Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali told the Selangor state assembly today that the corporate and social responsibilities of the Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) had been separated to avoid overlapping of economic activities in the state.

This, he said, was made with the establishment of Darul Ehsan Investment Group (DEIG), an innovative effort by the state government in ensuring good governance.

As such, Mohamed Azmin said, the suggestion by the Selangor select committee on agencies, statutory bodies and state government subsidiaries (JP-Abas) for review of DEIG should not be accompanied with assumptions or accusations.

"It has been years the MBI subsidiaries have not been giving dividends to the state government and it is not wrong if we are to separate its corporate and social responsibilities.

"As mentioned before, DEIG has been registered, but it has yet to start operation," he added.

He was winding up the motion by JP-Abas for improvement in the corporate structure of MBI and its subsidiaries which was tabled by Yeo Bee Yin (DAP-Damansara Utama).

Yeo had expressed concern that the move in separating the corporate and social responsibilities of MBI was good, but it could result in uncontrolled spending by MBI.

She said the structure of the dividend received by the state government through its subsidiaries was seen as sidelining DEIG's function.

If DEIG was established as an entity tasked to carry out investment to generate income for the state government, it is not supposed to hold assets belonging to state government subsidiaries, including government-linked companies, she added.

The motion by JP-Abas was then passed by the state assembly.

- Bernama