14th April 1987
YAB Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed,
President UMNO Malaysia,
UMNO Headquarters
38th floor, Menara Dato' Onn,
Jalan Tun Ismail,
Kuala Lumpur
Dato' Seri
FLEET HOLDINGS SDN BHD
On behalf of the UMNO members who had elected me to the Supreme Council
of UMNO, permit me to convey to you several matters concerning the
Companies owned by UMNO named FLEET HOLDINGS SND BHD. As I have not
succeeded to see you even though I have tried several times to do since
November 1986, I am forced to communicate by letter.
Several years ago I was appointed together with YB Dato' Rais
Yatim in the UMNO Assets Committee. We were appointed to investigate
and list out all UMNO Assets. Several questions were forwarded to you
which to date have not received any reply.
Fleet Holdings Sdn Bhd was formed in 1972 by YBM Tengku
Razaleigh Hamzah as the Treasurer of UMNO on the instructions of Tun
Abdul Razak (deceased). This Company was formed and started with Tengku
Razaleigh's own money and was well and cleverly administered. The
original purpose was to take over control of the local newspapers which
were controlled by foreigners both inthe form of management and capital.
Fleet Holdings was directed to control the New Straits Times Press (M)
Bhd Group being the biggest premier newspaper group in the country.
Fleet Holdings started moved forward, controlling and tgaking
over the Straits Times Press (M) Group and spreading into the field of
banking, insurance, leasing, car rental, communications, filming and
others.
When YBM Tengku Razaleigh handed over control of Fleet Holdings
Sdn Bhd to YB Encik Daim Zainuddin in the year 1983 the value of the
properties and shares in Fleet Holdings totalled more than $500 million
with debts of $56 million only. But today the debts of Fleet Holdings
and its subsidiaries exceed $448 million. We are told today it is
unable to service its interest of $3 million a month. It is most likely
those enormous debts cannot be repaid. We UMNO members take a serious
view of the fact that these Companies will be controlled by foreign
interests eventually.
As you are well aware Straits Times Press (M) Bhd has been
listed in the Stock Exchange of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and in 1974
its name was changed to New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd. Fleet Holdings
paid $32 million to control 80 per cent of Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
with borrowings from Bank Bumiputra. After that Fleet Holdings sold 25
per cent of its shares to pay part of the debt.
Other than Fleet Communications all the subsidiaries of Fleet
Holdings showed profits. New Straits Times Bhd showed profits of RM43
million from a paid up capital of $21 million in 1983. When Encik Daim
and his friends took over in early 1983 they changed the style of
business interests. They closed andn sold several companies while
buying several other companies including those connected with YB Mr Daim
himself.
1 FABER MERLIN
We have doubts over the purchase of Faber Merlin shares at such
a high price. To facilitate this purchase a port of the NST shares were
withdrawn from Bank Bumiputra and charged again to Malayan Banking and
Overseas Union Bank. A portion more of the NST shares were charged to
Malayan Banking to get a loan of $90 million.
The puchases of the Faber Merlin shares were made through the
broker firms Rashid Hussain in Kuala Lumpur, Thong and Oh in Penang and
Kay Hin Securities in Singapore in the name of Citivest Sdn Bhd. We
have been informed that the shares purchased by Fleet Holdings Sdn Bhd
were shares personally owned by YB Mr Daim and his friends. YB Mr Daim
and his friends personally informed that the sale price to Fleet
Holdings Sdn Bhd was $3.00 per share. The result is that YB Mr Daim and
his friends made profits of nor less than $50 million.
Details of the sale of these shares can be obtained from the
above-stated firms. The credibility of one of the above brokers has
become questionable when one of the partners of Kay Hin Securities, Mr
Peh, had his passport confiscated by the Singapore Government.
2 TAMAN BUKIT MALURI
After Fleet Holdings controlled Faber Merlin, YB Mr Daim and his
friends directed Faber Merlin to buy land belonging to Bukit Maluri Sdn
Bhd at the price of $86 million. Before that Mr Daim had bought this
land from Syarikat Permodalan Kebangsaan (SPK) at a price of $16
million. This meant that YB Mr Daim and his friends made profits of not
less than $70 million.
