Who are the players in Khazanah’s RM43.9m loss?

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Who are the players in Khazanah’s RM43.9m loss?

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2, 2024: Just who are the players behind Khazanah Nasional, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and Fashion Valet Sdn Bhd?

They have caused the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) and Malaysians to lose RM43.9 million.

So, who gained? And now the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is probing the SWF (Khazanah)’s loss.

No News Is Bad News reproduces below a news report that was reposted by The Coverage that give some insight into the players of the losses:

News

Fashion Valet RM 43.9 Million : Who Is Vivy’s Father?

2 November, 2024

The humongous loss and the fire sale of FashionValet.com has been the buzz within the local tech community for a while, but it did not catch on publicly till Yeo Bee Yin recently raised the issue in Parliament.  

Typical of Malaysians to immediately point fingers at politicians. The imprisoned Najib was blamed. Daim and his then “Council of Elders” (Council of Emminent Persons) linked. His puppet Economic Minister, Azmin Ali implicated.  

But then the nicnamed father of Vivy, Yusof Perancis immediatey became a conversation. He was PMX’s former Secretary when he was DPM. Yusof is close with Deputy Prime Ministers – past and present, and also past Ministers like Annuar Musa and Maszlee Malek. And, said to be capable at structuring schemes in investment, business and funding.

Afzal, the man behind the buyer, NVBT Partner can be given a political spin, but better not to go through that path. Everything can be spinned to PH, BN and PN, so stick to the facts, issue of accountability, and individuals’ integrity. 

As Scoop.com’s A Azam Aris wrote:

Given that taxpayer funds and deposits are either directly or indirectly involved, Malaysians feel justified in asking for comprehensive accountability. Transparency in such high-stakes investments is paramount to upholding public trust, particularly when public funds are involved.

Khazanah’s reputation has suffered from a string of substantial losses, and this goes beyond FashionValet alone. The issue raises a larger question about governance and investment strategy within government-linked companies (GLCs).  

Under Azman Mokhtar, Khazanah failed in all their turnaround assignments of Proton, UEM and MAS. 

The MAS assignment that his consulting firm, Bina Fikir undertook continue to blead after decades of involvement after Tajudin Ramli was forced out. His people are still involved to the present day at Khazanah’s MAG. 

Khazanah under Azman couldn’t turn a simple “tuna cowboy” business of fishing in the open sea, Paloh Inai farming venture, food supply chain operation business, and various tech ventures into profit. Yet he attempted an entrepreneurial business requiring hands-on involvement in the cut throat and creativity business of fashion and e-commerce.

These Wall Street people have no business to pursue and manage Main Street stuff. 

It is puzzling that Khazanah and PNB could invest RM43 million in e-commerce business as minority shareholder in 2018 in which the platform ended up being used to sell Vivy Yusof and husband Fakaruddin’s Duck brand tudung and various clothing paraphenelia at premium pricing. 

Abdul Rahman Ahmad was the President and COO of PNB from 2016 to 2019 and returned to PNB as Chairman from July 2024. Though it was known Ekuinas under his charge was looking at the fashion business, PNB CEO was Mahathir hand-picked Jaleel Rasheed from September 2019 to mid 2020.Apparently, Vivy had gone into hiding to escape answering the media. Maybe taken a leaf from old man Mahathir who would check into IJN after throwing stones at Zahid in his civil lawsuit against him. 

Fahmi asked that Khazanah and PNB be given time to answer. Its already too much time. They should have answered by now. The platform announced focusing only on its own brand, and fire sales exposed in late August.

Vulcumpost.com investigated the sales in September 2024 (reproduced below):

FashionValet is no stranger to controversy, having been under fire in 2022 when it announced its pivot away from its own FashionValet fashion platform to focus on its inhouse brands dUCK and LILIT.

NXBT Partners owns 2,513,467 ordinary shares in the company

According to the latest annual return of, which was filed June 2024, NXBT Partners is the major stakeholder of FashionValet Sdn. Bhd. Out of the total shares of 4,904,325, the holdings company owns 2,513,467, which is 51.25%.   

It was reported by Asia Tech Review and Amanz that NXBT Partners paid some “US$1.1 million” for those secondary shares. 

We couldn’t find confirmation or additional details on when NXBT bought these shares and for how much, though.

Other shareholders include Vivy Yusof and husband Fadzarudin.

A number of corporate bodies also have a stake in the business. There’s Zozo Inc, a Japanese company that operates fashion online shopping sites.

A Bruneian company called Reussi also owns shares in the business. Proven Holding, the company owned by Vivy’s father Yusof Jusoh, is also a shareholder.  

Well, for the financial year ended December 31, 2023, the business reported negative retained earnings, with a figure of -RM127,576,371.

Retained earnings are a firm’s cumulative net earnings or profit after accounting for dividends. So, this means that FashionValet has not made profit since the inception of the business.

This figure had been -RM83.4 million when we last investigated the company, for its financial year ending December 31, 2020.

As for their losses after tax, it was -RM34,508,166 for the financial year ended December 31, 2022.

This figure had been -RM12,371,305 for the financial year ended December 31, 2020.

