Wan Fayhsal urges PAC to probe MAHB deal

Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal said PAC should look into the rationale of selling MAHB shares to a company with links to BlackRock. (Facebook pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal (PN-Machang) has urged the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to probe the privatisation of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB).

He wants PAC, which is led by Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (PN-Masjid Tanah), to look into the rationale of selling 30% of MAHB’s shares to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

GIP will be acquired in the third quarter of this year by global investment firm BlackRock, which allegedly has connections to Israel and its military.

“I am urging PAC to summon those behind the deal to explain why we are selling MAHB’s shares to GIP,” he said when debating the Suhakam report in the Dewan Rakyat today.

GIP and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are taking up a 30% stake in MAHB through a consortium led by national sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd. The rest will be owned by Khazanah (40%) and EPF (30%).

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim previously said that BlackRock and companies linked to the firm have been operating in states like Kelantan, Selangor, and Sarawak, as well as in the stock market.

Anwar also said that GIP was chosen from among other companies as it accepted that the chairman and CEO of MAHB must be Malaysian.

GIP had said that BlackRock was not involved in the MAHB deal while Khaznah maintained that GIP would not be involved in the management of the airport operator.