KUALA LUMPUR – Funds from Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s (PNB) for Fashion Valet Sdn Bhd (FashionValet) could have been spent helping more youths struggling to set up businesses, opposition lawmaker Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Mas Ermieyati (PN-Masjid Tanah) said it was thus careless of the Finance Ministry to state in its written reply about Khazanah’s and PNB’s RM43.9 million loss in FashionValet as being “minimal” when compared to the two government-linked investment companies’ (GLICs) overall earnings for the year.
“The (finance) minister should have never given such an answer.
“Why? (This is) because the RM43.9 million losses (incurred) could have been used to help tens of thousands of youths out there facing difficulties in setting up businesses,” she said when debating Budget 2025 in the lower house today.
The finance ministry’s written reply was dated October 29 and was in answer to Yeo Bee Yin (PH-Puchong) who had asked about the losses.
In 2018, Khazanah invested RM20 million and PNB RM27 million in Fashion Valet which was touted as an e-commerce platform for Bumiputera fashion entrepreneurs to sell their products.
However, the platform did not take off, with Khazanah citing difficulties arising from the Covid-19 pandemic in its recent statement to explain its investment and exit from FashionValet.
The two GLICs sold their stakes for just RM3.1 million in a fire sale to NXBT Partners at the end of last year.
Mas Ermieyati today also questioned what Khazanah and PNB’s representatives had been doing on the board of FashionValet to have allowed the company’s losses to continue.
“What were the roles of Khazanah and PNB’s representatives in the FashionValet and why did they not safeguard the investments made?,” the Bersatu MP asked.
She then asked how much of the two GLICs’ funds had been used to pay the salaries of FashionValet’s founders Datin Vivy Sofinas Yusof and her husband Datuk Fadzaruddin Shah Anuar, as well as for Vivy’s own brands dUCk and Lilit.
She also wanted to know how much was paid to the upper management and directors of these three brands.
Other MPs the Dewan Rakyat also questioned Khazanah and PNB over FashionValet today, with Dr Kelvin Yii (PH-Bandar Kuching) pointing out the lack of accountability.
Datuk Awang Hashim (PN-Pendang) urged the government to refine governance procedures concerning investment approvals by GLICs, given the use of public funds.
“The investment losses of Khazanah and PNB in FashionValet, amounting to nearly RM43.9 million, is a significant sum in the context of trust funds, where merely apologising and resigning should not suffice.
“This is a governance issue that requires the government’s scrutiny, as the matter of governance was raised by the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) during the tabling of the Budget,” he said. – November 4, 2024