Aug 15, 2006

Khairy: I lost RM200,000

(The Star) KUANTAN: Deputy Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has revealed that he suffered losses amounting to RM200,000 when he sold his shares in ECM Libra Avenue Bhd.

He said he disposed the shares in the interest of the company, minority shareholders and the Government.

“I do not want the company’s reputation to be affected due to some quarters questioning the manner in which I purchased the shares and as one of its shareholder.

“Frankly, I received no less than three offers to buy over my shares. One is from a government-owned company, another from an international company while a Chinese businessman offered a very profitable sum.

“I rejected the first offer as people will claim that it was a government bailout to rescue me while the subsequent offers will see the shares falling into the hands of outsiders and non-bumiputras.

“I will not let that happen and will rather suffer losses as long as the shares remain in the hands of our people.”


He told this to reporters after opening the Paya Besar Umno Youth, Wanita and Puteri division meetings at the Agro Semuji Resort near here yesterday.

Khairy said he would concentrate on politics for now as there was a lot of work and challenges ahead that needed his attention.

On Friday, Khairy sold his entire stake of 10.2 million shares in ECM Libra Avenue, representing 1.23% of the company, for 65 sen a share.

He had bought the shares at 71 sen a share in December last year.

ECM Libra Avenue chairman Datuk Kalimullah Hassan Masheerul Hassan had also reduced his stake in the company to 40 million shares or 4.8%.

The 26,467,220 shares belonging to Khairy and Kalimullah were bought by Hikkaya Jaya Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of AmcorpGroup Bhd, for a total of RM17.2mil.

In Kepala Batas, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said his son-in-law had told him the reason for selling his shares in ECM Libra Avenue.

“These are his shares, not mine. I cannot comment further. He only informed me,” he added.

No comments: