IF Tun Mahathir wants us to not forget the past, let us remember it and bring it out in the open.
LET'S hope Tun Mahathir does not make a U turn and claim that we are on a witch hunt or out to shame his family, by bring up matters that happened a long time ago.
WE can start with the sale of Konsortium Logistik Bhd's sale of its shipping assets to MISC Bhd which is controlled by Petronas, sometime back in 1998.
DISTURBINGLY, the South China Morning Post, on of Asia's most respected publications, in a report dated March 8 1998, had this to say as part of a backdrop to the deal.
"Mr Mirzan was rumoured to have recently considered attempting suicide because of concerns over mounting debts. However, this has been vehemently denied by the family,"
The entire report can be viewed click pasting the following on your Google search engine ( https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.scmp.com/article/232486/mahathir-son-sells-shipping-units-rescue-cash-strapped-company)
BEYOND the gossip, dear Tun Mahathir if you relook at the entire deal carefully, you will notice the following, which every Malaysian must ask themselves also, were you looking out for the interest of your son, by screwing the rest of us.
WHY, will I say such a thing? Consider the following, READ : MISC will buy Konsortium's shipping assets for USD220 million, for shipping assets Mirzan Mahathir had acquired for US477 million.
ON the surface, this looks like a good deal but it is not, because MISC will also have to pay off Konsortium's debt of US311 million, which basically means at the height of the Asian Financial Crisis, when most businesses were going bust, Petronas had decided to play santa clause to Mirzan Mahathir.
AND who does Petronas reports to? It is you, Tun Mahathir by virtue of you being the Prime Minister. This is not hearsay or anything, go look at the reporting structure of Petronas, they don't even to report to the Finance Minister, as they report directly to the PRIME MINISTER.
PETRONAS entire commitment to this deal was US$541 million for the US$477 million, Mirzan Mahathir's 51 per cent owned Konsortium went into huge debt to acquire.
BASED on assumption of RM4 to the US Dollar, Petronas via MISC would have eventually dished out RM2.16 billion.
THE market capitalisation of Konsortium at that point of time, was abour RM1.08 billion, which means, Petronas could have taken Konsortium private TWO TIMES OVER, and still have some spare cash.
IF you think that deal was bad, how about this one READ : Mirzan Mahathir Wins Huge Tenaga Nasional Coal Shippment Contract despite NOT owning any ships.
SINCE, Mirzan Mahathir won that huge contract from Tenaga Nasional, maybe Tun Mahathir would care to entertain us by stating who provided the Bank Gaurantees and Letter of Credits to ship the coal?
THE answer to that question is very simple, go and call up Tenaga Nasional lah, and they will tell you that they provided the Bank Gaurantees and Letter of Credit, so that Mirzan Mahathir can claim yet another sweet deal without even breaking sweat.