Anwar told to revoke Gamuda man's appointment to energy regulator

The government has been urged to revoke the appointment to the Energy Commission of Gamuda Bhd's Rashdan Yusof, after questions of conflict of interest due to the company's involvement in renewable energy.

This comes as Anwar Ibrahim said that he was reevaluating the posting, in the latest public statement by the prime minister on recent political appointments to government firms and agencies.

Penang-based pressure group Aliran said as Gamuda was a major player in the renewable energy sector, the appointment of Rashdan who is the group's deputy managing director was "an obvious case of conflict of interest".

"How can companies in the renewable energy sector, for instance, be assured of a level playing field when the Energy Commission chairman is a senior executive of a company that aims to venture into this sector in a big way?" it asked.

Rashdan's appointment was defended by Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who dismissed concerns of conflict of interest.

Nik Nazmi said Rashdan as chairman would stay out of sub-committees where there would be conflict of interest.

"He's only present in the economic and strategic sub-committee, which is very macro," Nik Nazmi had told The Edge.

But Aliran said the appointment could hurt investor confidence, adding that it was "hardly an example of good governance".

"To use a football analogy, it would be akin to appointing the assistant coach of the Argentine or French football team as referee of the World Cup final."

It pointed to Gamuda's heavy involvement in the energy sector which comes under the jurisdiction of the Energy Commission.

It said this includes a 30% stake in solar energy giant ERS Energy, as well as a majority share of SRC Consortium, the firm behind the land reclamation initiative to create three artificial islands under the Penang South Islands (PSI) project. 

"These artificial islands, which aim to house about 400,000 people, will require an enormous amount of electricity," Aliran said.

It said Gamuda’s subscriptions for RM200 million worth of new shares in ERS Energy would make the group the single largest corporate shareholder of ERS Energy, in turn enabling it to deliver Gamuda’s renewable energy for PSI.