(The Malaysian Insider) - Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad brushed off today Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s call that he “write a book” on why Malaysia Airline System (MAS) was privatised to Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli in 1994, saying he was not in charge of the loss-making national carrier.
“I’m not in charge of MAS, how can I write a book? I can make some comments, that’s all,” the former prime minister told reporters today.
Zaid, who was de facto law minister in 2008, wrote in his blog today that Dr Mahathir (picture) must explain by “writing (a book) that is believable, that at least reflects the true situation surrounding the MAS saga that has still not been resolved until today.”
Zaid, who resigned from Umno in September 2008 to join PKR but is now estranged from Pakatan Rakyat (PR), has backed the opposition’s criticism of recent confidential out-of-court settlements between Tajudin and several GLCs.
“Since the settlement was conducted in secret, allow me to guess the terms of the deal: Tajudin was not required to pay a single sen to Danaharta or any of the GLCs; instead, the government will pay Tajudin RM6.5 billion (or half of what he had claimed).
“Tajudin will then be generous in his contributions to the party coffers for the upcoming general election,” he said.
Tajudin’s settlement with Pengurusan Danaharta Bhd (Danaharta) on February 14 came after a lengthy legal dispute following a High Court decision in December 2009 ordering the ex-MAS chief to pay the state asset management manager RM589.14 million plus two per cent interest per year, backdated to January 1, 2006.
But Dr Mahathir, who was PM from 1981 to 2003, insisted today “the government is very sensitive to these things because it may affect the image of the government and the support in the next election.”
“If they have evidence that there was blatant abuse of power they can make a case for it,” he added.
Tajuddin, who was MAS chairman until 2001, was also a poster boy of former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin’s now discredited policy of nurturing a class of Malay corporate captains on government largesse during the Mahathir administration.
The case between Danaharta and Tajudin arose after he executed a facility agreement on July 13, 1994 to borrow RM1.79 billion from a group of syndicated lenders to finance his purchase of a 32 per cent stake in MAS.
However, from 1994 to 1998 he failed to service the original loan, causing it to become a non-performing loan (NPL).
