PKR's Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli has urged the government to reveal recipients of loans from Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad (MDV) amounting to some RM2 billion.

He said this after the government "wrote off" RM400 million in debt for MDV which is wholly owned by the Finance Ministry.

The "write-off", he said, is after the government converted its RM400 million loan into shares of the same value in MDV.

"MDV is a wholly-owned government company, any action to increase government equity in MDV will not make any difference in terms of the federal government's control," he told a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

MDV is tasked with assisting start up companies in the IT sector by giving out loans and grants.

Rafizi also quoted MDV chief executive officer Mohd Zubir Ansori Yahya, who in an interview, said the company had disbursed RM2 billion out of RM3.5 billion to 250 companies.

He said the fact that the government had to write off RM400 million in debt raised questions whether MDV was incapable of recouping its loan.

He said this concern is fuelled by the company's accumulated loss of RM244 million and RM1.6 billion in debt, according to its balance sheet last year.

"If this is not scrutinised, there is a possibility that the RM1.6 billion owed by MDV cannot be repaid and there will come a time when the rakyat will be forced to foot it again," said Rafizi.

As such, he said the Finance Ministry should list the recipients of loans and grants from MDV to ensure that the funds were not going to crony companies.

Deputy minister defends move

 

When the motion for the loan to shares conversion came up for second reading in Parliament this evening, Deputy Finance Minister Chua Tee Yong defended the move.

In his winding up speech, he said the RM400 million loan needed to be converted to strengthen MDV's financial position.

"If the RM400 million is not converted, that means MDV needs to recall all the loans it has given to companies for the repayment," Chua said.

He added that MDV is a "not-for-profit" entity aimed at helping companies to venture into high-risk areas such as IT, biotechnology and green technology where convention financing is difficult to come by.

Chua admitted that some of these companies have failed to repay their loans to MDV but are not being let off.

"What is important is we have initiated the recovery process and those who do not repay are taken to court," he said.

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