3. DAZA SDN BHD
Another loss to us was a result of YB Mr Daim's and his friends'
negotiations with Straits Times Singapore for the purchase of 25 per
cent of New Straits Times. He bought these shares not for Fleet but for
himself and his friends, through his company called DAZA Sdn Bhd with a
loan of $58 million from the Union Bank of Switzerland. After that YB
Mr Daim directed Faber Merlin to buy the shares at the price of $136
million. Therefore YB Mr Daim and his friends made profits of $80
million. Unfortunately Faber Merlin could only afford to pay $34
million as deposit. As the price fixed by YB Mr Daim and his friends
were too high and not reasonable Faber Merlin failed to get sufficient
funds to pay the balance. As a result Faber Merlin was given 5 per cent
of the shares and the balance of l20 per cent remained in Daza Sdn Bhd.
it was obvious that the sale of only 5 per cent of the New Straits Times
Press shares to Faber Merlin was not enough to repay the loan of $57
million from the Union Bank of Switzerland given to Daza Sdn Bhd. To
overcome the problems of Daza Sdn Bhd and YB Mr Daim and his friends,
Fleet Holdings was forced to buy Daza Sdn Bhd for $1 million. At first
glance it was cheap, but in fact with the purchase Fleet Holdings was
forced to bear the debts of Daza Sdn Bhd totalling $120 million.
4 UNITED ESTATES PROJECTS BHD
YB Mr Daim and his friends succeeded in selling the United
Estates Project Berhad to Sime Darby. Before this company was taken
over by Sime Darby YB with his friends directed Faber Merlin to buy
Subang View Hotel at a price of $56 million and it ws paid by the
exchange of $36 million Faber Merlin shares valued at $1.60 each. The
cost of the construction of the Hotel was only $26 million. This meant
Mr Daim and his friends made profits of not less than $30 million.
The income of Fleet Holdings were from the dividends of its
subisidiaries. As all the subisidiaries, other than New Straits Times,
suffered losses, their income was affected. Fleet Holdings failed to
repay the loans taken from Malayan Banking, Overseas Union Bank and Bank
Bumiputra. Daza Sdn Bhd also failed to pay the interest and principal
loan from Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS). As a result, Overseas Union
Bank and Malayan Banking Berhad are the institutions that actually
control the shares of New Straits Times (M) Bhd and its subsidiaries
including TV3 today.
What is the result of YB Mr Daim's and his friends' actions to
the fate of the company owned by UMNO, that is, Fleet Holdings? It is
estimated that Mr Daim and his friends made clean profits of more than
$200 million from these manipulations and transactions. Unfortunately
Fleet Holdings and Faber Merlin are facing heavy losses. There is no
other way for Fleet Holdings to reduce its debts except to sell a
portion of its NST shares. Now the shares of Fleet Holdings in NST is
only 50.3 per cent from the 55 per cent it had before.
5. TV3
Recently, as YAB Datuk Seri announced, New Straits Times has
been directed to buy shares of Malaysian Television Sistem Berhad which
is held by Utusan, Fleet Group and Syed Kechik Holdings at a price of
$77 million. Not enough with this purchase, New Straits Times has been
directed to buy shares of Bank of Commerce and american Malayan
Insurance owned by Fleet Holdings. To facilitate the puchase of the
shares New Straits Times has borrowed from local banks. Throughout its
existence New Straits Times has never borrowed. As a result of this
borrowing and reduced profits for the last three years we are concerned
that New Straits Times will face the same fate as Fleet Holdings.
Together with this letter I enclosed a list of debts of Fleet
Holdings Group for your perusal.
It is obvious that the banks holding the shares of New Straits
Times charged as security for the loans listed above, can immediately
take over control of the New Straits Times Malaysia Berhad Group and
UMNO will lose its hold on the above companies.
6. DAAN AND DANI
We should also like to state here that Daan and Dani (companies
owned by YB Mr Daim) also own 2.5 million shares in TV3. Should this
occur when TV3 is supposed to be owned by UMNO through Fleet Holdings
and not by individuals?
By right YAB Dato Seri should take immediate and firm action
before it becomes worse. Unfortunately you have tried to conceal this
matter by saying it is "secret". Once more we repeat, if YAB Dato' Seri
does not take immediate and firm action to rectify the matter, it is
most likely Fleet Holdings Sdn Bhd and its subsidiaries will be owned by
foreign powers. This is in conflict with UMNO's policies.
In all humility we request immediate, positive and meaningful
action be taken so that the image of UMNO and the interest of the Malay
race will not be made merchandise by certain personalities in UMNO.
Greetings.
Yours sincerely
Hajjah Marina Yusoff
Note: The $ figures in this letter refer to Malaysian dollars.
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