A great confession by "cash is king"

A great confession by “cash is king”

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has suggested that if he were truly a thief, he would have touched the RM174 billion cash reserves in Petronas. In dismissing his critics, Najib said Petronas' cash reserves were needed by the company to ensure its survival by investing in future projects. 

What a great confession indeed by a person known as “cash is king”?

After having written an article on Petronas since 1976 and calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry, that confession alerted me to go back to the Petronas accounts to check the item cash and cash equivalent in the published annual reports.

Surprisingly, only annual reports of the period of Najib in power were available in the public relations section of the official website of Petronas.  That is 2008 to 2017.

This is what I found with 2012 year as restated and nothing was re-stated in other years.

Year of AR	RM in billion	RM in billion	2012
	Current year	Previous year
2017	65.564	68.426
2016	121.492	120.731
2015	120.731	116.826
2014	55.443	46.874
2013	117.118	108.474	108.474 (re-stated)
2012	107.735	125.358	107.735
2011	106.556	103.837
2010	56.677	45.597
2009	45.597	45.479
2008	80.444	67.203

There are so many (too big) discrepancies as presented and does not need any good accountant to note them as in previous year’s figure for comparison.  Just for illustrations say in 2008 (general election year) the balance was RM80.444 billion and then in Annual Report 2009, the 2008’s figure was RM45.479b and why such huge downward discrepancy?  Again in 2013, the figure was RM117.118b and then in Annual Report 2014, the 2013’s figure was RM46.874b and why such huge downward discrepancy when 2013 was General Elections year? Again in 2014 the figure was RM55.443b and in Annual Report 2015, 2014’s figure was RM116.826b and why such huge upward discrepancy? Again in Annual Report 2017, the 2016’s figure RM68.426b but it was RM121.492b in the Annual Report 2016 and why such huge downward discrepancy?  Huge upward discrepancy also noted for 2010 (RM56.677b and RM103.837b 2011 in comparative column)

There was nothing near the RM174b according to Najib. Can we draw the conclusion that something is definitely missing? Who could have caused such huge losses in cash as indicated by the unexplained discrepancies over the 9 years periods although Petronas had operated over 40 years making such audited accounts useless and meaningless bordering in fraudulent practice.

Based on my more than 30 Police Reports and two on Petronas and the performance of past Prime Ministers the “cash cow” had been under the control of Prime Ministers and so accountability is very much questioned.

Indeed there are lots more questions and answers needed for the past 4 decades of roller coaster performance of Petronas.

So I would once again call for a must Royal Commission of Inquiry on Petronas on the agenda as laid out in my earlier article.              Joshua Y C Kong  7/4/2019 jknow823@gmail.com