Dr Tan Seng Giaw and MP for Cheras Tan Kok Wai.
Halim was unavailable for comment.
DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang, who led the MPs to the meeting at the EPF headquarters at Jalan Raja Laut in Kuala Lumpur, described the one-hour meeting as cordial.
"We agreed to disagree," Lim said, when asked whether he was satisfied with the answers given by EPF chairperson Abdul Halim Ali.
Lim said the panel, which included EPF investment chief Asni Harun and deputy chief executive officer Zabidi Dasuki, also discussed the fund's six percent dividend rate declared for last year, the lowest in 25 years, and the fund's accountability and transparency.
He said that Halim would look into matters of accountability and transparency by first discussing it with the EPF board. He also agreed that the present structure of EPF's Investment Board, established in 1981, needed to be revamped, added Lim.
Lim also said that during the meeting, Halim had stressed that the six percent dividend rate announced recently for last year was not due to imprudent investment.
Short-term loan
Recently, Halim denied that EPF had bought up any unsubscribed portion of the initial public offering (IPO) of Time dotCom Bhd, which opened at RM3.30 on March 12 and closed yesterday at about RM2.00.
Halim clarified that in 1996, EPF had approved a short-term loan of RM500 million at an interest of nine percent to Time Telecommunications Holdings, the telecommunications arm of Time Engineering Bhd.
He said the loan was secured by a corporate guarantee and an undertaking that part of the proceeds of the impending public listing of Time dotCom Bhd were to be assigned to the EPF.
However, he said, the 1997 regional financial crisis affected the repayment schedule on the loan for which the tenure was 12 months or the IPO date, whichever was earlier.
Lim said that although Halim had tried to explain the circumstances for EPF's acquisition of the Time dotCom shares, he could not absolve or extenuate the "colossal misjudgment" of EPF in taking up any portion of the Time dotCom IPO.
Lim was accompanied to today's meeting by MP for Kota Melaka Kerk Kim Hock, MP for Kepong Dr Tan Seng Giaw and MP for Cheras Tan Kok Wai.
Halim was unavailable for comment.
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