The suspension of Perak Corp Bhd on 9/5/2017 from trading at the Bursa Saham Malaysia due to its failure to release to the public its annual report for the financialyear ended 31/12/2016 which according to listing requirements must be released by 30th April the subsequent year is another example of how government link companies/agencies are poorly managed in Perak.
Perak Corp Bhd is 52.27% owned by Perak State Development Corporation. Perak Corp Bhd will face delisting should the outstanding financial statements are not issued within 6 months from the expiry of the relevant time frames in addition to any enforcement action that the regulator may take.
Perak State Development Corporation was formed to spear head the economic development and socio-economic growth of Perak. However, its failure to manage its own affairs cast doubt as to its ability to spear head the economic development and socio-economic growth in Perak.
There is concern the issues in Perak Corp Bhd are serious that it may affect its ability to continue as a going concern.
This debacle is affecting the people and the investors’ confidence in the government of Perak and will have great repercussions on the economic performance of Perak.
Statutory bodies are formed with national/public interest at heart and they must be managed with good business practices. If both these elements are missing, the existence of the statutory bodies will no longer be justified. In the words of the late YAB Tun Abdul Razak Bin Hussein, Malaysia’s Second Prime Minister concerning the formation of statutory bodies, he said “statutory authorities have been created to combine certain principles namely, public ownership, a broad but not too detailed public accountability, a consciousness that they are working in national interest, together with enterprising and progressive business concerns. Their existence is justified only if they have in fact carried out national objectives combined at the same time, because of the relative freedom they enjoy in day-to-day management, with good business practice..”.
I am surprised by the deafening silence from the Menteri Besar of Perak, Dato Seri Zambry Bin Abdul Kadir who is the Chairman of the State Development Corporation with regard to the above said issue.
I call on the Menteri Besar of Perak to explain to the public the issues behind the inability of Perak Corp Bhd to release its 2016 annual financial report and to take responsibility for the debacle.