Reveal accounts, not financial records, Petronas told

National oil company Petronas has come under fire for claiming that its financial records were freely available for public scrutiny and were not shrouded in secrecy.

Anil Netto, treasurer of reform movement Aliran, said that the reports available at Petronas' website only contained basic figures for revenue and profit before tax.

Netto, a trained chartered accountant, said that the publicly available reports did not contain the detailed profit and loss accounts, together with the reports of production-sharing contracts with other oil companies.

"The published accounts offer only summary figures and are not of much use to anyone wanting to analyse the financial performance of the company in greater depth," he said.

"I want to see the administrative and operating expenses, the other miscellaneous expenses. Let's have a look at the detailed profit and loss acount," he added.

Netto further explained that Petronas should also reveal its profits for the financial year ending March 31.

"(The report) usually is released in June, so it should be ready by now. Otherwise, they could just make a preliminary announcement (on the report)," he added.

Netto also claimed that there has been some speculation that Petronas has entered into forward sale contracts with other oil companies at low prices.

"This has raised some questions and Petronas should clarify their stand whether these speculations have any basis," he said.

"Petronas belongs to the Malaysian people. We are entitled to these detailed figures. We should not be treated like corporate shareholders entitled only to the bare minimum information about a company," he added.

Netto was responding to a statement by Petronas oil company president Mohd Hassan Merican that the company does not keep its accounts secret.

Hassan had said that it published 5,000 copies of its accounts annually to be given to various persons, including members of parliament. He added that the accounts were also posted on Petronas' website.

Reveal total bailouts

Netto further said that Hassan, as a CEO, should not blame the people for "refusing to look for the report even though it is easily accessible".

"The reports were not easy to find," he said.

"It was not even highlighted (on the website) and he definitely should not blame the people," Netto added, saying that he had to use a search engine in order to access to the annual reports.

Netto also said that Petronas should reveal as to the actual money granted for the development of Putrajaya, the numerous government bailouts, the construction of Petronas Twin Towers, the cost of funding and managing the philharmonic orchestra, the cost of funding the Formula One grand prix and all expenses related to Pulau Langkawi activities [see chart below].

Echoing Netto's views, PKR deputy president, Syed Husin Ali said that he wanted to know the amount of Petronas money used to fund government projects.

"What I'm interested in is what exactly they (Petronas) have given to the government all the while to fund the mega-projects," he said.

However, Transperancy International Malaysia president Ramon Navaratnam had a different take on Petronas' move in revealing its financial reports to the public.

"They (the public) should not blame Petronas. To be fair, it has been practicing accountability and people should take the trouble to study the accounts without accusing that the report is not made public.

"If the accounts are not in full details then they should ask Petronas to reveal all the facts and ask them to disclose every detail to fulfill the legal requirements," he said.

"So that would meet the principles of good governance," he concluded.

It must be noted that the national oil company's transparency has been under heavy scrutiny when it was ranked last in the 2006 survey of the ‘World's Most Sustainable and Ethical Companies.'

Petronas, who grappled the public attention since the sharp hike of the fuel price two weeks ago, has been criticised for not being transparent with its accounts.