KUALA LUMPUR: The RM50,000 "sponsorship" by Pelaburan Hartanah Berhad (PHB) at an alumni dinner of a school last February was not motivated by personal interests.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said instead, it was one of the marketing methods to increase subscriptions to the Amanah Hartanah Bumiputera (AHB) unit trust.
"The alumni association dinner, which was held on Feb 17, was not just for sponsorship, but was a programme for them to market their AHB unit trusts.
"Just during that programme, more than 500,000 units were bought by the alumni."Fadillah said this when winding-up his debate on the Supply Bill 2025 for the Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry in Dewan Rakyat, today.
On Monday, Public Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin called for an investigation into governance practices at PHB, following concerns over the company executive's bonuses and spending.
She raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest, disclosing that the PHB chief executive officer had donated RM50,000 to his former school.
It was also revealed that the CEO received a RM210,000 bonus, equal to three months' salary, despite the company only achieving 42 per cent of its key performance indicators.
Mas Ermieyati, who is also Masjid Tanah member of Parliament , said PHB had initially planned an overseas luxury holiday for employees, but the trip was swiftly cancelled after public backlash on social media.
On the issue, Fadillah confirmed that the luxury holiday had already been cancelled.
"As mentioned by you (Mas Ermieyati), the overseas trip is not happening. As decided by the cabinet, the Prime Minister now not only looks at (auditing) ministries and agencies, but also government-linked companies and government-linked investment companies."