'No scandal or fraud', FashionValet director defends founders

Amid mounting speculations on losses of public funds invested in fashion brand FashionValet, a company official has denied allegations surrounding the case under MACC investigation.

In a teaser of an interview for “Apa Cerita Podcast” with TikTok user Asyraf Khalid posted yesterday, FashionValet board member Aireen Omar defended the brand’s founders Vivy Yusof and her husband Fadzaruddin Shah Anuar who have since apologised and relinquished their positions in the business.

“There is no such thing as scandal or fraud or siphoning of money. Not at all.

“I mean, I sit on the board, and I look at the numbers. And definitely, there’s no such thing lah!”

Addressing critics on social media targeting FashionValet, Aireen said: “Maybe they should have a life… it is a natural thing that happens in any business. There will be ups and downs, right?

“How do you pull up from the down? That’s the most important thing. You cannot have your up days all the time.

“Even in AirAsia, we don’t have our up days all the time,” said Aireen (above), who is also Capital A president for investment and ventures.

The Finance Ministry, in a written parliamentary reply on Oct 28, stated that Khazanah Nasional Berhad and Permodalan Nasional Berhad’s (PNB) share value in FashionValet had dropped by almost RM44 million when the business was sold in 2023 compared to the amount they spent in 2018.

It was also stated that Khazanah pumped in RM27 million and PNB RM20 million to acquire a minority stake in the fashion brand - in a plan to boost bumiputera businesses in the e-commerce sector.

However, the ministry said FashionValet was subsequently hit with financial troubles during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite the same period being a major boon for many local e-commerce businesses.

‘Natural business occurrence’

In snippets of the interview scheduled for release on Nov 4, Aireen described the troubles as a “natural business occurrence”.

“It is something they will learn where they need to be more efficient, where they need to be more effective and so forth. And I think they are handling it well.

“I think they are in good shape at this point in time,” she said.

When asked what she felt about the recent events, Aireen called it “a bit unfair.”

“And I think the netizens out there need to be careful about what they say.

“There’s a lot of judging-ness out there. Maybe they should look at themselves too and see, why are you creating fitnah (slander) for nothing?”

Yesterday, MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki confirmed an ongoing investigation into the losses sustained by Khazanah and PNB from their investments in FashionValet.

Azam reportedly said he ordered anti-graft investigators to probe the matter of concern, as it involves public funds.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is also Khazanah’s chairperson, ordered an internal audit to “investigate problems linked to its recent losses of investment worth RM43.9 million”.

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