A DAP lawmaker has urged the government to pursue companies which owe huge debts to the government instead of focusing on National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) defaulters.

            

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming said the federal government must be consistent in its approach in pursuing loan defaulters.

"Right now, it seems that those who owe hundreds of millions and even billions are let off but those who owe a few thousand are pursued relentlessly," he said in a statement.

 

"PTPTN defaulters are threatened with a credit blacklist while the directors and owners of companies which owe millions are free to continue to be directors, own and run other companies," he added.

Companies, whose repayment arrears on their federal government loans which run into millions and even billions of ringgit, include private companies as well as companies owned by the government via the Ministry of Finance Incorporated and Khazanah Nasional.

Ong pointed out that Perwaja Steel Sdn Bhd and Equal Concept Sdn Bhd were listed as having arrears of RM32.27 million and RM22.5 million in 2012.

 

The two companies' loan repayments were listed as RM30.42 million and RM21.57 million respectively.

"Both companies failed to pay a single cent of their loan repayment in 2012. Apart from that, both had their arrears written off to the tune of RM58.06 million and RM41.52 million respectively," said Ong.

Apart from the two private companies, he added that the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) also failed to pay a single cent of its RM17.49 million repayment in 2012.

The table below shows other companies who had either failed or only partially paid their repayments.

Ong pointed out that this did not include the loans to private companies which the government had to write off such as the RM244 million outstanding loan of Invent QJaya.

"Nor does it include the RM4.6 billion soft loan which the government gave to the Port Klang Authority in order to 'bail-out' the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project," he said.

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