For the financial year ended December 31, 2021, though, business seemingly improved somewhat, with a loss after tax figure of -RM9,625,559.

Understanding this, it might explain why Malaysians are scrutinising Khazanah—because it had invested a sizable amount in FashionValet, which allegedly may have seen a huge drop in its valuation. Meaning to say, Khazanah may have lost money because of this investment.  

It’s important to note, though, that Khazanah actually reported a profit of RM5,890,000,000 for 2023. And in fact, a year after Khazanah invested in FashionValet in 2018, it had raked in RM7,360,000,000 in profits.

Vivy was interviewed by the “Council of Elders” at the suggestion of then Minister of Education, Maszlee Malek, who was then with PPBM (now PKR), to be a member of the Board of Director of UiTM. 

As written earlier, do not drag in politics. So do those with footprints and served certain politicians and statesmen should not be overzealous on Twitters. 

Come to think of it, the nonsence may not be at Khazanah or PNB, but Endie trying to evade any embarassment to Daim should it trailed to Azmin …? 

Source : Thick Brick Blogpost

PM orders Khazanah to conduct internal audit of FashionValet investment

 Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has instructed Khazanah Nasional Bhd to conduct an internal audit of its loss-making investment in FashionValet

“This firm directive reflects my previous announcement instructing the National Audit Department to audit 2,000 government-linked companies to establish better governance systems,” Anwar, who is Khazanah chairman, said on X, formerly Twitter.

Earlier, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission launched an investigation into the RM43.9 million investment loss incurred by Khazanah and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) in FashionValet.

Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said the investigation was essential as the matter involved public funds and public interest.

Yesterday, FashionValet co-founders Datin Vivy Yusof and husband Datuk Fadzaruddin Shah Anuar announced they would step down from their roles, citing recent issues surrounding the sale of PNB and Khazanah’s stakes in the company.

They said this move aimed to prevent further impact on the company, which is undergoing a turnaround.

On Oct 29, the Finance Ministry, in a parliamentary written reply, said PNB and Khazanah lost RM43.9 million from the sale of their minority stakes in FasionValet.

In 2018, Khazanah had invested RM27 million and PNB RM20 million in the company.

8 reasons for MACC to probe Khazanah, PNB’s RM43.9m investment losses in FashionValet

THERE are eight compelling “angles” for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate government-linked investment companies (GLICs) Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) for their fire sale of early e-commerce pioneer and Malaysian start-up poster-child FashionValet Sdn Bhd (FV) for a mere RM3.1 mil.

Finfluencer Post Aliff Ahmad (@Alturkistiano) mooted such idea on the X platform as Information Minister Fahmi Fadzil called on both GLICs to explain losses from their initial RM47 mil investment in FV (RM27 mil by Khazanah and RM20 mil by PNB).

For the record, FV has received massive public backlash on social media after tech newsletter Asia Tech Review exposed last September that Khazanah has sold its stake in the loss making FV to local investment firm NXBT Partners.

Below are the eight “angles: that Aliff reckoned MACC can pursue to get to the bottom of both GLICs’ investments in FV.

Angle #1: How could PNB-Khazanah be investing in a company that had been losing money? Who among them was “deal setter”? Were there sweeteners involved? Was there any consultant?

Angle #2: How could the BOD (board of directors) of FV which included PNB-Khazanah representatives have allowed Vivy (entrepreneur, influencer and FV founder Vivy Yusof) and her husband to receive an interim dividend from 30 Maple Sdn Bhd before FV bought 30 Maple? Isn’t that so obvious?

Editor’s Note: FV bought into the dUCk brand (owned by 30 Maple) which is renowned for its contemporary hijab scarves/modest fashion for modern Muslim women in December 2018 so soon after both GLICs having invested in FV in March 2018 (the dUCK Group is part of FV itself).

Angle #3: How could the BOD of FV which included PNB-Khazanah representatives have agreed to buy 30 Maple that also belonged to Vivy and her husband at a very high price? This is considering that by then the dUCK brand would only have prospered after FV received investment funds from PNB-Khazanah.

Angle #4: How could the BOD of FV which included representatives of PNB-Khazanah have remained silent when it ‘wrote off’ RM2.4 mil to create the FV website/system? Who was the vendor/contractor?

Angle #5: How could the BOD of FV which included PNB-Khazanah representatives continue to turn a blind eye by continuously ‘topping up’ their investment when the company was suffering losses every year?

Angle #6: How could the BOD of FV which included PNB-Khazanah representatives be silent while watching the company’s founder enjoyed an elitist life or pretended to be rich when the company they invested in kept incurring loses?

Angle #7: You may also wish to investigate who was the contractor/vendor behind the FV website write off and who did the renovation for FV’s boutiques in shopping malls? Was there any ‘cashout project’ through these contractors/vendors?

Angle #8: FV was originally a fashion website or digital platform. Investments were supposed to be made in technology companies not fashion brands. If you want to invest in a brand, you must as well invest in another brand.

How then could the BOD of FV which included PNB-Khazanah representatives have agreed to open a boutique? Isn’t opening a physical boutique incur big spending?

Source : Focus