PAS today urged the Anti-Corruption Agency to investigate International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz's explanation that bumiputra shares were allotted based on merits and not political connections.

Youth chief Mahfuz Omar said the minister's claim, made in Parliament yesterday, must be investigated in order to clear the public's suspicion about the allotment of these shares.

"It's (the explanation) not convincing. Based on previous experience, the people remain suspicious because large amount of shares were always given to a handful of individuals.

"The public wants to know whether these people really need the shares," he said when contacted.

Mahfuz, who is also the member of parliament for Pokok Sena, added that the findings of the probe must be revealed to the public.

"[Prime Minister] Dr Mahathir Mohamad had cried so many times out of frustration with the bumiputra businessmen who did not buck up and instead sold off their shares to get rich quick. We should not let him down anymore," he said.

Negative assumptions

The PAS leader stressed that he was not against the allotment of company shares to bumiputras but questioned the management of the process.

The New Economic Policy (NEP) implemented in 1970 requires that 30 percent equity in a company must be given to bumiputras at a discount.

This was in line with the government's social restructuring plan to increase bumiputra capital in the country following the racial riots in Kuala Lumpur the previous year.

If a company fails to find a bumiputra partner, the International Trade and Industry Ministry will provide a list of approved bumiputra entrepreneurs to whom the company must sell or give a stake.

In a written reply to a specific query from PAS MP Husam Musa, Rafidah told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday that a total of RM1.22 million THB Industries shares were approved to Mahathir's son, Mokhzani, in 1997 in recognition of his "contributions" to the company.

She also revealed that former Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob's son, Megat Fairoz, was offered 53,334 units of Talam Corporation Bhd shares in 1995.

However, Rafidah claimed that these allotments were based on the recipients' qualification and the criteria set by the ministry. The minister said it "had nothing to do with their parents or family".

"I regret that if certain quarters want to make negative assumptions about them, although these recipients were considered objectively based on the present policy," she added.

She said according to the ministry's record, none of these shares were disposed by the owners.

Incompetent individuals

Meanwhile, Husam when contacted said it was no coincidence that the bumiputra shares were given to family members and close friends of government leaders.

"It was because of this corrupt practice that the government had to absorb non-performing loans (NPLs) amounting to billions of ringgit then," he said.

The MP for Kubang Kerian said he believed that the complete list of family members of ministers who had received bumiputra shares was "longer than what we expect".